The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals demanded this week that Major League Baseball stop referring to the dug-outs in which pitchers warm-up as “bullpens.”
“Bullpen” refers to the area of a “bull’s pen” where bulls are held before they are slaughtered—it’s a word with speciesist roots & we can do better than that.
Switching to “arm barn” would be a home run for baseball fans, players, and animals ?⚾️ pic.twitter.com/2FzSpDG9mQ
— Arm Barn (@peta) October 28, 2021
“Words matter, and baseball ‘bullpens’ devalue talented players and mock the misery of sensitive animals,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a statement on Thursday.
“PETA encourages Major League Baseball coaches, announcers, players, and fans to changeup their language and embrace the ‘arm barn’ instead,” Reiman said.
The organization claimed the “bullpen” is a reference to stalls where bulls are kept before they are slaughtered.
“Switching to ‘arm barn’ would be a home run for baseball fans, players, and animals,” PETA said.
Baseball officials and players immediately mocked PETA’s request as a joke:
I thought this was an @TheBabylonBee article… pic.twitter.com/VGVJMMSO5g
— Steve Cishek (@srSHREK31) October 28, 2021
I can’t roll my eyes hard enough…. ? https://t.co/OFhfHfPouG
— Travis Shaw (@travis_shaw21) October 28, 2021
No more dugouts then will refer to them as “Chute 1 & Chute 2” https://t.co/QZrmzNcoIB
— Taylor Hearn (@thearn14) October 28, 2021
Where the word “bullpen” originated is unclear. It is possible the Cincinnati Enquirer was the first to use the term in a game recap in 1877.
“The bull-pen at the Cincinnati grounds with its `three for a quarter crowd’ has lost its usefulness,” O.P. Caylor, the reporter, wrote. “The bleacher boards just north of the old pavilion now holds the cheap crowd, which comes in at the end of the first inning on a discount.”
