Sports World Reacts To PETA's Baseball Suggestion
HOUSTON, TX - OCTOBER 27: Cristian Javier #53 of the Houston Astros warms up in the bullpen during Game 2 of the 2021 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) made news in the sports world today by demanding that Major League Baseball change the name of the pitcher's bullpen.
In a statement, PETA pointed out that a traditional "bullpen" is where bulls are held before they are slaughtered. They believe that a more appropriate word for the pitchers' warmup area would be "arm barn". The organization has even changed their Twitter nickname to Arm Barn to spread the word.
As with many tweets that PETA puts out these days, it was ratio'd like crazy. But not all of the comments were negative.
While many people have rolled their eyes at PETA's demand, a lot of people are actually loving it. Some believe that it's a pretty cool nickname and maybe even an improvement over what they have now:
Some people have already pledged to start calling the bullpen "the arm barn" regardless of whether the MLB changes it:
The term "bullpen" has been used to describe the pitchers' area in baseball as far back as the 1870s. But its etymology can be traced back all the way to the Civil War.
Most usages of the word throughout history have had overwhelmingly negative connotations.
There's certainly a case to be made for re-examining the word down the road.
But while arm barn seems to have some support behind it, it's hard to imagine the MLB acquiescing to PETA's demand.
That said, maybe we'll see some teams pick it up on their own accord.
