Pine Tar and Bull Pens

[EarlJam]

All of this baseball talk just got me to thinking (sorry, how my mind works) about two very random questions:

1. Do players still use pine tar on the bats? Remember the George Brett incident?

2. Where does the term "Bullpen" come from. What an interesting name.

-EarlJam

[OZZIE4DUKE]

All of this baseball talk just got me to thinking (sorry, how my mind works) about two very random questions:

1. Do players still use pine tar on the bats? Remember the George Brett incident?

2. Where does the term "Bullpen" come from. What an interesting name.

-EarlJam

1. Yes.

2. I asked that very same question in a letter to John Gambling (Rambling with Gambling radio show) in 1967 when I was 13. I heard him read the question on the radio, but never got the answer. Until the movie Bull Durham came out. The term originated in Durham, NC. The area where pitchers warmed up was under a sign for local tobacco company Bull Durham, which of course featured a large bull. The area became known as a "bull pen".

[hc5duke]

2. I asked that very same question in a letter to John Gambling (Rambling with Gambling radio show) in 1967 when I was 13. I heard him read the question on the radio, but never got the answer. Until the movie Bull Durham came out. The term originated in Durham, NC. The area where pitchers warmed up was under a sign for local tobacco company Bull Durham, which of course featured a large bull. The area became known as a "bull pen".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullpen has that listed among 8 other theories...