Watching pitchers warm up before and during the game is part of the experience. Terrible move for the Cubs to hide the bullpens in the caverns of the bleachers. The bullpen in play was the best location.
Put all bullpens underground, when a pitcher gets called in, they ride up an elevator, into an area that's filled with fog so we can see the pitcher in question dramatically walk out of the fog with their entrance music.
I miss some things about bullpens of times past. In old Cleveland Stadium, they were first behind the outfield fence, and a car or a cart brought the relief pitchers in. Then they moved them to the foul lines. I can clearly remember hearing the catcher's glove pop as Goose Gossage warmed up in the visitor's pen. One year for the Tribe, Dave LaRoche had a great season. When he got the call, he would walk slowly to the mound, jacket over one arm, like a bullfighter. The PA system played "La Marseilles". He milked those moments. It was great theater.
I liked the old Shea Stadium layout. The visitors behind the left fence, the Mets in right field. Same side as their dugouts. Many ballparks had that design at the time. At Three Rivers Stadium, they had the home opposite side, left, from the dugout on the 1st base side, (the opposite of the visitors). This was to make it easier for the respective teams to look across and see their bullpens from the dugout instead of down the line.
County Stadium's bullpens were out behind Right Field one in front of the other. Oriole Park at Camden Yards was the first MLB Ballpark to go with the stacked bullpen concept.
Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia has the bullpens one in front of the other too. Interestingly, the original plan was for the bullpen the Phillies use to be the upper one closer to the seating, but in actuality the visitor bullpen is that upper one closer to the seating. This allows Phillies fans to terrorize the opponent’s pitchers ;)
He doesn't mention that in the original Oracle Park design, they forgot to put bullpens in at all. So the teams had to warm up down the foul lines. So the center field bullpens were a fix.
Is "forgot" the right word? The ballpark was designed by a prestigious architectural firm that had designed numerous MLB ballparks before. They put the bullpens in play intentionally, because they wanted it to be a nostalgic throwback much like the rest of the park's design.
@@Am-Not-Jarvis According to the announcers on one game at PacBell, the designers forgot to include the bullpens. After receiving your reply, I researched this and found it was an urban legend, and you are correct after all. Thanks.
Yankee Stadium 1.0, the original 1923 House That Was Built For Ruth, had the bullpens perpendicular to the outfield wall, in the delivery/emergency vehicle runways. Seemed to me to be a good use of the space, since after all, who cared if the surface wasn't dirt, aside from the pitching mounds?
"Rogers Centre very rarely hosted football games" ...the CFL exists ya know 😅😂 From 1989-2015 the Toronto Argonauts called it home until they moved to BMO Field when the ballpark underwent major renovations
I'm biased, but I like how Fenway Park's bullpens are setup in right field. Fans get a good view of them, and the pitchers get a good view of the game. And with the short porch, it's fun seeing outfielders occasionally go over the fence into the bullpen in the attempt to rob home runs.
Emergency vehicles have to get into Oracle so they could not really put the bull pens down that way. Center field is where they grow grass and keep equipment I agree I dislike what they did but they were limited.
I really dislike the “vertical” layout, if your team is carrying a lot of relief, or someone is throwing thier off day, there isn’t enough seating for the players
My favorite bullpen in baseball is the classic Dodger Stadium bullpen, no obstructed view, vertical, the gate opens when the reliever comes out, plain and simple
Those seats in front of the bullpen are premium seats. You can't even buy them online. Essentially, the Guardians took cheap seats and turned them into premium ones = more revenue for the club while also cutting down on seating in the depths of the stadium. Not a bad move (but I don't like the fact that the bullpens could technically watch each other, that could lead to more temptation to cheat).
I hate when bullpens take up space making the fans further from the field or where fans could be sitting getting a home run ball etc. Phils, Rockies, DBacks are some of the best, kind of out of the way of field seats and not an eyesore. Mariners, and Royals rendering just take up premium seating spots right behind the fence.
I am not a fan of bullpens that move fans in the bleachers away from the field, especially closer to the foul lines or horizontal. Colorado and Seattle are my least favorites because of the big walls that push fans back to the second deck. Put the fans closer to the field and move the bullpens.
Phillies stadium away team bull pen was designed for the fans to intimidate the visiting team go to a gam its brutal security has to stand their the whole time the pitching staff hats that bull pen.
Not true. The top bullpen was initially the Phillies bullpen when the stadium first opened. Billy Wagner and the other Phillies' pitchers complained that they didn't like having the fans right on top of them, so they switched the Phillies bullpen to the lower, and the visitors to the upper.
It’s weird to me how for over 100 years is was totally fine to have a bullpen in foul territory and within the last 10 years it’s so taboo to even think of having a bullpen in play…? I always thought it was awesome and a fun obstacle to watch an outfielder navigate.
I liked them just like they were at Wrigley until 2016. Right the other side of the 1st and 3rd baselines. That’s old school and I miss it. It added a cool dimension to watch the fielders going into foul territory after a pop fly too.
