[Ads-l] Antedating and Semantic Suggestion for "Bullpen" (Baseball)

Shapiro, Fred fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU
Sun Mar 23 22:11:05 UTC 2025


bullpen (OED, 1.b., 1924)

“Dixie Walker warmed up in the bullpen with Groom, but was saved for tomorrow’s game.” Washington Times, May 19, 1912, p16.

NOTE:  This antedating was found by Ken Liss.

SEMANTIC SUGGESTION:  The OED definition refers only to the "bullpen" as a physical space.  The word is also used very often to refer to the players who are relief pitchers.

Fred Shapiro

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