PETA Calls On MLB to Rename 'Bullpen' to 'Arm Barn'
The game of baseball has changed over the years. Even some of the language inside the game has changed. For example, the "Disabled List" was changed to "Injured List" just a few years ago.
Now, Major League Baseball is facing pressure to make another change to its phraseology.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is calling for MLB to remove the word "bullpen" from the game in favor of a "more modern, animal-friendly" term.
So, what is PETA's recommendation? The "arm barn".
“Words matter, and baseball ‘bullpens’ devalue talented players and mock the misery of sensitive animals,” said PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman in a press release. “PETA encourages Major League Baseball coaches, announcers, players, and fans to changeup their language and embrace the ‘arm barn’ instead.”
PETA noted that actual bullpens are holding areas where "terrified bulls" are kept before they are slaughtered, and cows are hung upside down and their throats are slit in the meat industry. PETA also says "gentle bulls" are kept in bullpens in rodeos before they are "tormented into kicking and bucking by being electro-shocked or prodded".
MLB has quite a bit on their plate right now. Atop their list of priorities is a Collective Bargaining Agreement that expires on Dec. 1, and the league is currently in negotiations with the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) in an effort to come to an agreement on a new CBA before the current one expires. Otherwise, MLB could be heading for its first work stoppage in 26 years—the first since the infamous players strike that prematurely ended the 1994 season and canceled the World Series.
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