ESPN: Lukas: Long live the bullpen car

If I hadn’t popped my drops when I was 14 to a girl in a psychedelic shack, I surely would have to Spakky Lyle tossing his jacket as he emerged from the Yankee bullpen car in ‘72…with “Pomp and Circumstance” monarhingly playing.

Historical details are sketchy, but the bullpen vehicle era appears to have begun in 1950, when the Indians introduced a car—described in a newspaper report as a “little red auto”—to ferry pitchers to the mound. The phenomenon really hit its stride in the 1970s, thanks to the advent of the giant baseball design, but it went through a slow decline in the 1980s and by 1996 had died out altogether, a victim of changing times and skyrocketing liability insurance rates. Here’s a selective breakdown of highlights from along the way:

1986: With happy fans spilling onto the field after the Mets’ division-clinching victory on Sept. 17, Mets fan and former Shea Stadium vendor Eric Bennett heads straight to the bullpen, where he hijacks the team’s bullpen buggy. He takes it for a brief outfield joyride before the engine conks out.