Dugout
My favorite place to be growing up was Haubner Field, a ballpark about a mile from my house. It had everything – smooth infield; concession stand; good drainage for those rainy Saturdays; and an outfield wall with names of advertisers. It was the home field for my Knothole (Little League) team. The most special spot there for my teammates and me was our home dugout along the third base side. Unlike other fields in the area, it was more than just a bench but an actual enclosed space with a gate allowing us entry onto the field. I can still see the couple of team aluminum bats and helmets we would place next to the gate. That home dugout kept us away from parents, siblings, and other spectators. We came together as a team in that dugout; it was our safe place, our home.
Historically, “dugout” has been used to describe the bench areas slightly depressed below field level on both sides of home plate. One of the reasons early designers of ballparks created dugouts for the teams was that fans with seats next to the field could more easily view the action. In the early days, most home teams in MLB located their dugouts on the third base side since the managers also served as the third base coaches for their teams. Today, 9 of the 15 teams in both the AL and NL have their home dugouts along the first base side. It’s truly just a matter of home field comfort, cutting down on the amount of running by a batter across the diamond after making an out. That home field advantage is also seen in our two oldest ballparks but in opposite directions. The Red Sox dugout at Fenway is on the first base side, while the Cubs find their residence at Wrigley along third base. In both cases, the opposing teams’ dugouts face the afternoon sun in day games!
MLB Rule 3.17 mandates that “no one except players, substitutes, managers, coaches, athletic trainers and batboys” can occupy a dugout during the game. For players and substitutes, that means you need to have secured a spot on the active roster. For decades the roster limit was 25 during the first five months of the season with the ability to expand to 40 players beginning September 1. The make-up of the 25-man roster has certainly evolved. It used to be common to have just 10 pitchers and 15 position players, which included the starting eight, backup position players, and specialty pinch hitters and pinch runners. More recently, the trend is to have a pitcher-dominated 25 that includes five starting pitchers and eight relievers. Prior to the 2020 season, MLB announced that it was expanding the rosters to 26 players and limiting the number of pitchers on the roster to just 13. The change would be a way to create more opportunities for position players and specialists. The pandemic shortened season of 2020 added health protocols to the considerations and roster limitations were revised throughout the season. MLB has returned to 26 player rosters in 2021, but there are no limitations on the number of pitchers. Many teams started the season with 14 pitchers on their roster.
There’s always a lot of chatter in the dugout, much of it directed toward the umpires. I’ve always found it fascinating to see (and sometimes hear) a home plate umpire and a manager arguing balls/strikes calls as the manager remains in the dugout. Under MLB Rule 9.02(a), a manager can be ejected for leaving the dugout and arguing about the strike zone. Baseball is famous for having “bench jockeys”, those who take great delight in harassing umpires from the dugout. While often that has been the role of the bench coach, Hall of Fame managers Earl Weaver and Bobby Cox were particularly famous for it. Today managers have the benefit of seeing replays of pitches to support their arguments. In 2016 the disputes between managers and umpires on balls/strikes calls became so out of control that MLB executive Joe Torre issued a memo to all teams and managers to cool it. The topic continues to be a hot one with the proposed use of electronic ball/strike calls.
We’ve also witnessed some great arguments inside the dugout. While managers and players wish to keep their internal disputes away from the public eye, sometimes television cameras capture the heated moments. The most famous one was in the visitors’ third base dugout at Fenway Park on a June 1978 nationally televised game between the Red Sox and Yankees. In the sixth inning of the game, Yankees star right fielder and slugger Reggie Jackson turned a Red Sox single into a double due to his lackadaisical effort to make the play. The fiery Yankees manager, Billy Martin, did the unthinkable immediately after the play – he replaced Jackson with Paul Blair before the next pitch was thrown. When Jackson returned to the dugout, he confronted Martin and the two had to be restrained from exchanging blows. Later that year, the Yankees won their second, consecutive world championship. Maybe the dugout discord was needed.
The Astros sign-stealing scandal that broke after the 2019 season brought some changes to the dugout. MLB banned in-game video for the 2020 season. No longer could hitters make in-game adjustments based on viewing previous at bats. Many cited this prohibition as the reason for the league-wide batting average of .246, the lowest since the 1968 season. Some of the great stars in the game – Christian Yelich, Cody Bellinger, Nolan Arenado, and Javier Baez -- saw dips in their batting averages last year. Nationals veteran Ryan Zimmerman gave the players’ perspective: “Hitters and pitchers, honestly, use video during the game, and it gives us the best chance to be successful . . . and put the best product on the field. Things like that, that help us perform better, should be able to be used.” Instead of lowering the mound to help boost batting averages (the reaction in 1969), MLB has agreed to allow players in the dugout to watch in-game video in 2021 on their personal tablets. The video seen by the players blurs out catcher signs (sorry, Astros).
The relief pitchers on the roster don’t sit in the dugout, but rather the bullpen. The origin of the term “bullpen” as the bench for relief pitchers in baseball has many theories. It was first used in an 1877 Cincinnati Enquirer article describing where players on the Reds sat during the game. My favorite theory is that the pitchers, bulls, would wait in their pen, before being sent off to slaughter. That 1877 Reds team finished in last place; its roster included only 3 pitchers. For many years, the bullpen was indeed simply a bench in playable foul territory. The bullpen consisted of two pitching rubbers and two home plates, side by side. Today, only two ballparks have their bullpens on the field in foul territory, Oakland Coliseum and Tampa’s Tropicana Field. The relief pitchers now have the safety of warming up in a secured area situated out of play and behind the outfield walls.
What do we call a scuffle between two teams when the players leave their respective dugouts and bullpens? That’s easy, a “bench clearing brawl”. Among the provisions of the collectively bargained MLB health and safety protocols in response to the pandemic, there is an explicit prohibition on fighting or instigating fights, such that any violator would be “severely punished”. That protocol was put to test in the first week of the MLB season. In the third game of the St. Louis vs. Cincinnati series, the Reds held a big lead in the fifth inning. Perhaps in response to slugger Nick Castellanos celebrating too much on his home run the day before, Cardinals reliever Jake Woodford hit Castellanos with a pitch. Later in the inning, Castellanos scored on a wild pitch as Woodford covered home. Words were exchanged; the “benches” cleared; and no punches were thrown. Castellanos was suspended for two games for instigating the fight, and a handful of players from both teams were fined. Castellanos has appealed the suspension.
My most vivid memory of the dugouts at Haubner Field when I was a kid is not the one on the home third base side, but rather the visitors’ dugout along the first base line. In August 1978 I was assigned to be the home plate umpire for a Thursday evening, C-1 matchup (9-year olds). When I arrived at the field, I noticed that the visiting team had a player numbered #14, Pete Rose Jr. His Dad was kind of famous, especially at that time. Pete Rose was in the midst of his NL-best 44 game hitting streak. It was an off day for the Reds; Rose had just reached 39 straight games the night before and Cincinnati was buzzing. In the second inning of this little league matchup, Pete Rose arrived to see his son play. For security reasons, Rose sat in the first base dugout. Late in the game, Pete Rose Jr. was at the plate with a 2-strike count. The pitch hit the outside corner, I raised my right hand signaling out, and never looked over to the first base dugout.
Until next Monday,
your Baseball Bench Coach