Diamondbacks bringing back bullpen golf cart

The bullpen cart is back in Major League Baseball. But for the Arizona Diamondbacks, the golf cart used to transport relievers from the bullpen as they enter the game will make its debut.

No motorized vehicle has been used to transport relievers from the bullpen since 1995, when the Milwaukee Brewers utilized a motorcycle and sidecar as a bullpen cart. That was three years before the D-backs debuted on the diamond.

“I’ve wanted to do this for years,” Arizona President and CEO Derrick Hall said on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s Doug & Wolf. “The reason why I didn’t until this year this is because I always worried that the pitchers would look like they were too good to walk out there or run out there.”

As the team celebrates its 20th anniversary, Hall made the move.

The Diamondbacks’ cart, which is made by SportsKartz and sponsored by delivery service OnTrac, will serve both the Arizona and opponent bullpens, driving them along the warning track and dropping them at their dugout before they walk to the mound. Using the golf cart will not be required.

Arizona’s cart is fitted with a black D-backs cap sitting atop a body shell designed as a baseball.

Historians believe the first use of a bullpen cart was by the Cleveland Indians in 1950. They used a “little red wagon” to transport pitchers. Over the next few decades, the practice became common across baseball.

“I can remember being a kid and you’d see these carts come out – that was one of the most exciting parts of the game!” Hall said.

Archie Bradley is excited about it, Hall said, but the pitchers are superstitious. Changing their routines may affect performance.

“We’ll have those exhibition games and if they perform poorly, you know they’re not gonna get back in those,” Hall said.

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