Name Origins
A key feature of bleachers is that they are typically uncovered and unprotected from the sun; thus the wooden seats were "bleached by the sun." The term "bleachers" used in this sense can be traced back to at least 1889. The Dickson Baseball Dictionary states that the open seating area was called the "bleaching boards", as early as 1877. Dickson lists as a secondary definition the fans sitting in them. By the early 1900s, the term "bleachers" was being used for both the seating area and its inhabitants.
In modern usage the term "bleachers" almost always refers to just the seating area, and those sitting there may be called "bleacher fans", or "bleacherites". Terms such as Chicago's "bleacher bums", or Yankee Stadium's Bleacher Creatures are also used.
Read more about this topic: Bleacher
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
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