Bleacher
Encyclopedia
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
used to describe the raised, tiered rows of seats (stands
Stands
Stands may refer to:*The Stands, an English rock band*Bleachers, a seating or standing areas at a sports venue *Stand , a supernatural power in the manga and anime JoJo's Bizarre Adventure...
) found at sports fields or at other spectator events. Stairways access the horizontal rows of seats, often with every other step gaining access to a row of seats.
In simple bleachers the alternate steps of the access stairways continue sideways, forming a narrow walkway in front of a row of seats.
Seats range from simple plank seats to more elaborate seats with backrests. Many bleachers are open to the ground below-- there are only the planks to sit and walk on; if you drop something it can fall off of the planks to the ground below. Some bleachers have vertical panels beneath the seats either partially or completely blocking the way to the ground.
Name origins
A key feature of bleachers is that they are typically uncovered and unprotected from the sun; thus the wooden boards used to make the 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.Other terms, such as "bleacher seats" and "bleacher entrance" and "a home run into the bleachers", are ambiguous enough that they could refer to either the seats or the fans.
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
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
's "bleacher bums", or Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium was a stadium located in The Bronx in New York City, New York. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. The stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the former home of the New York...
's Bleacher Creatures
Bleacher Creatures
The Bleacher Creatures are a group of fans of the New York Yankees who are known for their strict allegiance to the team and their merciless attitude to opposing fans...
are also used
Types
Bleacher structures vary depending on the location, but most outdoor modern bleachers have either an aluminum tube or steel angle understructure (known as frame-type bleachers) or steel I-beams (known as an I-beam bleacher). Most smaller bleachers are frame-type bleachers and most larger bleachers are I-Beam bleachers. A bleacher is known as a grandstand when it contains VIP seats. Bleachers are long rows of benches, often consisting of alternating steps and seats. They range in size from small, modular, aluminum stands that can be moved around soccer or field hockeyField hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
fields to large permanent structures that flank each side of an American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
field. Bleachers are hollow underneath, aside from their support structures. Some bleachers have locker rooms underneath them. In indoor gymnasia
Gym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...
, bleachers can be built in so that they slide on a track or on wheel
Wheel
A wheel is a device that allows heavy objects to be moved easily through rotating on an axle through its center, facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load, or performing labor in machines. Common examples found in transport applications. A wheel, together with an axle,...
s and fold in an accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
-like, stacking manner. These type of bleachers are known as telescoping bleachers.
Baseball
In baseballBaseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
stadiums, the bleachers are usually located beyond the outfield fences. However, center-field bleachers are located in the line of sight of the batter, and the presence of fans makes it difficult for the batter to pick out the ball. As a result, most stadiums have vacant areas or black backgrounds where the seats would be. This is known as either the "Backdrop" or the Batter's eye
Batter's eye
The batter's eye or batter's eye screen is a solid-colored, usually dark area beyond the center field wall of a baseball stadium, that is the visual backdrop directly in the line of sight of a baseball batter, while facing the pitcher and awaiting a pitch. This dark surface allows the batter to see...
. The old Yankee Stadium featured black-painted vacant bleachers -- nicknamed the black by baseball fans -- since it reopened in 1976 after a two-year renovation. In the original Stadium, the center-field section of the bleachers was originally occupied, though from the 1950s they were obscured with a portable screen.
Though many stadiums offer only bleacher seating, in those that offer both seats and bleachers, the bleachers are typically in less desirable locations and/or have lower ticket prices, giving the term "bleachers" a connotation of lower-class seating.
Cultural impact
The term "under the bleachers" is imbued with cultural meaning from the post-warWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era of American
Culture of the United States
The Culture of the United States is a Western culture originally influenced by European cultures. It has been developing since long before the United States became a country with its own unique social and cultural characteristics such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, cuisine, and folklore...
high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
stars and cheerleaders. In the sexually conservative society of post-war America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, some students would find places like the bleachers at the football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
field, or a secluded parking lot
Parking lot
A parking lot , also known as car lot, is a cleared area that is intended for parking vehicles. Usually, the term refers to a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface....
, to interact socially and sexually with their peers. The "bleachers" have been given cultural
Culture of the United States
The Culture of the United States is a Western culture originally influenced by European cultures. It has been developing since long before the United States became a country with its own unique social and cultural characteristics such as dialect, music, arts, social habits, cuisine, and folklore...
connotations of the innocence
Innocence
Innocence is a term used to indicate a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, sin, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence refers to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime.-Symbolism:...
of high school and youth. The British equivalent is "behind the bike sheds".