The best thing about the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo isn’t the gold medals, athletes or events, it’s the vehicle being used to bring in relief pitchers in the baseball tournament.
The Toyota-built “Glove Car” features a baseball diamond on the floor of the vehicle and the pitcher sits on a giant glove in the back, looking like a baseball king!
The car is being used to keep social distance between the pitcher and players and there is even reportedly a distance of six feet between the pitcher and driver (to comply with guidelines).
Bullpen cars, while popular in the MLB in the 1970s and 80s is still being used in Japanese baseball.
Cars that would bring in the reliever to the mound were used between 1950-the mid-1990s
I for one loved the bullpen cars because they were essentially a golf cart with a giant baseball hat on top.
The Washington Nationals introduced one a few seasons ago, but most pitchers didn’t use it (the reason it was phased out in the first place).