bleacher bum

noun

US

: a sports fan and especially a baseball fan who frequently attends games and sits in the bleachers

From the grandstands, they saw bleacher bums sprawling in the sun beyond the outfield, …

—Brent Staples, New York Times Magazine, 17 May 1987

He was born near Wrigley Field. And, says Bob (Chicago) Girsch, "I was a left-field bleacher bum for 15 years. I hung out with all the crazies."

—Beth Ann Krier, Los Angeles Times, 14 Dec. 1989

Word History

First Known Use

1969, in the meaning defined above

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