Would the Yankees relievers ride in a retro bullpen cart? At least D-Rob is a ''yes''

TAMPA, Fla. – In a bygone era, when spring training was a time to shed winter pounds, bullpen carts often delivered relievers – some wearing handlebar mustaches – into big-league games.

Many of those modified golf carts were quirky and topped by over-sized “caps’’ of each team.

This year, in a retro tribute that predates their 20-year-old franchise, the Arizona Diamondbacks are bringing back the bullpen cart.

And if the Yankees were to follow suit, would anyone dare to…

“Yeah. Absolutely,’’ an enthusiastic David Robertson said, when asked if he’d enter a game in such a contraption. “It’s wonderfully ridiculous.’’

Yet, few of Robertson’s bullpen mates were willing to channel their inner-Tug McGraw.

“Of course, D-Rob said ‘yes,’ ’’ Adam Warren said with a laugh. And then he tried to imagine himself in one.

“It’d just be weird. Do you talk to the guy driving?’’ Warren said. “But I’ll be interested to see if anybody else would want to do it.’’

A few lockers down at Steinbrenner Field, there was a tentative “yes.’’

“I’m the slowest guy running in, so maybe using a cart would help,’’ Dellin Betances said with a dry wit. “Maybe I won’t be as tired when I come in.

“Would they take you across the field?’’

No, but that was frequently asked among the relievers.

Standing near Betances, starter Sonny Gray seemed amused, or bemused, by the whole thing.

“That’s what they’re actually going to do?” asked Gray, possibly wondering if baseball could get any softer. “They’re going to drive you around the warning track?’

Yes, and in a style not scene since Sparky Lyle’s days.

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“I want to hear what he says,’’ Robertson said of closer Aroldis Chapman, busy chuckling at a picture of a vintage, cap-roofed bullpen cart shown from a reporter’s iPhone.

“I’d rather run,’’ Chapman said via interpreter, then he laughed again. “Maybe one day, if I’m a little exhausted, I’d do it.’’

And that got Robertson to thinking.

By riding into a game, “It would ruin the walk-out music,’’ Robertson said.

Imagine Mariano Rivera…rolling into the ninth inning to “Enter Sandman?’’

Fortunately, the days of Yankees relievers entering games in a pinstriped-painted Datsun ended by the early 1980s.

But in the interests of shaving a few more seconds off game times, perhaps the bullpen cart might make a bigger comeback.

“Would I have to (ride)?’’ said Chasen Shreve, asking the second most popular question.

Tommy Kahnle sounded eager to out-race any cart.

“I’m not going to ride one,’’ Kahnle said. “How much faster is that cart than the person running in?’’

For most of the Yankees, the run from the ‘pen to the mound is a way to channel energy and focus, something they’d be reluctant to give up.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it, I guess,’’ Chad Green said of riding in a cart. “But personally, I like running in. I feel like it calms my nerves a little bit.’’

Running gets “that adrenaline going a bit, gives you a chance to kind of gather your thoughts,’’ Warren said. “You get the feel of the crowd, it gets your mind right.’’

At least Betances was willing to try a spring training test drive.

“I’d like to use it here first,’’ Betances said. “But if it’s cold, I’d rather run.’’

This camp, Robertson has been zipping around Steinbrenner Field in a collapsible scooter - “perfect, if you don’t mind looking like a dork’’ - so the bullpen cart is a natural next step.

“I can’t imagine it, but I think it’s great,’’ Robertson said. “I’m all for it. Let’s do it.’’