Bleachers got their name from the bleached-white appearance of wood after it sat in the sun for a long time. Only the richies could afford seats in the shade and the poors sat in the bleachers and got sunburn.
Evidence: imagine being a Nats fan before night games, a WW2 innovation in DC: if you got a bleacher ticket, you got bleached.
You need to give fans more credit than that. A properly attired fan had very little exposed skin. This from Griffith Stadium in 1924:
