Pesky's Pole - Foul or Fair?
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Why is Pesky's Pole, the foul pole at Fenway Park, fair? This is the question that has been plaguing baseball fans for decades?
This is a neat little cache just outside the playing field! Stealth required on game days! Use the coords, not the description, to lead you to GZ.
Take a trip out to the ball game at Broadford and sit a spell, munching on cracker jacks and hot dogs. While the Broadford Major's are not located at Fenway Park, Pesky's Pole is!
Pesky's Pole is the nickname for the right field foul pole at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. It is named after Johnny Pesky, who played second base, shortstop and third base for the Red Sox from 1942 to 1952, except for 1943-45 during World War II. The pole sits only 302 feet (92 meters) away from home plate. Like the measurement of the left-field line at Fenway Park, this has been disputed. Aerial shots show it to be noticeably shorter than the (actual) 302 foot line in right, and Pesky himself has been quoted as estimating it to be "around 295 feet."
According to Pesky, the nickname was coined by former Red Sox pitcher Mel Parnell. Parnell thought up the name after Pesky won him the game with a blooper over the fence near the pole in 1948. Pesky was a slap hitter who hit just 17 home runs in his career (6 at Fenway Park) [1]; thus, he was a hitter who would have benefited greatly from the short, easy-to-reach fence. However, research has suggested that he was unlikely to have hit many home runs around the pole.
The term, though it had been in use since the 1950s, became far more common when Parnell became a Red Sox broadcaster. It is often erroneously referred to as The Pesky Pole.
On September 27, 2006, on Pesky's 87th birthday, the Red Sox organization officially dedicated the right field foul pole as Pesky's Pole with a commemorative plaque placed at its base.
The seat directly on the foul side of Pesky's Pole in the front row is Section 94, Row E, Seat 5 and is usually sold as a lone ticket.
But why then, when a ball hits the foul pole on the fly, it is still a fair ball? Good question! The line up both the right and left field lines, known as the Foul Lines, and by extension the poles at the end of the lines, are considered to be in fair territory. So only a ball which touches the ground completely to the right of the foul line or pole, is foul! Ergo, a ball hitting the foul pole, in flight, is considered to be a fair ball and playable! Anyone one else confused yet :D ?
If you are still confused, take the time to sit a spell and chat with the locals at a game ..... you may learn a thing or two, and you never know, you may just see the foul pole hit by a fair ball!
Cache is NOT on the playing field! Many thanks to the Kilmore Harper, a local cacher, for managing this cache for me, so many miles from my home turf!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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