Fenway Park produces home runs like no other ballpark. They don’t get more Fenway than this.
During the sixth inning of Monday’s game between the Red Sox and Cleveland Guardians, Boston shortstop Trevor Story hit a fly ball down the right-field line.
Guardians right fielder Jhonkensy Noel made a play on the ball near the foul pole that at first glance bounced off his glove and onto the top of the low-standing outfield wall. It appeared to be a foul ball. Noel gathered the ball and casually threw it back to the infield, believing that it was a foul ball, as it had been called in real time.
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But replay told another story. Boston challenged the call on the field, and it was changed upon replay review. The ball actually glanced off Noel’s glove and directly into the foul pole, affectionately known in Boston as the Pesky Pole for former Red Sox shortstop Johnny Pesky.
This was no foul ball. Instead, it was a solo home run that extended Boston’s lead to 6-3, much to the delight of the Fenway faithful. The Red Sox went on to secure a 6-4 win.
Officially, Pesky Pole sits 302 feet from home plate, making it the shortest distance needed for a home run in MLB. It’s home to the shortest home runs of MLB’s Statcast era, and Story’s home run on Monday is now part of that list.
Per MLB’s Sarah Langs, Story’s is the shortest home run of the 2025 season and the second-shortest in the history of the Statcast era that started in 2015.
Story’s fly ball didn’t go far. It didn’t have to. And Story will surely, gladly accept his entry into the Pesky Pole history book.
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