Johnny Pesky hit only six home runs in his MLB career at Fenway Park. But somehow, his name perseveres as the moniker for the remarkably short right field foul pole at the home of the Boston Red Sox.
The pole, positioned a mere 302 feet from home plate, had a moment on Wednesday. That’s when Ceddanne Rafaela lofted a fly ball down the right field line in a tie game in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The ball didn’t hit the pole, but it tucked just inside fair territory. At 308 feet, it wouldn’t have been a home run in any other ballpark but Fenway.
In Fenway, though, it was a walk-off two-run homer and an homage to Pesky’s Pole.
The shortest walk-off home run you’ll ever see. pic.twitter.com/lahSicSbdZ
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 4, 2025
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This almost certainly isn’t the shortest walk-off homer in baseball history, for two reasons.
One, old stadiums sometimes had even weirder dimensions. The Polo Grounds was less than 300 feet down both foul lines.
You could also end up with a walk-off inside-the-parker that lands shorter than this, squirts by an outfielder and ends up as a game-ender.
But as far as over the fence in the modern game, you can’t get a shorter one unless it literally hits that very foul pole.
Ironically, Rafaela showed off massive pull power just a night earlier, turning on a ball and hitting it over the Green Monster entirely and down onto Lansdowne Street.
But this one is the one that earned him a home plate mobbing. Baseball is pretty cool.
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