Johnny Pesky is a Red Sox legend. In 2006, the Red Sox officially renamed the right field foul pole "Pesky's Pole". In 2008, the team retired his number, #6, but they broke one of their own rules regarding retired jersey numbers. In order to have one's Red Sox number retired, one must have played 10 seasons with the Sox, be voted into the Hall of Fame, and finished one's career with the Sox. He has 2 of the 3 qualifications, but because of his lifetime commitment to them, he was rewarded by having his number retired.
Although the pole was officially renamed in 2006, the name of "Pesky's Pole" had been coined years earlier. The story goes that Mel Parnell called it that name after Pesky hit 1 of his 17 career home runs in extra innings for a walk off win. But if you dig deeper, you will find that Pesky hit only 6 of those homers were hit in Fenway Park. Dig deeper still and you will find that he only hit 1 home run that he hit while Parnell was pitching, on June 6th, 1950, the 2nd game of a double header that day. If you go just a little bit furthur you will find that that home run was hit in the 1st inning.
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