Hunter Pence Signs

2014Sign meme / sports stadium meme / hashtagclassic

Also known as: #HunterPenceSigns

Hunter Pence Signs is a 2014 sports stadium meme where fans at MLB games hold up absurdist signs mocking outfielder Hunter Pence with outlandish accusations about his personal habits.

Hunter Pence Signs are a series of humorous, absurdist signs created by baseball fans to mock San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence with bizarre fake accusations about his personal habits. The trend started at Citi Field in August 2014 when Mets fans held up signs like "Hunter Pence eats pizza with a fork" and quickly spread to stadiums across Major League Baseball, fueled by the #HunterPenceSigns hashtag on Twitter.

baseball memesabsurdist humor memeshashtag memessign memes

Overview

Hunter Pence Signs follow a simple formula: accuse Giants outfielder Hunter Pence of doing something hilariously mundane and slightly wrong. The signs don't attack his playing ability or character. Instead, they paint him as someone who commits minor social crimes, like putting ketchup on a hot dog (a serious faux pas in New York) or eating pizza with a fork4. The humor comes from the absurdity of using a stadium sign, normally reserved for cheering or trash talk, to call out someone's imaginary quirky habits.

The signs are typically oversized, hand-written on poster board, and held up during games when Pence is visible on the field or at bat. The format became so popular that fans at other stadiums adopted it, creating their own variations tailored to local customs and inside jokes1.

On August 1, 2014, the San Francisco Giants opened a four-game series against the New York Mets at Citi Field in Queens, New York. During the game, two fans were caught on TV holding signs that mocked Pence by claiming he commits classic New York food sins, specifically putting ketchup on a hot dog and eating pizza with a fork4. The @MLBGIFs Twitter account posted an animated GIF of the hecklers, which picked up over 940 favorites and 860 retweets within the first week4.

The signs were never mean-spirited. They targeted Pence precisely because he was well-liked and known for his somewhat eccentric playing style and personality, making him the perfect target for lighthearted roasting1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Citi Field stadium (physical signs), Twitter (viral spread)
Creator
Two anonymous New York Mets fans
Date
2014

On August 1, 2014, the San Francisco Giants opened a four-game series against the New York Mets at Citi Field in Queens, New York. During the game, two fans were caught on TV holding signs that mocked Pence by claiming he commits classic New York food sins, specifically putting ketchup on a hot dog and eating pizza with a fork. The @MLBGIFs Twitter account posted an animated GIF of the hecklers, which picked up over 940 favorites and 860 retweets within the first week.

The signs were never mean-spirited. They targeted Pence precisely because he was well-liked and known for his somewhat eccentric playing style and personality, making him the perfect target for lighthearted roasting.

How It Spread

By August 3, the @MLBFanCave Twitter account posted photos of additional Mets fans holding their own Pence signs, pulling in over 960 retweets and 880 favorites within four days. Twitter user @armigloo also posted multiple tweets with the #HunterPenceSigns hashtag, and according to Twitter analytics site Topsy, the hashtag was tweeted over 7,000 times in the next 72 hours.

Pence responded to the trolling the only way an athlete can: by crushing the baseball. He went 6-for-18 (.333) against the Mets during the series, hitting two doubles, two triples, and two home runs.

The signs didn't stop when the Giants left New York. On August 5, fans at Miller Park in Milwaukee held their own Hunter Pence signs during the Brewers' series against the Giants, and the Brewers' official Twitter account posted photos of them. The trend then followed Pence to Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. One Kansas City fan held a sign reading "Hunter Pence thinks he's in Kansas." Pence later admitted to Yahoo's Tim Brown that he saw the sign and thought, "We're not?" before learning that Kansas City's stadium is actually in Missouri.

On August 6, Pence fully embraced the bit. He posted photos of himself with his own #HunterPenceSigns captions, joking about his inability to parallel park and his habit of returning library books early. His girlfriend Alexis Cozombolidis also joined in, tweeting a photo with her own Pence sign joke. Even Pete Rose got in on the action with his own sign, though it was, by most accounts, a tamer effort.

The meme also spawned copycats at other ballparks. Blue Jays fans created similar signs targeting Orioles player Chris Davis during a series in Toronto, as reported by the Baltimore Sun. Pence himself seemed to enjoy the whole thing, telling CBS Sports: "It's like Hunter Pence is not me anymore. It's this other entity now. It's an extremely interesting entity".

How to Use This Meme

The Hunter Pence Signs format is simple to replicate:

1

Pick a target (originally Hunter Pence, but the format works for any athlete or public figure).

2

Write "Hunter Pence [does something harmlessly weird]" on a large sign.

3

The accusation should be absurd but oddly specific, like "Hunter Pence brings 11 items to the 10 items or less lane" or "Hunter Pence puts his socks on after his shoes."

4

Hold the sign up at a sporting event where the target can see it.

Cultural Impact

The Hunter Pence Signs trend marked an early case of stadium fan culture and social media feeding off each other in real time. Official MLB team accounts, including the Kansas City Royals and Milwaukee Brewers, actively promoted the signs rather than ignoring them. This gave the meme an unusual level of institutional endorsement for what was essentially organized heckling.

Yahoo Sports later produced a video segment called "Real or Fake Hunter Pence Signs" where the two-time World Series champion sat down and tried to determine which sign accusations about him were real and which were made up. The segment played on the fact that Pence's actual personality was quirky enough that some of the fake accusations were genuinely hard to distinguish from reality.

The meme also provided one of the more charming moments of the 2014 World Series between the Giants and Royals. The Kansas City "Hunter Pence thinks he's in Kansas" sign, combined with Pence's genuine confusion about Missouri geography, made national sports coverage.

Fun Facts

Pence went on an offensive tear during the original Mets series where the signs started, hitting.333 with extra-base hits in nearly every game, as if the signs fueled him.

The #HunterPenceSigns hashtag hit 7,000 tweets in just 72 hours after it started trending.

Pence genuinely did not know that Kansas City (and the Royals' Kauffman Stadium) is in Missouri, not Kansas, calling the geography "tricky".

The Giants' own Cafe SFG at AT&T Park invited fans to bring their Hunter Pence signs to the stadium.

Derivatives & Variations

Copycat player signs:

Blue Jays fans created similar signs targeting Chris Davis during a series against the Orioles, applying the same format to a different player[1].

Self-referential signs:

Pence himself created his own signs, including "Hunter Pence can't parallel park" and "Hunter Pence returns library books early"[4].

Celebrity contributions:

Baseball Hall of Famer Pete Rose made his own Hunter Pence sign, described as a tribute to "someone who plays the game the right way"[2].

Frequently Asked Questions

Hunter Pence Signs

2014Sign meme / sports stadium meme / hashtagclassic

Also known as: #HunterPenceSigns

Hunter Pence Signs is a 2014 sports stadium meme where fans at MLB games hold up absurdist signs mocking outfielder Hunter Pence with outlandish accusations about his personal habits.

Hunter Pence Signs are a series of humorous, absurdist signs created by baseball fans to mock San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence with bizarre fake accusations about his personal habits. The trend started at Citi Field in August 2014 when Mets fans held up signs like "Hunter Pence eats pizza with a fork" and quickly spread to stadiums across Major League Baseball, fueled by the #HunterPenceSigns hashtag on Twitter.

baseball memes absurdist humor memes hashtag memes sign memes

Overview

Hunter Pence Signs follow a simple formula: accuse Giants outfielder Hunter Pence of doing something hilariously mundane and slightly wrong. The signs don't attack his playing ability or character. Instead, they paint him as someone who commits minor social crimes, like putting ketchup on a hot dog (a serious faux pas in New York) or eating pizza with a fork. The humor comes from the absurdity of using a stadium sign, normally reserved for cheering or trash talk, to call out someone's imaginary quirky habits.

The signs are typically oversized, hand-written on poster board, and held up during games when Pence is visible on the field or at bat. The format became so popular that fans at other stadiums adopted it, creating their own variations tailored to local customs and inside jokes.

On August 1, 2014, the San Francisco Giants opened a four-game series against the New York Mets at Citi Field in Queens, New York. During the game, two fans were caught on TV holding signs that mocked Pence by claiming he commits classic New York food sins, specifically putting ketchup on a hot dog and eating pizza with a fork. The @MLBGIFs Twitter account posted an animated GIF of the hecklers, which picked up over 940 favorites and 860 retweets within the first week.

The signs were never mean-spirited. They targeted Pence precisely because he was well-liked and known for his somewhat eccentric playing style and personality, making him the perfect target for lighthearted roasting.

Origin & Background

Platform
Citi Field stadium (physical signs), Twitter (viral spread)
Creator
Two anonymous New York Mets fans
Date
2014

On August 1, 2014, the San Francisco Giants opened a four-game series against the New York Mets at Citi Field in Queens, New York. During the game, two fans were caught on TV holding signs that mocked Pence by claiming he commits classic New York food sins, specifically putting ketchup on a hot dog and eating pizza with a fork. The @MLBGIFs Twitter account posted an animated GIF of the hecklers, which picked up over 940 favorites and 860 retweets within the first week.

The signs were never mean-spirited. They targeted Pence precisely because he was well-liked and known for his somewhat eccentric playing style and personality, making him the perfect target for lighthearted roasting.

How It Spread

By August 3, the @MLBFanCave Twitter account posted photos of additional Mets fans holding their own Pence signs, pulling in over 960 retweets and 880 favorites within four days. Twitter user @armigloo also posted multiple tweets with the #HunterPenceSigns hashtag, and according to Twitter analytics site Topsy, the hashtag was tweeted over 7,000 times in the next 72 hours.

Pence responded to the trolling the only way an athlete can: by crushing the baseball. He went 6-for-18 (.333) against the Mets during the series, hitting two doubles, two triples, and two home runs.

The signs didn't stop when the Giants left New York. On August 5, fans at Miller Park in Milwaukee held their own Hunter Pence signs during the Brewers' series against the Giants, and the Brewers' official Twitter account posted photos of them. The trend then followed Pence to Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. One Kansas City fan held a sign reading "Hunter Pence thinks he's in Kansas." Pence later admitted to Yahoo's Tim Brown that he saw the sign and thought, "We're not?" before learning that Kansas City's stadium is actually in Missouri.

On August 6, Pence fully embraced the bit. He posted photos of himself with his own #HunterPenceSigns captions, joking about his inability to parallel park and his habit of returning library books early. His girlfriend Alexis Cozombolidis also joined in, tweeting a photo with her own Pence sign joke. Even Pete Rose got in on the action with his own sign, though it was, by most accounts, a tamer effort.

The meme also spawned copycats at other ballparks. Blue Jays fans created similar signs targeting Orioles player Chris Davis during a series in Toronto, as reported by the Baltimore Sun. Pence himself seemed to enjoy the whole thing, telling CBS Sports: "It's like Hunter Pence is not me anymore. It's this other entity now. It's an extremely interesting entity".

How to Use This Meme

The Hunter Pence Signs format is simple to replicate:

1

Pick a target (originally Hunter Pence, but the format works for any athlete or public figure).

2

Write "Hunter Pence [does something harmlessly weird]" on a large sign.

3

The accusation should be absurd but oddly specific, like "Hunter Pence brings 11 items to the 10 items or less lane" or "Hunter Pence puts his socks on after his shoes."

4

Hold the sign up at a sporting event where the target can see it.

Cultural Impact

The Hunter Pence Signs trend marked an early case of stadium fan culture and social media feeding off each other in real time. Official MLB team accounts, including the Kansas City Royals and Milwaukee Brewers, actively promoted the signs rather than ignoring them. This gave the meme an unusual level of institutional endorsement for what was essentially organized heckling.

Yahoo Sports later produced a video segment called "Real or Fake Hunter Pence Signs" where the two-time World Series champion sat down and tried to determine which sign accusations about him were real and which were made up. The segment played on the fact that Pence's actual personality was quirky enough that some of the fake accusations were genuinely hard to distinguish from reality.

The meme also provided one of the more charming moments of the 2014 World Series between the Giants and Royals. The Kansas City "Hunter Pence thinks he's in Kansas" sign, combined with Pence's genuine confusion about Missouri geography, made national sports coverage.

Fun Facts

Pence went on an offensive tear during the original Mets series where the signs started, hitting.333 with extra-base hits in nearly every game, as if the signs fueled him.

The #HunterPenceSigns hashtag hit 7,000 tweets in just 72 hours after it started trending.

Pence genuinely did not know that Kansas City (and the Royals' Kauffman Stadium) is in Missouri, not Kansas, calling the geography "tricky".

The Giants' own Cafe SFG at AT&T Park invited fans to bring their Hunter Pence signs to the stadium.

Derivatives & Variations

Copycat player signs:

Blue Jays fans created similar signs targeting Chris Davis during a series against the Orioles, applying the same format to a different player[1].

Self-referential signs:

Pence himself created his own signs, including "Hunter Pence can't parallel park" and "Hunter Pence returns library books early"[4].

Celebrity contributions:

Baseball Hall of Famer Pete Rose made his own Hunter Pence sign, described as a tribute to "someone who plays the game the right way"[2].

Frequently Asked Questions