# Hunter Pence Signs > 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. ## Origin 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[4]. The @MLBGIFs Twitter account posted an animated GIF of the hecklers, which picked up over 940 favorites and 860 retweets within the first week[4]. 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[1]. - **Platform:** Citi Field stadium (physical signs), Twitter (viral spread) - **Creator:** Two anonymous New York Mets fans (original sign creators) - **Date:** 2014 ## 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[4]. 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[1]. ## 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[4]. 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[4]. 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[1]. 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[4]. The trend then followed Pence to Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City[2]. 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[3]. 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[4]. His girlfriend Alexis Cozombolidis also joined in, tweeting a photo with her own Pence sign joke[4]. Even Pete Rose got in on the action with his own sign, though it was, by most accounts, a tamer effort[2]. 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[1]. 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"[1]. ## How to Use 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[2]. 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[5]. 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[3]. ## 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[1]. - The #HunterPenceSigns hashtag hit 7,000 tweets in just 72 hours after it started trending[4]. - Pence genuinely did not know that Kansas City (and the Royals' Kauffman Stadium) is in Missouri, not Kansas, calling the geography "tricky"[3]. - The Giants' own Cafe SFG at AT&T Park invited fans to bring their Hunter Pence signs to the stadium[2]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What are Hunter Pence Signs? Hunter Pence Signs are humorous stadium signs accusing San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence of doing harmlessly weird things, like eating pizza with a fork or putting ketchup on hot dogs[4]. ### Where did Hunter Pence Signs come from? Two Mets fans at Citi Field in Queens, New York started the trend on August 1, 2014, during a Giants-Mets series[4]. ### What do Hunter Pence Signs mean? The signs are good-natured ribbing that mock Pence by inventing oddly specific and absurd personal habits. They're not meant to be genuinely insulting[1]. ### How do you use Hunter Pence Signs? Write "Hunter Pence [does something mildly weird]" on a sign and hold it up at a baseball game. The accusation should be bizarre but harmless[2]. ### Are Hunter Pence Signs still popular? The trend peaked in August 2014 and is now a classic piece of MLB fan culture, though similar sign-based memes still pop up at stadiums[1]. ### Did Hunter Pence respond to the signs? Yes. Pence posted his own signs on Twitter on August 6, 2014, with jokes like "Hunter Pence can't parallel park" and seemed to enjoy the attention[4]. ### How did Hunter Pence play during the sign trend? He went 6-for-18 (.333) against the Mets with two doubles, two triples, and two home runs during the series where the signs originated[1]. ### Did the signs spread to other stadiums? Yes. They followed Pence to Milwaukee's Miller Park, Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium, and back to San Francisco, with other teams' official accounts promoting them[2]. ### Did Hunter Pence really not know Kansas City is in Missouri? According to Yahoo's Tim Brown, Pence admitted he saw a sign saying "Hunter Pence thinks he's in Kansas" and genuinely thought, "We're not?"[3]. ### Were there copycat signs for other players? Blue Jays fans created similar signs for Orioles player Chris Davis, using the same format during a Toronto series[1]. ## References 1. [Around the horn with Hunter Pence signs]() 2. [Hunter Pence signs follow Hunter Pence to Milwaukee - CBS Sports]() 3. [Real or Fake Hunter Pence signs - Yahoo Sports]() 4. [Hunter Pence Signs - Know Your Meme]() 5. [January 6 United States Capitol attack]() 6. [Hunter Pence says he didn't know Kansas City was in Missouri]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/hunter-pence-signs Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library