# "Hit a pea against a fence"--what's that mean? (Rusty Staub Go Mets, RIP)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-a-pea-against-a-fence-whats-that-mean-rusty-staub-go-mets-rip/811444>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [March 30, 2018, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-a-pea-against-a-fence-whats-that-mean-rusty-staub-go-mets-rip/811444 "2018-03-30T01:34:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2018, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-a-pea-against-a-fence-whats-that-mean-rusty-staub-go-mets-rip/811444/1 "2018-03-30T01:34:08Z")

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I’m embarrassed to ask this, but what does “hit a pea against fence” mean? Is Rusty–the only pro ball player I ever “met” (shook hands), who died today, making this up to mean “it was so small you could hardly see it, but I caught it anyway?” Or is it used by other players?

[Cite (Obit).](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/29/obituaries/rusty-staub-dead-baseball.html)

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**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2018, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-a-pea-against-a-fence-whats-that-mean-rusty-staub-go-mets-rip/811444/2 "2018-03-30T01:49:30Z")

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I think he means line drive (one that made it to the right field wall), probably derived from [Peashooter (toy) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peashooter_(toy))

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**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2018, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-a-pea-against-a-fence-whats-that-mean-rusty-staub-go-mets-rip/811444/3 "2018-03-30T03:41:35Z")

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Hitting a line drive hard and fast, as opposed to a arcing fly ball, travels close to a straight line and is very hard to track visually due to it’s speed. People usually use metaphors like bullet, laser, BB or dart and in older lingo a pea or a pill when describing it.

The fence is just the outfield wall, which were chain link fences in old parks (and in some current ones) as opposed to the typical padded wall (or brick and ivy).

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**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2018, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-a-pea-against-a-fence-whats-that-mean-rusty-staub-go-mets-rip/811444/4 "2018-03-30T15:47:48Z")

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Thanks. Funny I never heard it in quotes or commentary all these years.