About Geoff Expertise Huge baseball trivia lover! I will attempt to answer anything you can think of when it comes to major league baseball. I have a large reference library of all things baseball. Try to stump me!
Question QUESTION: Fans have always draped K posters over the railing for strikeouts, but this year in San Diego they have been draping "Q" signs next to them in the same area. What in the world does a "Q" signify?
ANSWER: Hi Charles,
Thanks for writing.
I haven't seen what you are describing but the Padres play in QualComm Stadium which is often referred to as "The Q". I suspect the "Q" signs you see are simply referring to that.
Best Wishes,
Geoff
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Nope. They play in Petco Park now & for the last few years. These are hung like strikeouts on the railing, usually 5-8 per game, in the same section as the "K"s. I can't tell what happens to cause a "Q" to be hung. Any idea? It's not a scoring abbreviation I've ever seen. I guess I could walk over and ask the person hanging them but it's way on the other side from my seat.
Answer Hi Charles,
As lousy as my first answer was, I'm afraid it's the best I've got!
"Q" is not used in the baseball scoring system. (The closest it comes to being used is as part of "QS" for "Quality Start".) There is an obscure fielding rating system that breaks the field up into zones, one of which is zone "Q" but I can't imagine anyone posting that on the railing.
I thought perhaps the Spanish word for strike out contained the letter "Q" but strike out in Spanish is "techar". The musical "Avenue Q" was playing in San Diego over the summer but I couldn't imagine why they would promote it during a Padre game.
Sorry, but I have no explanation as to why someone is hanging "Q"s up.
