What does "hoist the cone" mean? The Pirates' celebration explained
The Pittsburgh Pirates are on a hot streak, and this year, there's a new way to celebrate.
Pirates players and fans are lifting up a traffic cone in celebration, and the inside joke has caught on. The merch store at PNC Park is even selling t-shirts that say "hoist the cone."
"Oh, people love the t-shirt," said assistant store manager Lauren Torgent. "We've had people all weekend come in asking for a 'hoist the cone' t-shirt, people bringing cones into the store, the stadium, everything, so it's been a wonderful experience."
It's not all fun and games though. ABM Parking's Mid-Atlantic district manager said more than two dozen cones were stolen on opening day, and they're costly to replace.
Where did "hoist the cone" come from?
The Pirates came up with the tradition of a homerun-hitting player wearing a welder's mask as an homage to the blue-collar city of Pittsburgh. As for the cone, its origins are a bit more mysterious. Some have said Fanatics, which runs the Pirates store, meant to print a t-shirt that said "raise the colors" but mistakenly printed "cone" instead.
When asked if that was true, Torgent said they don't know.
"We're kind of just leaving it up to speculation and take it however you want to take it," Torgent said. "But it's been a great thing and it's been an exciting thing to get the city involved."
Now "hoist the cone" has taken on a meaning of its own, with other variations of t-shirts popping up online.
"We're looking to do anything with the cone," Torgent said. "So I saw somebody with cone earrings the other day, cone costumes, people were coming in with cone costumes."
