Boston's Bullpen Band

Boston Red Sox fans don't need much help getting fired up, now their team has made it into the World Series. But the players have hit on a way to rev up their fans from the bullpen.

Occasionally, the pitchers and back-up catchers bang everything from drum sticks to metal objects to empty water bottles. While that bullpen percussion is barely audible to the crowd inside noisy Fenway Park, it's become something of a phenomenon for TV viewers, as Fox Sports is repeatedly playing snippets of it during their game broadcasts.

But because asking questions is what we do here in public radio, we need to know. We have to know: What is it? Are those guys in the bullpen getting set to fling fastballs and sliders, warming up by playing...music? Here's what we've found out.

WBUR's Monica Brady-Myerov and Sarah Bush produced this feature.