How the Red Sox' new 'Wally head' home run celebration came about
It was one of the questions involving the 2025 Red Sox that hadn't been answered heading into their home opener: What would be the team's home run celebration?
Thanks to Trevor Story's first-inning homer against St. Louis starter Eric Fedde, we got the answer. And then, moments later, Wilyer Abreu's blast defined this season's celebration.
It was the head of Red Sox mascot Wally the Green Monster.
"I had the idea, but Raquel (Ferreira) was the one that got it done," said Jarren Duran. "She told me don't get my hopes up, and then yesterday, Wally actually presented it to me. So it was kind of a cool thing to happen."
The outfielder added, "I knew we had the Masa dumbbells, and then we had the Boston Marathon medal, and it was just kind of like, ‘Man, what are we gonna do this year?’ At first, I was gonna use Wally's head. I'm like, ‘There's no way we'd be able to fit that in the dugout.’ So I just asked Raquel, ‘Is there way we can get, like, a miniature Wally head?’ And she made it happen. So praise to her."
It was actually the fourth iteration of the Red Sox' home run celebration, with the first go-round coming in the form of a laundry cart players would jump in after going deep.
While the Wally head seems to be already perhaps the most popular of the bunch since the laundry cart, it does present some potential problems, as Duran pointed out after the Red Sox' 13-9 win.
"I'm sure the staff here will keep it nice and clean for us," he said. "But hey, man, if we're rolling, I mean, things gotta be dirty, it’s gotta be dirty."
