New Home Run Celebration Helps Change ‘Vibes’ For Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox in past years had a laundry cart ride through the dugout and inflatable dumbbells to celebrate their home runs.

But they cast those aside in favor of something different, and eye-catching, this season.

Trevor Story and Wilyer Abreu were the first to put on the replica Wally the Green Monster head after they hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the first inning in Boston’s win over the St. Louis Cardinals in its home opener this past Friday.

The new home run celebration, which was the brainchild of Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran, was well-received, including from NESN’s Kasey Hudson.

“It’s establishing new vibes. It’s establishing something that these guys are going to look forward to,” Hudson said on “Boston Has Entered The Chat” on Monday. “So perfectly poised as well, because I know there was a little bit of panic the way they fell short to the Rangers the rest of the series. But then the game started to come together.

“And then you got this young leader that’s like, ‘Alright, let’s add to it.’ And you saw how much the guys were looking forward to throwing that head on.”

The Red Sox used the mascot head on occasion during their first home series of the season. Boston belted four home runs in the three games, including a three-run bomb from Alex Bregman in Sunday night’s 18-7 rout of the Cardinals.

While Duran helped come up with the celebration idea, he has yet to sport the Wally head. But with what he displayed last season as an All-Star, he’ll probably wear it a decent amount going forward.

You can watch all episodes of “Boston Has Entered The Chat” on YouTube and Spotify.