Red Sox put new ‘Wally' HR celebration to use in 13-run home opener

Gone is the laundry cart. So too are Masataka Yoshida's inflatable dumbbells. But there's a new prop in the Boston Red Sox' dugout at Fenway Park, and it got multiple uses in the team's first home game of the season Friday.

After Trevor Story launched a three-run home run over the Green Monster in the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals, teammate Jarren Duran presented him with a furry green Wally the Green Monster head in honor of Boston's mascot.

After the very next batter, Wilyer Abreu, laced a homer to right field, the Wally head came right back out.

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So, whose idea was it to celebrate home runs in 2025 with a helmet-sized version of Wally, and how did it get in the dugout? It turns out Duran was the mastermind, with help from Red Sox assistant general manager Raquel Ferreira.

"She told me [not to get my hopes up]," Duran said after Boston's 13-9 win, via MLB.com. "And then yesterday, Wally actually presented it to me. So it was kind of a cool thing to happen.

"... 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."

The Red Sox actually posted a video of the moment when Wally and the team's female mascot, Tessie, presented the furry helmet to Duran inside the Green Monster.

The Red Sox didn't hit any more homers after the first inning, but they had no problem scoring, mashing their way to 13 runs on 16 hits to secure the victory in their home opener.

Boston clubbed 194 home runs last season (ninth-most in Major League Baseball) and should have an even more potent offense this season, so expect to see plenty more of the Wally head in 2025 -- with manager Alex Cora's blessing.

"I was like, 'Oh my God, no way,'" Cora said, via MLB.com. "But it's all fun. We're in in the entertainment business, and people like it. So if they want to do it, they’ve got the green light."