A fan holds a sign during the Boston Red Sox 2018 World Series Championship parade.Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
Confetti falls during the parade.Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
Confetti cannons boomed and huge crowds of fans cheered wildly on Wednesday as the Boston Red Sox rumbled through downtown aboard duck boats to mark the team’s fourth World Series championship in the past 15 years.
One of the team’s championship trophies and team manager Alex Cora were hit by flying cans of beer that Boston fans have made a practice in recent years when honouring sports heroes during such parades, but neither was seriously injured.
The rolling rally set off from venerable Fenway Park and wound its way through major city streets lined by fans numbering in the hundreds of thousands, some who arrived before dawn.
Bits of red, white and blue paper rained down as team officials, players, and their families waved from the amphibious, Second World War-era vehicles. Some autographed balls and drank beers tossed to them from the jubilant throng.
Many in the sea of Red Sox jerseys and ball caps took advantage of the fact that the parade coincided with Halloween.
Along Boylston Street, the main parade thoroughfare, young children dressed as comic book and Disney characters, 20-somethings from the city’s numerous colleges sported full-body panda and dinosaur outfits, and fans took selfies with a doppelganger of pro wrestler Hulk Hogan roaming the crowd.
“It’s been nothing but love. We’re out here having a good time,” said Jarrick Fidalgo, a New Bedford, Mass., native with his face painted in the diabolical red, white and black of the Joker from Batman.
But it wasn’t all carefree fun. While Cora and one of the team’s four World Series trophies were barely scathed by the errant beer cans, at least one bystander was hit (she was urged to get treatment for a gash on her nose, The Boston Globe reported).
Patrick Connolly, a 19-year-old from Sandwich, Mass., was charged with assault and disorderly conduct for allegedly hitting Cora with an unopened beer. Connolly told the arresting officers, according to The Globe: “I love Cora. I didn’t mean to hit him.”
Security was tight along the route, which took the team past the site of the deadly 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.
Public drinking, in theory, was banned, but many fans still liberally swigged from small vials of liquor and cans of beer.
Throughout the day, spontaneous anti-Yankees chants rang out, a nod to the long-running rivalry between the American League East squads.
Countless Boston-area youths skipped class to take in the parade.
“I heard there were six people in my history class today; everyone is here,” said Max Colognesi, a 16-year-old from nearby Chestnut Hill who joined friends near Fenway. “I have a lot of homework when I get back, but it’s worth it.”
During a ceremony at Fenway before the parade, Cora thanked fans for supporting the team as it won a franchise-record 108 games before handily beating the New York Yankees, Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers in the playoffs.
“I’ve been saying since Day 1, this is crazy, this is madness,” he said.
Boston fans learned even more good news Wednesday when pitcher David Price announced before the start of the parade that he plans to stay in Boston, declining a contract option that would have enabled him to become a free agent.
On Tuesday, the team announced it would exercise its US$15-million option for next season to retain another star pitcher, Chris Sale.
Though some fans were enjoying their first championship parade, many others, like 23-year-old Derek Safford, were veterans. The North Attleborough resident and his family have attended every parade since 2004, including celebrations of titles for the New England Patriots, Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins.
“I know people had doubts at the start of the season with Cora being a first-time manager, but he really made a family-like atmosphere and brought this team together,” Safford said from his prime vantage point on Boylston.
Bob Gardner travelled up from Newtown, Conn., with his wife and their 17-year-old grandson, Andrew, and took in the spectacle from near stadium.
“It’s an incredible thing because the team itself reflects so many good things – redemption, pride, teamwork – especially at this point in our country’s history,” he said.
Andrew agreed, saying: “It’s just a special team. I’ll tell my kids about this team. My grandkids.
“I’ll never forget this moment.”
Boston Red Sox Manager Alex Cora reacts during the victory parade.Adam Glanzman/Getty Images
A young Red Sox fan cheers during the parade.Adam Glanzman/Getty Images