Beer cans rain on the parade
Red Sox team manager, the World Series trophy are among the wounded
BOSTON— 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 of offering their sports heroes during recent victory parades. Neither was seriously injured and it didn’t take any varnish off the shining celebration.
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.
Boston fans learned even more good news Wednesday when pitcher David Price announced before the start of the parade that he planned to stay in Boston, declining a contract option that would have enabled him to become a free agent.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Price said on the field at Fenway Park before boarding a duck boat for the ride through the city. “I came here to win, and we did that this year. That was very special and I want to do it again.”
Price will earn $127 million (U.S.) over the next four years, the remainder of a seven-year, $217-million contract he signed before the 2016 season that gave him the right to opt out after the third year. It remains the richest contract ever for a pitcher.
“There wasn’t any reconsideration on my part, ever,” Price said.
On Tuesday, the Red Sox exercised their $15-million option for next season to retain another star pitcher, Chris Sale.
Many in the sea of Red Sox jerseys and ball caps took advantage of the fact that the pa- rade coincided with Halloween. Young children dressed up 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. We’re turnt up,” 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. Team manager Alex Cora, one of the team’s four World Series trophies and a bystander were among those hit by errant beer cans.
Cora and the trophy were barely scathed, but the bystander was urged to get treatment for a gash on her nose, the Boston Globe reported.
Patrick Connolly, a19-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.”
Police commissioner William Gross said there were five other parade-related arrests, including a 17-year-old charged with illegal firearm and drug possession.