We are in the Home Run Celebration era of professional baseball, a phenomenon known as “Elevate and Celebrate.” Teams far and wide have developed their own unique ways to party when they go yard. There’s the Oriole’s Hydration Hose, colloquially known as the Dong Bong, which has evolved into a four-person beer bong system for the clubhouse to chug a festive water and/or Gatorade. The Mariners have a whole ass trident. The Reds had a viking helmet. The Blue Jays have the Home Run Jacket, a jaunty blue blazer. The Padres take Polaroid pictures. And perhaps the silliest, the hitter of the home run on the Red Sox dons a large furry helmet depicting the team’s mascot, Wally the Green Monster.
The World Baseball Classic is just kicking off, and the tri-annual global contest brings with it a new crop of home run celebrations. One of those is from Italy, who, in true Italian fashion, are celebrating their own moonshots with a shot of another kind. By which we mean a shot of espresso.
This is not the first time the Italian team has been caught sipping spro. In 2023, during a game with Chinese Taipei, the Italians were seen with a Nespresso machine in the dugout, with a full array of sweeteners to boot. And now espresso is part of the home run routine. Call it “Elevate and Caffeinate.”
As reported by MLB.com, the idea came from Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, who also doubles as the barista for any post-homer celebrations. And he was certainly kept busy during Italy’s first game at this year’s WBC. Playing against Brazil, a real clash of the coffee titans from both sides of the supply chain, the Italian team popped three home runs on their way to the 8–0 victory. Two of those came from left fielder Dante Nori, meaning he got multiple visits from Pasquantino. Nori tells MLB that he doesn’t like coffee, but that he was warming up to it by the second shot.
But Italy is going to need all the help they can get to make it out of pool play. Though they are currently 2–0, they are tied with the USA and Mexico, who were second and third, respectively, in the 2023 WBC.
Of course there is the concern of over-celebration. Even for the Italian team, whose skipper Francisco Cervelli says they drink coffee “about 20 times a day,” too many home runs—and the ensuing espresso celebrations—could lead to runs of a different variety.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
