Los Angeles Dodgers celebrations over the past several seasons have included making a Mickey Mouse ears gesture, bubble machine in the dugout and clubhouse, invoking a scene from “The Wolf of Wall Street,” pepper grinder motion, water splashed on faces, and now dancing on the bases.
Unveiled during Friday’s 11-5 win against the Texas Rangers, Dodgers players stretched their arms up and quickly shifted back and forth. Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Yonny Hernández were among the most enthusiastic with the Dodgers’ new celebration.
Max Muncy and Will Smith appeared a bit more reluctant to participate, but still did so with sheepish smiles.
Following the win, Freeman revealed the dancing stemmed from a viral clip of him during the Usher concert at the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation Blue Diamond Gala, via SportsNet LA:
“Well I think everyone might’ve seen my dance moves at the Gala. That kind of went around on the Internet. My hands were up, so the boys have been wanting to do this for a while. It took an off day and us all at (Max) Muncy’s last night for his daughter’s birthday party, that we decided to implement it to the game.
“Of course, I was the first one to do have to do it. We’re having fun. It was my dance from the Gala. That’s what we’re doing on extra-base hits now. I didn’t do this. Obviously, Mookie and all the boys wanted to do it, so here we are. Dancing at second base.”
After a back-and-forth game through the first six innings, Freeman and the Dodgers had plenty to dance about as they started to pull away.
Following Corey Seager’s home run that gave the Rangers a 5-4 lead, the Dodgers responded with seven unanswered runs. Freeman went 2-for-4 with two walks and tied with J.D. Martinez for a game-high three RBI.
Prior to Freeman’s dance moves inspiring a new Dodgers celebration, players used David Peralta’s ‘choo choo train’ arm gesture and also made a motion with their hands that resembled pulling curtains open.
Dodgers pick Freddie Freeman to dance
During interviews with DodgerBlue.com from the blue carpet at the Blue Diamond Gala, several players chose Freeman when asked to pick a teammate to win a dance battle against Usher.
Miguel Rojas also was a popular choice, and so too was Peralta.
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