HOME RUN COFFEE

Home Run Coffee isn’t just a type of coffee—it’s a ritual, or perhaps better described as a tradition.

An espresso for every player who hits a home run.

Superstition, or perhaps a strategy not strictly related to sports.

The fact is that everyone is talking about the Italian national team, which has made headlines by earning a spot in the semifinals of the 2026 World Baseball Classic but also because of a coffee machine in the dugout.

Launching not the ball, but this tradition: Francisco Cervelli, the newly appointed manager of the Italian National Baseball Team, in Rimini on January 24. 

Cervelli isn’t Italian: he has Venezuelan roots, so it’s natural to wonder exactly where this coffee idea came from.

In fact, Cervelli has managed to instantly and virally capture the team’s identity, whose American players have Italian roots. 

So, you can follow the exploits of Vinnie Pasquantino or Dominic Canzone.

A collection of clichés?

Probably so: the names themselves seem straight out of a Mickey Mouse comic—and the reference to coffee has a hint of Tommy Cash’s Espresso Macchiato, but I still find it unique.

What do you think?