Roman Anthony arrived at Fenway Park for his major league debut Monday night with plenty of attention on him already. That’s what happens when you’re the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball and Red Sox fans have been desperately awaiting your call-up for weeks, if not months.
Little did anyone know that Anthony’s family would quickly become stars as well. Red Sox fans on social media instantly fell in love with the Anthony family, who were seated right next to the Boston dugout Tuesday night for his second game (they couldn’t get to Boston in time for Monday’s game given the last-minute promotion).
Whether it was the discovery that Roman Anthony’s father and older brother are both named Anthony Anthony, his mother crying after his first hit, or the men of Boston making note of (or creeping on, if we want to be less generous) his older sister, there was a lot for the social media world to react to.
Lia Anthony, Roman’s sister, joined WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show on Thursday to discuss her and her family’s newfound fame, as well as her brother’s big-league debut. Listen to the full interview above.
“I think he definitely was shocked. We all were,” she said of the attention. “We all were kind of in disbelief. But, I mean, he’s got bigger things to focus on. So, he’s just been focusing on his debut and everything. But I think we were all just shocked by it.”
Lia Anthony said her Instagram following has jumped from 3,000 followers prior to Tuesday to more than 14,000 by Thursday morning (and now over 15,000 just a couple hours later).
“It’s crazy. … I’ve gotten quite a few DMs since that night,” she joked.
Lia Anthony said she and her family are having fun with it all and that they’ve enjoyed their time in Boston so far, including meeting David Ortiz at Fenway before Tuesday’s game.
“Oh my gosh. The people were amazing,” she said. “It was an incredible experience. It was actually, this is my first time in Boston, and I had never been to Fenway. … [The Red Sox] brought us to meet David Ortiz. It was just an unreal experience. My mom especially was so touched by it, because David Ortiz had shared a couple words with her, talking about how incredible Roman is and how he’ll be the face of the franchise. And it’s all just so surreal to hear that, especially about your brother, who you’ve grown up watching and supported his whole life. I mean, the whole thing is just surreal.”
