BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY David Américo Ortiz Arias (born November 18, 1975), nicknamed "Big Papi", is a Dominican-American professional baseball player with the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). Ortiz is a designated hitter (DH), and also occasionally plays first base in interleague games. He played with the Minnesota Twins from 1997-2002.
Ortiz is a nine-time All-Star, a three-time World Series champion and he holds the Red Sox single-season record for home runs with 54, set during the 2006 season.
Ortiz has hit 445 career home runs, which ranks 39th on the MLB all-time home run list. He is the all-time leader in MLB history for home runs (394), runs batted in (RBIs) (1,278) and hits (1,813) by1.3.7 2009.
Professional career
Minor Leagues
Ortiz graduated from Estudia Espallat High School in the Dominican Republic and in 1992 he was signed by the Seattle Mariners, who listed him as "David Arias". He played for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, a Mariners farm team, until 1996, when he was traded to the Minnesota Twins as the player to be named later in an earlier transaction for Dave Hollins. When he arrived in Minnesota, he informed the team that he preferred to be listed as "David Ortiz."
Minnesota Twins (1997–2002)
Ortiz made his Major League debut for the Twins on September 2, 1997. For several years, he split playing time between the Twins and their minor league affiliate in Connecticut, the New Britain Rock Cats playing at first base and as a DH. Ortiz battled a series of injuries and inconsistency both in the field and at the plate. Ortiz suffered wrist injuries in both 1998 and 2001. In early 2002, he continued to experience knee problems that lingered with him throughout the season, despite hitting 32 doubles, 20 home runs and 75 runs batted in (RBIs) in 125 games.
The Twins released Ortiz after the season, after finding themselves unable to find a team willing to trade for him.[1][2] In parts of 6 seasons totaling 455 games with the Twins, Ortiz hit 58 home runs and 238 RBIs.[3]
Boston Red Sox (2003–present)
2003
On January 22, Ortiz signed a free agent contract with the Boston Red Sox. He played sparingly in the first two months of the season, primarily pinch hitting and starting occasionally as a DH. On June 1, manager Grady Little benched Jeremy Giambi and inserted Ortiz in the starting lineup as the full-time DH. In July, Ortiz hit 8 home runs, and in August, 11. He finished the season with 31 home runs, 101 RBIs and a .288 average, finishing fifth in the American League MVP voting.
In the postseason, Ortiz struggled in the ALDS against the Oakland A's until Game 4, when he hit a 2-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning off closer Keith Foulke to give the Red Sox the lead. In the ALCS against the New York Yankees, Ortiz had 2 home runs and 6 RBIs as Boston lost in seven games.
2004
Ortiz played a major role in leading the Red Sox to their first World Series championship in 86 years. During the regular season, Ortiz hit 41 home runs and had 139 RBIs while batting .301 with an OPS of .983. He finished second in the American League in both home runs and RBIs. He was voted to the All-Star team for the first time in his career, and finished fourth in American League MVP voting.
In the playoffs, Ortiz hit .409 with 5 home runs and 23 RBIs. He had multiple game-winning hits to help Boston advance to and ultimately win the World Series. He hit a walk-off home run off of Jarrod Washburn in the 10th inning of Game 3 to win the American League Division Series against the Anaheim Angels. In the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees, he hit a walk-off two-run home run against Paul Quantrill in the 12th inning of Game 4 and a walk-off single off of Esteban Loaiza in the 14th inning of Game 5. His heroics earned him MVP honors, the first time a DH had ever won that award. In the World Series vs. the St. Louis Cardinals, Ortiz hit a three-run home run off of Woody Williams in the 1st inning of Game 1 at Fenway Park. He hit .308 in the series as the Red Sox swept the Cardinals to end the Curse of the Bambino.
On May 28, Ortiz hit his 100th career home run, a grand slam, off of Joel Piñeiro of the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park.
Ortiz was suspended for three games after being ejected, following an incident on July 16 in a game against the Angels in which he threw onto the field several bats that came close to hitting umpires Bill Hohn and Mark Carlson.
2005
Ortiz hit 47 home runs, had 148 RBIs, and batted .300 with an OPS of 1.001. He led the American League in RBIs, while finishing second in home runs and third in OPS. Ortiz finished second in the American League MVP voting[4] to Alex Rodriguez while leading the Red Sox to their third consecutive playoff appearance, where they lost in the first round to the eventual champions, the White Sox.
Before the season started, Red Sox ownership presented Ortiz with a plaque proclaiming him "the greatest clutch-hitter in the history of the Boston Red Sox".[5][6]
2006
Ortiz hit 54 home runs (setting a new Red Sox record) and had 137 RBIs while batting .287 with an OPS of 1.049. He led the American League in both home runs and RBIs, winning the home-run crown by 10 over Jermaine Dye. He finished third in the American League MVP voting.
On April 10, Ortiz signed a 4 year $52 million contract extension with the Red Sox. The contract also included a team option for a 5th year.
On June 29, Ortiz hit his 200th career home run against Duaner Sánchez of the New York Mets at Fenway Park.
On September 20 at Fenway Park, Ortiz tied Jimmie Foxx's single season Red Sox home run record of 50 set in 1938, in the sixth inning against Minnesota Twins' Boof Bonser.
On September 21 at Fenway Park, Ortiz broke Foxx's record by hitting his 51st home run off of Johan Santana of the Twins. The home run was his 44th of the season as a designated hitter, breaking his own American League single-season record.
2007
Ortiz helped lead the Red Sox to their seventh World Series title. In the regular season, he had 35 home runs and 117 RBI's while batting .332, placing him in the top 10 in the American League in all three categories. In addition, he hit 52 doubles, led the American League in extra base hits and had an OPS of 1.066. He finished fourth in the American League MVP voting.
In the postseason, Ortiz batted .370 with 3 home runs and 10 RBIs as Boston swept the Colorado Rockies to win the World Series.
2008
Ortiz started slowly after suffering a wrist injury which caused him to miss several weeks. He played in a total of 109 games and finished the season with 23 home runs and 89 RBIs while batting .264.
2009
Ortiz struggled early in the season, hitting only .206 with no home runs and 30 strikeouts in his first 34 games. On May 22, he hit his first home run of the season off Brett Cecil of the Toronto Blue Jays, ending a career-high 178 homerless at-bat streak.[7] In June, Ortiz broke out of his slump by hitting 7 home runs with 22 RBIs. He had 7 home runs in both July and August. He finished the season with 28 home runs and 99 RBIs with a .238 average.
On July 9, Ortiz hit his 300th career home run against Luke Hochevar of the Kansas City Royals at Fenway Park.
On September 17, Ortiz hit his 270th career home run as a DH off of José Arredondo of the Los Angeles Angels breaking the all-time record held by Frank Thomas.
2010
Ortiz hit 32 home runs, had 102 RBIs and batted .270.
Ortiz won the Home Run Derby contest at the All-Star Game, defeating Florida Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramírez in the final.
2011
Ortiz finished the season with 29 home runs and 96 RBIs while batting .309.
On April 2, Ortiz set the record for RBIs by a designated hitter with 1,004, passing Edgar Martínez.
On May 21, Ortiz became only the fifth player to hit 300 home runs as a member of the Red Sox, joining Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, and Dwight Evans.
On July 15, Ortiz was suspended for 4 games for his part in a brawl that took place on July 8 in a game against the Baltimore Orioles. Ortiz charged Orioles pitcher Kevin Greggafter a brushback pitch and an exchange of words, triggering a bench-clearing brawl.
On October 20, Major League Baseball announced that Ortiz was the winner of the Roberto Clemente Award.
2012
On July 4, at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Ortiz hit his 400th career home run off of A. J. Griffin of the Oakland Athletics.
On July 16, Ortiz suffered a season-ending injury to his right Achilles tendon. He finished the season with 23 home runs and 60 RBIs while batting .318 in 90 games.
2013
Ortiz once again was a major factor in helping lead the Red Sox to their eighth World Series championship. During the regular season, he hit 30 home runs, had 103 RBIs and batted .309. He finished in the top 10 in all 3 categories in the American League.
In the postseason, Ortiz had 5 home runs and 13 RBIs while batting .353. In Game 2 of the American League Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, he hit 2 home runs off of Rays' ace pitcher David Price. In Game 2 of the American League Championship Series vs the Detroit Tigers, Ortiz hit a dramatic, game-tying grand slam off of reliever Joaquin Benoit in the bottom of the 8th inning, helping propel the Red Sox to victory. In the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, Ortiz hit home runs in both games 1 and 2, had 6 RBIs and batted .688 as the Red Sox won the series 4–2. As a result of his performance, Ortiz was awarded the World Series Most Valuable Player award.[8]
On April 20, before the first game played at Fenway Park since the Boston Marathon bombings and his first since August 2012 after an achilles tendon injury, Ortiz spoke to the crowd and stated, "This is our fucking city, and no one is going to dictate our freedom. Stay strong."[9]
Ortiz reached several career milestones in 2013, including his 500th career double on July 2[10] and his 2,000th career hit on September 4. On July 10, Ortiz passed Harold Baines to become the all time leader for hits by a DH with 1689.[11]
On July 27, Ortiz was ejected by home-plate umpire Tim Timmons for arguing balls and strikes against the Baltimore Orioles. After his ejection, Ortiz used his bat to smash a pressbox phone in the dugout. Major League Baseball decided not to suspend Ortiz for the incident.
Ortiz gained several new nicknames from the media and his teammates as a result of his great postseason play such as "Señor Octubre"[12] and "Cooperstown".[13] He also finished third in Boston's mayoral race that year with 560 write-in votes.[14]
2014
Ortiz signed a one year contract extension that will pay him $16 Million in the 2015 season. [15]The extension also included two option years to potentially keep him under contract with the Red Sox through the 2017 season.
Personal life
Each time Ortiz crosses the plate after hitting a home run, he looks up and points both index fingers to the sky in tribute to his mother Angela Rosa Arias, who died in a car crash in January 2002 at the age of 46.[16] Ortiz also has a tattoo of his mother on his biceps.
Ortiz and his wife Tiffany have three children. Since marrying Tiffany, he has become a fan of the Green Bay Packers. (His wife hails fromKaukauna, Wisconsin, a town in between the cities of Green Bay and Appleton).[17] However, in April 2013, Ortiz announced that he and his wife were separating.[18] They have since reconciled.
On June 11, 2008, Ortiz became a United States citizen at John F. Kennedy Library in Boston.[19][20]
Ortiz has received approximately $4.5 million in endorsements over the years. In April 2007, sporting-goods company Reebok debuted the Big Papi 10M Mid Baseball cleat, which Ortiz first used during the 2007 MLB All Star Game in San Francisco, California.[21]
In October 2009, Ortiz opened a night club called "Forty-Forty" in his native Dominican Republic. In April 2010, rapper and producer Jay-Z and his business partner Juan Perez initiated a trademark infringement case against Ortiz, alleging that the name of Ortiz's night club was stolen from Jay-Z's chain of sports clubs in New York.[22] In March 2011, Ortiz reached a settlement deal with Jay-Z and Perez.[23]
Charity work
The David Ortiz Children's Fund was founded in 2007 to support a range of causes that Ortiz believes in. The Fund allows Ortiz the flexibility to donate to those children who are in the most need at any given time, from Boston to the Dominican Republic and beyond. Ortiz released his own Charity Wine label in 2008 with all the proceeds going to the David Ortiz Children's Fund. The wine called Vintage Papi proceeded to raise $150,000 for charity.[24]
Alleged positive performance-enhancing-drug test in 2003
On July 30, 2009, The New York Times, citing anonymous sources, reported that Ortiz was among a group of over 100 major league players on a list compiled by federal investigators, (as part of an investigation of BALCO), that allegedly tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs during MLB survey testing conducted in spring training of 2003.[25] The survey testing was agreed to by MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association to determine the extent of performance enhancing drug use among players before permanent testing was officially implemented starting in 2004. As part of the agreement, the results of the survey testing were supposed to remain anonymous.
Five months before the Times allegations surfaced, Ortiz stated in an interview that players who tested positive for steroids should be suspended for an entire season. Before the Red Sox's game that afternoon, Ortiz declined to comment on the report, saying, "I'm not talking about that anymore". Afterward, he confirmed that he'd been told that he was on the list and promised to speak with the media once he "[got] to the bottom of" the matter.[26]
Ten days later, Ortiz held a press conference before a game at Yankee Stadium and denied ever buying or using steroids and suggested the positive test might have been due to his use of supplements and vitamins at the time.[27] When asked which supplements he had been taking, Ortiz said he did not know.[28] Ortiz was accompanied at the press conference by Michael Weiner, the general counsel of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Because the list of players was seized as part of a government investigation and is currently under court-ordered seal pending the outcome of litigation, Weiner said the players union was unable to provide Ortiz with any details about his test result, including what substance he tested positive for.
On the same day, the Major League Baseball Players Association issued a statement[29] pointing out that because of several factors, any player appearing on the list compiled by federal investigators in 2003 did not necessarily test positive for performance enhancing drugs.[30] Among those factors were that the total number of players said to be on the list far exceeded the number of collected specimens that tested positive. In addition, there were questions raised regarding the lab that performed the testing and their interpretation of the positive tests. Also, the statement pointed out that certain legal supplements that were available over the counter at the time could possibly cause a positive test result.
Career highlights
- The Sporting News Designated Hitter of the Decade (2009)
- Sports Illustrated MLB All-Decade Team (2009)
- Member of the 2004 Boston Red Sox World Series champions
- Member of the 2007 Boston Red Sox World Series champions
- Member of the 2013 Boston Red Sox World Series champions
- American League Championship Series MVP (2004)
- 9-time All-Star (2004–2008, 2010–2013)
- 2005 Hank Aaron Award winner
- 7-time winner of the Edgar Martínez Award (2003–2007, 2011, 2013)
- 6-time winner of the Silver Slugger Award (2004–2007, 2011, 2013)
- Top 5 MVP vote-receiver five times (5th, 2003; 4th, 2004; 2nd, 2005; 3rd, 2006; 4th, 2007)
- Led the American League in extra base hits 3 times (2004, 2005, 2007)
- Led the American League in Home Runs (2006)
- Led the American League in RBIs (2005, 2006)
- American League Player of the Month for September 2005, July 2006, and May 2010
- Red Sox single-season home-run leader (54; 2006)
- Tied with Babe Ruth for AL single-season home-run record in road games (32; 2006)
- First player ever to hit two walk-off home runs in the same postseason (against the Angels (ALDS) and Yankees (ALCS), 2004)
- First player in Red Sox history to hit 40 or more home runs in three consecutive seasons (2004–2006)
- Third player in Red Sox history, joining Carl Yastrzemski and Manny Ramirez with 3 seasons of 40 or more home runs
- Set new record for home runs by a DH in 2005 (43), then again in 2006 (47)
- 7 seasons of at least 30 home runs and 100 RBIs (2003–2007, 2010, 2013)
- 17 career postseason home runs (Tied for 7th all time in MLB history)
- 60 career postseason RBIs (5th all time in MLB history)
- Tied with Billy Hatcher for all-time post-season consecutive on-base streak (10)
- 85 extra-base hits or more for four consecutive years, something only 2 other players--Lou Gehrig (5) and Sammy Sosa (4)--have ever done [31]
- Ortiz's home run total increased each year from 2000 to 2006, starting with 10 home runs, and ending with 54
- Became all time DH home run leader on September 15, 2009 by hitting his 270th as a Designated Hitter
- Won 2010 Major League Baseball Home Run Derby
- Has hit 11 career walk-off HRs
- On April 2, 2011 Ortiz became MLB's all time RBI leader by a designated hitter
- On July 27, 2011 Ortiz hit his 1,000th RBI with the Boston Red Sox
- 2011 Roberto Clemente Award winner
- 2013 World Series MVP
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