With about a month remaining in the 2016 MLB regular season,
David Ortiz’s final send-off is coming to a close. The 40-year old slugger has received an
outpouring of gifts, love, and admiration from ball clubs and fans all over the
country. Among the gifts are:
- A custom made cowboy hat
- A handcrafted humidor containing 50 Dominican cigars
- Barbeque Sauce
- The bell from a San Francisco cable car
- A 64 Oz. jar of peanut butter along with a $10,000 charitable donation in Ortiz’s name
- A custom pair of cowboy boots and a belt buckle
- A custom Big Papi portrait
- A framed copy of his first professional contract and a 34 lb. northwest king salmon
- $20,000 toward the David Ortiz Children’s Fund
- $10,000 in his name to a local Cleveland recreation program
- A framed picture of his 2005 All-Star game appearance
- Countless standing ovations from fans (3)
While
it remains to be seen whether Big Papi’s biggest request–a standing ovation at
Yankee Stadium–will be granted, chances are he’ll get his way. After all, Papi is revered by the fans,
players, and media like few players are.
Ortiz lovable off-the-field persona and charity work certainly have
something to do with that. His farewell
tour has drawn comparisons to those of Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Chipper
Jones. But is he truly deserving of such
a heroic send-off? Especially from the Yankees? Not in my opinion.
We’ll
ignore Ortiz’s steroid accusations and focus on Papi’s general on-field
attitude. Notorious for temper tantrums,
Ortiz had been ejected 12 times in his career at the start of 2016(1) and has
been ejected at least once this season. One could say he’s just a passionate
player whose emotions sometimes get the best of him. Is there really anything wrong with that? There is when it results in baseball bats
being thrown at umpires, which is exactly what Ortiz did in a July, 2004 game
against the Angels (2).
In
a July 2014 interview with Chris Archer, the Rays pitcher said about Ortiz,
“All my interactions with him off the field have been good, but when it comes
to him on the field, I don’t what makes him think he can showboat the way he
does.” Although not part of the new
influx of younger players, Ortiz has had no qualms adopting their celebratory
customs. Exaggerated bat flips now
precede Papi’s trademark leisurely home run strolls around the bases. According to TatorTrotTracker.com, Ortiz has
posted 12 of the 22 slowest home run trots since 2010, including five trots
that were slower than Bartolo Colon’s from earlier this season (4).
Ortiz
apologists would say Papi earned those home runs and he should celebrate any
way he desires. But what about hits
Ortiz may not have earned but wants anyway?
Papi has not hesitated to confront official scorers when he does not
agree with their rulings on hits or errors.
He gestures to the scoring box during games and criticizes official scorers
in post-game interviews (7). In one
instance, Ortiz interrupted a Terry Francona press conference, cursing about wanting
to speak his manager regarding the official scorers (5, 6).
For
all these reasons, I will not be among those giving Ortiz a standing ovation at
his final Yankee Stadium. A fan might
argue that the Red Sox honored Derek Jeter, so the Yankees should do the same
for Papi. But Jeter was never ejected from
a game throughout his 20-year career; much less threw bats at umpires. Ortiz has a vastly different set of values,
ones which I don’t respect much. He’ll
probably get his standing ovation and pre-game ceremony from the Yankees, but
that doesn’t mean he deserves it.
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