Everybody likes a good home run. Whether you call it a dinger, a blast, or a shot, we all enjoy watching a slugger rip a ball and see it float over 400 feet into a sea of people. Well last Saturday, David Ortiz hit a mammoth home run for his career 500th.
It was a long journey to get to this moment in his storied career, so let's take a look at some of his most important home runs along the way.
We obviously have to start with his first career blast, like any good story would. If you can imagine Big Papi playing for anyone other than the Boston Red Sox, imagine him playing for the Minnesota Twins. All the way back in 1997, Oritz was starting his career at a fresh age of 21.
This was a no doubter. He absolutely demolished the ball into the upper deck in deep right field. If you know David Ortiz at all, you know he goes on to hit his fair share of long fly balls.
After five years with the Twins, he only managed to hit 58 homeruns. Not bad for a mere mortal, but for people to predict he'd become one of the most powerful hitters of all time was ridiculous. In fact, on December 16, 2002, Ortiz was let go by the Twins. He didn't have a team until the Red Sox picked him up, and what a pick up it was. In his 13 years since with Boston, Ortiz has slashed an insane .288/.385/.566 with 443 homeruns and 1,392 RBI. The only two players to have hit more home runs for the club are Hall-of-Famers Ted Williams (521) and Carl Yastrzemski (452).There's not much of a reaction you can have to those numbers other than sitting back and releasing a slow and quiet, "wow".
While he's never won an MVP award, mostly due to the fact that Ortiz played during the golden era of powerful hitters (and steroids), he was selected to the All Star team nine times. Ortiz is one of the few players, however, where his accolades don't reflect his career. Any Red Sox lover will tell you he's the greatest player of all time or that he's the lifeblood of the Red Sox, and it's probably because of what he's done in the postseason.
In the 2004 playoffs alone he hit two historically clutch home runs. First, in the ALDS, the Red Sox were playing the Anaheim Angels. It's Game 3 and the Sox already have two wins under their belt in a best-of-5 series. With Ortiz's walk-off home run in the 10th inning, it sent the Red Sox to the ALCS to face the New York Yankees.
The 2004 ALCS against the Yankees was easily one of the greatest series of all time. The Yankees started off the series by winning the first three games. The Red Sox's backs were up against a wall, and still were, even after Ortiz hit this in Game 4 for a swing of momentum:
It kept the Red Sox alive for one more game, which they won, as well as the rest there after in a huge series comeback against their rivals to send them to the World Series. They won that too, breaking the 'Curse of the Bambino' and ending their season with champagne showers in the clubhouse. All of that started with the clutch hitting of Ortiz.
The playoff theatrics don't stop there.
Moving forward to 2013, Ortiz struck again in Game 2 of the ALCS against the Detroit Tigers with a game-tying grand slam in the 8th inning. You may recognize it with this famous photo:
It was a monumental home run that eventually led the Red Sox to the World Series, and then winning the crown for Ortiz's third time.
Ortiz has become an icon in Boston, synonymous with greatness, championships, and overall fun-to-watch baseball. Baseball fans across the country respect Ortiz as a player and individual, as they should. After Saturday's home run to mark number 500, every kid in America ran outside and began practicing his home run swing, hoping to be as incomparable as 'Big Papi' himself. So go ahead kids, watch some 'Papi' highlights because there are only a few of these left before Ortiz (39 years old) has to put the bat down for good.
