Before becoming Boston's 'Big Papi,' David Ortiz felt joy and pain with the Twins
While the Boston Red Sox enjoyed David Ortiz's improbable rise to greatness, the Twins had their moments, too.
Four of them:
- When Ron Gardenhire took over as manager of the Twins, his first bonding ritual of his first spring training involved putting an exploding golf ball on a tee and daring Ortiz to hit it, with predictable results. Ortiz roared. Gardenhire had found the right comic foil for the season.
- Ortiz was thrown out of a game in Kansas City for arguing calls at home plate. When the team returned to the clubhouse after the game, Ortiz was dressed and sitting at a table, from which he unleashed a not-safe-for-workplace comedy routine that lasted until they boarded the bus.
- On another day in Kansas City, Ortiz launched a long home run to right, then revealed after the game that he had done so with a broken hamate bone. It takes talent to hit a home run in the big leagues. It takes something more than talent to homer with a broken wrist.
- On Dec. 15, 2002, Ortiz was playing in the Dominican winter league when the Twins designated him for assignment. I was in the country doing stories on Twins players, including Cristian Guzman, and I sat with Ortiz in the dugout. He was despondent. He shrugged, sadly — then hit a long home run early in the game.
That proved to be an omen. Within one season, Ortiz went from Bruce Banner to The Hulk, developing into one of the best power and clutch hitters in modern baseball history while elevating the Red Sox to their first two World Series titles since their reverse-Ortiz move — trading Babe Ruth to the Yankees.
Ortiz had the last laugh on the Twins, and he kept laughing, frequently ridiculing Minnesota's efforts to have him hit to all fields and occasionally produce productive outs.
The Twins' decision was made further questionable by its accompanying moves: Placing shortstop Jose Morban on the big-league roster, and making room for Matthew LeCroy to become the team's DH.
Morban enjoyed 71 big-league at-bats, all for Baltimore. LeCroy, a former first-round draft pick, would hit 45 homers over his next and last five years in the big leagues.
Ortiz would hit 46 home runs in his final season alone, in 2016.
The Twins had reason to release Ortiz. He had failed to stay healthy, and sometimes appeared out of shape. His stock around baseball was so low that he signed, in late January, with Boston to be a backup first baseman to Jeremy Giambi, on a one-year deal for $1.25 million — what teams were paying bad middle relievers.
Ortiz showed up in Boston with more muscle and fewer holes in his swing, which was perfectly suited to Fenway Park's dimensions. The opposite-field swing the Twins had encouraged produced dozens of doubles off the Green Monster, and Ortiz's quick hands allowed him to pull cheap home runs down the short right-field line.
Which is not to diminish his accomplishments. He became the biggest personality and most important bat on two champions. He embraced the role of leader. He developed the presence of a great dramatic actor, chewing the scenery as he stepped to the plate.
As a Twin, Ortiz hit 58 home runs with a .461 slugging percentage and an .809 OPS. With Boston, he hit 483 homers with a .570 slugging percentage and a .956 OPS.
The player some Twins bosses worried was older than his advertised age, and prone to breaking down physically, became a workhorse who thrived in the middle of a lineup in a pressurized ballpark. In his final season, he led the American League in doubles, RBI, slugging percentage, OPS and intentional walks, at age 40.
Ortiz became a no-doubt Hall of Famer. He will be inducted along with two other Twins alums, Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat. He is expected to draw large numbers of Red Sox fans, as well as fans from his home country.
Ortiz was available on a Zoom call organized by the Hall of Fame. I asked him how he views his time in Minnesota at this stage of his life. "I always want to thank Minnesota,'' he said. "I appreciate the fact that they gave me the opportunity to come to the big leagues.
"As you mature, you start appreciating things better. So, yes, I didn't have the opportunity like I did in Boston, to play when I was in Minnesota. And they have different ways to do things …
"The one thing I learned in Minnesota was that whenever you get the opportunity to play, don't take anything for granted. Just take advantage.''
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David Ortiz, by the numbers
David Ortiz, known around the Metrodome as The Big O, had his best year on the Twins in 2002, his last in Minnesota, when he hit 20 home runs in 125 games. In Boston, as Big Papi, he hit 483 more and retired as the 17th-most prolific home run hitter of all time.
6: Seasons with the Twins after being acquired from Seattle for Dave Hollins on Aug. 29, 1996. He played 20 seasons total.
10: American League All-Star selections. His first came in 2004 in his second season after being released by the Twins.
58: Home runs in 455 Twins games, an average of 9.7 per season. He hit 483 homers in 14 seasons in Boston, 34.5 per season.
77.9: Percent of Hall of Fame ballots that checked Ortiz's name. He was voted into the hall in his first year of eligibility.
238: RBI with Twins, or 39.7 per season. He drove in 1,530 runs in 14 years with the Red Sox, or 109.3 per season.
$950,000: Ortiz's 2002 salary. He signed with Boston for $1.25 million in 2003 and made more than $160 million in his 20-year career.