David Ortiz Ready To Shine In Farewell Season
BOSTON (CBS) -- Monday marks the start of David Ortiz's 20th -- and final -- season in Major League Baseball.
The Red Sox DH is set to retire after what he hopes is another championship run for Boston, which gets underway in Cleveland with a three-game set against the Indians.
Ortiz's illustrious career speaks for itself. There are his clutch hits in Boston's improbable World Series run in 2004, including a pair of game-winning hits as the Red Sox mounted their historic comeback against the Yankees in the ALCS. He set the team's single-season home run record with 54 blasts in 2006, and joined the 500 home run club in 2015.
No one will ever forget his F-Bomb on national TV in the days following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, letting the world know that no one messes with Boston. A few months later he hit one of the most memorable postseason home runs in the team's history, blasting an eighth inning grand slam in Game 2 of the ALCS against the Detroit Tigers.
It was nearly impossible to get him out when the World Series started 10 days later, as he hit .688 against the St. Louis Cardinals to earn series MVP honors and his third ring with the Red Sox.
That's just scratching the surface with Ortiz. He's been tearing the cover off the ball since arriving in Boston from Minnesota in 2003, with nine seasons of 30+ homer and 100+ RBIs. Three of those have come in the last three seasons, when at times, it looked like the slugger may be nearing the end.
But every time he was counted out, Ortiz just kept crushing the baseball. His 445 homers with Boston put him in the company of Ted Williams (521) and Carl Yastrzemski (452), an honor that is not lost on the slugger.
"It's something every player dreams about and it's not easy to get there," he told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Jonny Miller. "It's an honor for me to be compared to those guys numbers-wise. It's not over yet, I want to continue to put up numbers and try to win a World Series."
Winning another title -- which would be his fourth with the Red Sox -- would be the stylish finish Ortiz has dreamed about.
"That's something every athlete looks for, especially in their last year. You want to go out just like Peyton Manning went out," Ortiz said.
It hasn't always been perfect with Ortiz. He complained about his contract at times, and was never afraid to let people know when he disagreed with an umpire's strike zone. But whenever he was questioned during a lenghty slump, it just seemed to fuel his desire to prove those doubters wrong. It's been that way since he got to Boston after the Minnesota Twins lost faith in his bat, and he's ready for his big swing to continue as he plays his final 162+ games.
As he gets set to begin his final season, Ortiz is optimistic about himself and his team. After disappointing last place finishes the last two years, Ortiz is confident that offseason additions like David Price and Craig Kimbrel, and Boston's young core, will have them back in postseason -- and World Series -- contention.
"We have a lot of talent and I think the front office did a great job this off-season, getting some players and good pitching. That's all the game is about right now," he said.
There will be ceremonies, slumps, big swings and a few colorful comments along the way, but don't expect Ortiz to go out quietly. That's never been his style, and if there's one thing Ortiz has always been about, it's style. That, and crushing baseballs when it matters the most.