I was about to put my girls to bed, but turned this on when I saw he was coming up. We all watched -- he absolutely crushed that ball. Great, great moment.
Seriously. Take a look at the all-time HR list and look at how high he might climb with another good year (or two). It's conceivable he passes Murray and maybe even Sheffield this year the way he's going.Andrew said:
Why on Earth do you want him to retire now? Multiple people say this and I do not understand it. He's having an excellent year. He could have a good year in 2016 too. There is some bizarre rush to see him stop playing that I don't really get.
brs3 said:79 from the Ted's Red Sox all time record. Maybe 75 by season's end. He'd need to duplicate the last 2 seasons, plus hit a few extra. However unlikely, that would be amazing.
Pedro is not a "player" or are you saying he's greater than Pedro?Eck'sSneakyCheese said:I'll go ahead and say it. The Greatest Red Sox player of our generation. Better hitter than Ramirez IMO. I hope he takes his 16 million and retires. Its been a pleasure watching him play.
Both ZiPS and PECOTA seems to love Ortiz, but I'm sticking to my guns and this as good a place as any to say it: I don't think he comes within a country mile of 556 HRs. That means he has to hit 330 homers between now and when he retires. Only 5 players have even hit 300 past age 32. Three of them were on the juice (Bonds, Raffy, McGwire) and the other two are named Ruth and Aaron.
The RBIs are not entirely within Ortiz's control, of course, but only two players have ever had more than 1,000 RBI in the 32 and beyond career: Ruth and Bonds. Hell, there's only 15 players to reach 800 or more. And that list has both PED guys (Bonds, Raffy, etc.) and a Coors wonder (Big Cat).
The doubles are more possible although there are still only 11 guys to have managed that number in their 32 and beyond career.
Nice from Curt...soxhop411 said:“@gehrig38: A good man with a huge heart, and some wicked skills. God Bless and Congratulations on #500 big man! Love ya! #BigPapi”
Devizier said:
smastroyin said:
The best is clearly the guy taking a victory lap in April of 09 for being the first to say Ortiz was going into steep decline after 2007.
Granted, a lot of people were doing so, and more after his terrible (for him) 2009 season.
Fucking Pedro. Awesome.soxhop411 said:
TFisNEXT said:
It's already been said multiple times in other threads too, but his resurgence after 2009 has been remarkable. I suppose the 2010 bounce back by itself isn't that surprising as several sluggers will show some decline and then perhaps have a bounce back season or two, but Papi's comeback has lasted 6 seasons now.
Tyrone Biggums said:God that crowd is horrible. Such a shame that it wasn't hit in Fenway.
Andrew said:http://mediadownloads.mlb.com/mlbam/2015/09/12/14-415763-2015-09-12/web_cut/mlbtv_474221883_1200K.mp4
Download it now before this link goes away.
genoasalami said:
Actually ..for the Trop ....it wasn't bad ..Iv'e seen nights when there are no more than 4k in the joint.
Classy. 14 years ago I'd go to the Trop for one reason- to see Pedro pitch.NDBoston said:
Freeze frame at the 35 second mark to see one Tampa fan who wasn't pleased at all with the home run.
IIRC, a big knock on him back then was his lack of power from 1B position.gtmtnbiker said:I enjoyed the clip they showed of his first ever homer as a Twin back in 1997. Wow, he was slimmer back then. I'll have to find some Minnesota news online to see what they say about the event and their worst deal ever. Congrats Big Papi. Glad that I was able to watch most of his games as a Sox
This was never, ever the case. His issue was staying healthy. Their lack of power from 1B was in the form of Mientkiewicz.Return of the Dewey said:IIRC, a big knock on him back then was his lack of power from 1B position.
mt8thsw9th said:This was never, ever the case. His issue was staying healthy. Their lack of power from 1B was in the form of Mientkiewicz.
Ortiz had a .532 SLG in the minors, and had ISOs above .200 in his final two years with the Twins. The "knock" on him was that he was a LHH and the Twins opted to go with the RHH Matt Lecroy as the primary DH, as they also had LHH Morneau waiting in the wings.
It was just a bad baseball decision and a lesson on why you don't clear out perceived logjams until they actually become a problem; the Red Sox, thankfully, did not see the same issue with Mueller/Shea/Millar/Giambi/Ortiz.
Red(s)HawksFan said:
What always seems to get overlooked when it comes to his supposed decline in 2008-2009 was the wrist injury he suffered in June 2008. It really sapped him power-wise in the second half and the struggle carried over into and arguably through 2009 as well. Even if it wasn't simply the strength in the wrist that was the issue, he clearly was making adjustments to compensate for it, to his detriment (really evidenced in his struggles against LHP then). By 2010, the wrist was more or less back to "normal" and he was Big Papi once again. His entire run with the Sox has been remarkable.
Andrew said:
Why on Earth do you want him to retire now? Multiple people say this and I do not understand it. He's having an excellent year. He could have a good year in 2016 too. There is some bizarre rush to see him stop playing that I don't really get.
I remember a broadcast when Ortiz was just coming up with the Twins and I think it was Remy who said he had talked with Twins people and said they expected Ortiz to be their cleanup hitter of the future.Montana Fan said:Many here have probably seen it but the article and embedded video I linked below are from a time when David Ortiz had 0 ML HR's and some other young established stars were already in awe of his power.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/23177781/video-minorleague-david-ortiz-impresses-arod-junior-in-1996