Pedro on Papi in The Players' Tribune

LogansDad

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Screw it, I'm making a thread for this.

Because Papi's number is getting retired on Friday (my birthday) and I can't get back to Boston to be there. Also, because it's Pedro.

And because as fun as the kids are to watch, I miss Papi and Pedro.

David didn’t just get his job back. He didn’t just win a World Series. He didn’t just set a new standard for playing at a high level as an old, old man. (Sorry, compadre.)

No. He did all of that without any bitterness in his heart. He did it all with a smile.

As someone who always took the mound with a lot of hate in my heart, I can’t tell you how amazing that is.
 

Clemente

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Thanks for posting the article LogansDad. I didn't know it was possible to miss Papi more, but that article just brought a swell of heartache. I cherished his at bats last season, and the tears of his last game at Fenway. We were very fortunate.

I look forward to Friday night, and ovation after ovation for Ortiz. Hottest ticket of the season.

Edit: I love how Pedro refers to winning the championships in 2007 and 2013, he doesn't distinguish the 2004, 2007 or 2013 championships -

"We don’t win a World Series in 2004 without David. Period.
We don’t win in 2007 without David. Period.
We don’t win in 2013 without David. Period."
 
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JoePoulson

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Thanks for sharing that AWESOME article. God damn I love those two men so much and I'll probably cry my ass off on Friday. I am an incredibly lucky Sox fan in that I was at game 4 in St. Louis in 2004. When I flew home to Orlando, after having been up for like 36 hours celebrating, I laid down on the couch and turned on the game on the DVR. I starting bawling like a baby as the emotions really poured out. I told myself that I was taking this all (sports fandom) a bit too seriously and maybe I should step back a little. I have certainly eased up a bit as I don't live and die with the Sox like I used to, but Friday will be one of the last connections to that day (Ortiz going into the Hall will be the last one) and it'll certainly feel similar to how it used to feel.

I never want to go through the emotional swings of 2004 again, but my God it was amazing and I miss Pedro, Papi and Manny so, so much.
 

j44thor

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Players tribune really cranks out exceptional material and this is no different.
Hard not to read it in Pedro's voice.

Can't wait for Friday.
 

trekfan55

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I may have been to Santo Domingo hundreds of times and have had lunch and dinner at Vesuvio (usually stay at the Malecon). This story is amazing, from start to finish. How cold was it to call Papi like that to tell him he's released? Also, as much as we love baseball players and how much they make, this story points out how vulnerable they are. David Ortiz was basically broke in 2002 after having played in Minnesota for a while. Pedro missed chances.

The rest of the piece, as well as Pedro feeling like Boston is his home as well... amazing.
 

joe dokes

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“Listen, I’m in the Dominican and I ran into David Ortiz. He just got released by Minnesota. We need to sign him.”

“The first baseman? Well, you know, we got Brian Daubach …”
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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“Listen, I’m in the Dominican and I ran into David Ortiz. He just got released by Minnesota. We need to sign him.”

“The first baseman? Well, you know, we got Brian Daubach …”
Wonder if that phone call was before or after they non-tendered Daubach? I know Daubach was gone about a month before they signed Ortiz, but I wonder if the phone call made a difference or if Pedro is just spinning a tale.
 

TFisNEXT

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Great read. I always loved Pedro's detailed memory.
 

trekfan55

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Wonder if that phone call was before or after they non-tendered Daubach? I know Daubach was gone about a month before they signed Ortiz, but I wonder if the phone call made a difference or if Pedro is just spinning a tale.
At that point he was talking to the traveling secretary (from the article) so while he knew they had a 1B, perhaps he did not know enough details.

Edit to add: This is as good a place to ask as any, will the David Ortiz ceremony be on mlbtv? Archive?
 
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TheoShmeo

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Thanks for posting the article LogansDad. I didn't know it was possible to miss Papi more, but that article just brought a swell of heartache. I cherished his at bats last season, and the tears of his last game at Fenway. We were very fortunate.

I look forward to Friday night, and ovation after ovation for Ortiz. Hottest ticket of the season.

Edit: I love how Pedro refers to winning the championships in 2007 and 2013, he doesn't distinguish the 2004, 2007 or 2013 championships -

"We don’t win a World Series in 2004 without David. Period.
We don’t win in 2007 without David. Period.
We don’t win in 2013 without David. Period."
That's what stuck out for me too. Most of the article a rehash of what I have heard Pedro recount before. Make no mistake, it was still incredibly enjoyable. Just not new.

That Pedro thinks of the two non-2004 WS winners as something he's part of was certainly new to me. When Pedro left for the Mets, part of what sucked is that the bad feelings he expressed might forever remove him from the organization. That it's swung so far the other way is fortunate.

The Sox are lucky to have Pedro as part of the team's fabric and they would be well advised to use him as much as he will let them.

And I doubt he would have managed today's abortion like Jackass Farrell, but I digress....
 

staz

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The cradle of the game.
Really makes you marvel that this franchise Finally. Caught. A. Damn. Break... (and wonder how many other all-time great careers might have been stopped in their tracks by a bad organizational decision, and never resurrected. Greg Blosser, HoF?)
 

InstaFace

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What a great article. It's nice to be reminded about how many different ways in which we are so lucky to have had Pedro grace our lives, his generosity and eloquence and loyalty being just a few.

I'll nitpick with him over one thing, though: replace Ortiz with a league-average DH and I bet the 2007 team wins the series anyway. They were that damn good.

But there is absolutely no doubt over his centrality to the two other titles. 2004's victory had many fathers, of course, but we owe just a huge share of the win in 2013 to a single Large Father. I'm not sure I've seen someone dominate the playoffs like that, other than Barry Bonds in his ultimately losing effort in 2002. In the WS he hit .688 with a 1.948 OPS; .353 with a 1.206 OPS for the entire postseason. Just monstrous. When Pedro talks about Ortiz's life being touched by God, not just for his work ethic and character but also for being in possession of something that felt otherworldly, I think to that 2013 postseason as the most stark example. Watching Pedro, it was often his intelligence that I felt radiate off the mound as he out-thought and manipulated batters. Watching Ortiz, however, sometimes felt like watching The Natural.
 

jateders

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What a great article. It's nice to be reminded about how many different ways in which we are so lucky to have had Pedro grace our lives, his generosity and eloquence and loyalty being just a few.

I'll nitpick with him over one thing, though: replace Ortiz with a league-average DH and I bet the 2007 team wins the series anyway. They were that damn good.

But there is absolutely no doubt over his centrality to the two other titles. 2004's victory had many fathers, of course, but we owe just a huge share of the win in 2013 to a single Large Father. I'm not sure I've seen someone dominate the playoffs like that, other than Barry Bonds in his ultimately losing effort in 2002. In the WS he hit .688 with a 1.948 OPS; .353 with a 1.206 OPS for the entire postseason. Just monstrous. When Pedro talks about Ortiz's life being touched by God, not just for his work ethic and character but also for being in possession of something that felt otherworldly, I think to that 2013 postseason as the most stark example. Watching Pedro, it was often his intelligence that I felt radiate off the mound as he out-thought and manipulated batters. Watching Ortiz, however, sometimes felt like watching The Natural.
I don't know about that. David was pretty good (per usual) in that 7 game series vs the Indians.

David Ortiz
.292 .424 .542 .966

With three doubles and a bomb. I don't think we squeeze by the Tribe without him.

Also, I know we all remember JD's granny but damn was Manny on fire

Manny Ramirez
.409 .563 .727 1.290
 

TFisNEXT

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I don't know about that. David was pretty good (per usual) in that 7 game series vs the Indians.

David Ortiz
.292 .424 .542 .966

With three doubles and a bomb. I don't think we squeeze by the Tribe without him.

Also, I know we all remember JD's granny but damn was Manny on fire

Manny Ramirez
.409 .563 .727 1.290
Manny also changed the complexion of the Angels series...with the walk-off against KRod in game 2. Instead of tied at 1 it's 2-0 in a 5 game series. Pretty monster postseason for both Ortiz and Manny that year...esp before the WS. It was Lowell and Jacoby who caught fire in the WS. I actually also recall Lugo (!!) having a pretty good World Series too.
 

snowmanny

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I don't know about that. David was pretty good (per usual) in that 7 game series vs the Indians.

David Ortiz
.292 .424 .542 .966

With three doubles and a bomb. I don't think we squeeze by the Tribe without him.

Also, I know we all remember JD's granny but damn was Manny on fire

Manny Ramirez
.409 .563 .727 1.290

Someone else did this in that series:

.500 .576 .929 1.504