COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — David Ortiz vowed to speak from the heart. As usual, Big Papi delivered.
His megawatt smile tinged with a hint of emotion, the former Boston Red Sox shortstop was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, after his daughter Alexandra sang the national anthem, and he felt humiliated by his surroundings.
“I want to thank God for giving me the opportunity to be here today and for giving me the joy to be able to walk this path, this path that has allowed me to be here today and I hope to inspire everyone to believe in yourself,” Ortiz. said
Ortiz was greeted by a raucous crowd chanting “Papi! Papi!” as many fans made the four-hour drive from around Fenway Park to attend the festivities.
As he took the stage, Ortiz pointed to the sky as he usually does at special moments, a way to honor his late mother, who died two decades ago after a car accident.
“I’ve always tried to live my life in a way … so that I can positively influence the world,” said Ortiz, 46, just the 58th player elected in his first year on the ballot. “And if my story reminds you of anything, let it remind you that when you believe in someone you can change the world, you can change their future, just like so many people believed in me.”
Ortiz, who survived a nightclub shooting in the Dominican Republic three years ago, soaked in the celebration.
Legions of fans packed the field adjacent to the Clark Sports Center, umbrellas and Dominican Republic flags strewn everywhere. Ortiz’s number 34 seemed to be everywhere as fans sang and chanted in Spanish. An ‘I Love U’ sign summed up the admiration for Big Papi on his special day.
Six Era Committee selections also included in the Class of 2022: former Twins teammates Jim Kaat and Tony Oliva, the late Minnie Miñoso, former Dodgers star and Mets manager Gil Hodges and Pioneers blacks Buck O’Neil and Bud Fowler.
In 14 years with the Red Sox, Ortiz hit 500 home runs, 17 of them in the postseason.
If there was one blemish, it was a report from The New York Times that said he tested positive for drugs in a 2003 survey conducted by MLB and the players’ association. Ortiz was never penalized for performance-enhancing drugs, and MLB and the union never confirmed that there was a positive test. The parties said the survey’s test results were never reviewed until the point of the sanctioned tests that began in 2004.
That was far from the mind on this day, as Ortiz paid tribute to many in both English and Spanish.
“It’s an honor to be on this stage,” Ortiz said. “I can’t ask for more.”
Kaat, 83, now a Twins broadcaster, pitched for a quarter-century, winning a World Series a year before retiring in 1983. He credited his father with instilling the discipline needed to succeed, his wife forever. to be there, and his former minor league manager, 94-year-old Jack McKeon, who was in the audience.
“I am honored and humbled to be included in this fraternity, some of the greatest players to ever play the game, and I thank you for being a part of this wonderful day,” said Kaat, a native of Zeeland, Michigan.
Oliva was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1964, led the league in hits five times and became the first player in major league history to win batting titles in each of his two first few seasons, finishing with a lifetime average of .304 in 15 seasons with the Twins.
Oliva got his chance in part thanks to Miñoso, the Cuban Comet.
“I’ve been so blessed, so lucky,” said Oliva, who turned 84 four days ago. “I appreciate it very much. I would like to thank all those friends, all those wonderful friends, all those friends from all over the world. I really, really appreciated that.”
Miñoso grew up on a sugar plantation and played ball on the weekends as a child and became a star with the New York Cubans in the Negro Leagues before becoming the first black Latino player in the major leagues in 1949, two years after Jackie Robinson entered. To Cuban players, Miñoso was the Jackie Robinson of Latin America and starred for the White Sox in the 1950s. He was a nine-time All-Star and finished his career with 2,110 hits and a .299 batting average. He died in 2015.
“From a humble ranch in Cuba to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, what a way to honor such a remarkable life and serve the sport he loved. I would have been very proud to be a member of the Hall of Fame,” said his wife, Sharon.
Irene Hodges spoke on behalf of her father, a hard-hitting first baseman who had 370 home runs and 1,274 RBI in 18 major league seasons, all but the last two with the Dodgers. He retired in 1963 and five years later was hired to manage the Mets, leading them to an improbable World Series victory over the Baltimore Orioles in 1969 before dying of a heart attack three years later. then at the age of 47.
“I would be so proud. I’m especially happy for my mom today,” said Irene Hodges. “When the call came from the Hall of Fame…I started crying probably as much as I did when I lost my dad. I was beyond happy for him, and I was even touched that my mother, at 95 years, I could hear this news. My mom is watching today from our house in Brooklyn.”
O’Neil, who played for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues and was a tireless advocate for the game until his death in 2006, was represented by a niece, Dr. Angela Terry.
“He would remind us all that his playing career was in the Negro Leagues and today he is inducted into the same class as a pioneer of Negro baseball, Bud Fowler, and a former Negro League player, Minnie Miñoso” , Terry said. . “Man oh man. Nothing could be better. Thank you for loving our uncle.”
Hall of Famer Dave Winfield paid tribute to Fowler, the first black player to play for a white professional team nearly seven decades before Robinson broke the color barrier with the Dodgers. Fowler is also the first person from the Cooperstown area to receive the honor. He was born in nearby Fort Plain, but grew up in Cooperstown, where he learned to play.
A second baseman who hit just over .300 in 13 seasons, Fowler was signed at age 20 by an all-white professional team in Massachusetts in 1878. It was the start of a 13-year career which saw him play for 18 teams, including four in one year, the constant moves a direct reflection of the racism he had to endure.
“I ask that you remember Bud Fowler in a larger context,” Winfield said. “Remember him as a skilled athlete who endured obstacles hard to imagine today. Personally, I hope you all see him as a man who loved the game of baseball from its inception.”
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