17 facts about David Ortiz’s 500 home runs
What was Matt Moore thinking when he threw David Ortiz an 80.3-mph knuckle curve Saturday, September 12, at the Trop?
As Moore watched the ball leave the bat at 106 mph and travel 432 feet, he was probably thinking, “Well, at least I’m the answer to the trivia question, ‘Who allowed Big Papi’s 500th home run.’’’
I don’t know what Moore was thinking, but here are 17 (we’ll explain the reasoning for the number later) David Ortiz thoughts that crossed my mind:
— 500 is a nice round number, as are the facts that Ortiz hit numbers 499 and 500 in the same game, marking the 50th two-homer game in his career to go along with the 400 single-homer games. Ortiz joined Albert Pujols,who also hit numbers 499 and 500 in the same game.
— 442 of his home runs have come with the Red Sox (third most all-time) and 58 with the Twins (the same as Matt LeCroy). Ortiz joined Jimmie Fox, Ted Williams, and Manny Ramirez as batters who hit their 500th while wearing a Sox uniform.
— 442 of his homers were as a designated hitter (the most all-time), 53 homers came when he played first base, and the remaining five were as a pinch-hitter. He has hit 385 home runs off righties, 155 off lefties).
— Ortiz has homered against 27 teams, with 59 coming against the Toronto Blue Jays, his favorite victim.
— He has not homered against the Padres (51 plate appearances), Pirates (36 PA), or Reds (30 PA).
— Ortiz has homered in the 1st inning and 4th innings 76 times each, his favorite innings.
— Ortiz has hit 140 homers in tie games, 189 homers when his team was ahead, and 171 homers when his team was behind. He has hit 173 go-ahead homers and 45 tying homers.
— August is Papi Month, with Ortiz going deep 99 times (he has hit nine on August 12); so far he has 90 career homers in September (eight on September 12).
— What do Rich Garces, Tim Young, and brothers Ramon Martinez and Pedro Martinez have in common? Each allowed a home run to Mr. 500 when they were pitching for the Red Sox and Big Papi was hitting for the Twins. Current teammates Craig Breslow (A’s), Alexi Ogando (Rangers), and Rick Porcello (Tigers) gave up homers to Ortiz.
— Future Hall-of-Famer Roy Halladay has been Papi’s favorite victim, allowing six gophers. Ortiz has homered against three current Hall of Famers: Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz.
— Ortiz has hit 72 homers on 1-1 counts, 68 first-pitch homers, 63 full-count homers, nine 0-2 homers, and six, 3-0 homers.
— Ortiz has hit 11 grand slams and 11 homers when there were runners on first and third.
— He has hit 288 homers with the bases empty and 140 homers with one runner on base.
— He has hit 237 homers when batting third and 140 as a cleanup hitter; he has never homered from the first or second slots in the batting order perhaps because he has never started a game hitting either first, second, or ninth (his one homer as a No. 9 hitter came as a pinch hitter for Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who was hitting ninth. That 9th-inning homer in 2011 off Jose Valverde gave the Sox a 4-3 win over the Tigers).
— Of the dozen extra-inning homers he has hit (tied for 10th all-time) the latest in a game came earlier this season when he hit a 16th-inning blast against the Yankees.
— Four of his 11 walkoff homers (tied for seventh all-time) were in extra-innings. His 11 walkoffs have come against 11 different pitchers.
— 47 of his homers were against the Yankees, with three each against Mike Mussina and A.J. Burnett. He hit one against Mariano Rivera and one when he was with the Twins. Of the 46 he hit for the Sox, 13 gave them the lead and one tied the score; he hasn’t hit a walkoff against the Yanks.
As for the number 17? While I could have gone with 27 thoughts to mark the fact that there have been that many 500-homer hitters, I opted for 17, the number of postseason homers that Ortiz has hit (tied for seventh all-time) and not included in his regular season total of 500.
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