David Ortiz will get a Boston goodbye that has been few and far between
COMMENTARY
Save for Larry Bird and potentially Tom Brady, Boston can be a city in which it’s difficult to finish things. Fond and fitting farewells have been especially hard to come by for those who starred at Fenway Park.
Manny Ramirez took his act to “Mannywood’’ before eventually ending his playing days in disgrace. Wade Boggs made it to the Bronx after the Red Sox gave up on him, eventually winning that elusive World Series title with the New York Yankees in 1996. Roger Clemens would do the same in 1999, after spending a pair of seasons closer to his Texas home, in Toronto.
Pedro Martinez played with the Mets for four seasons before making a cameo appearance with the Phillies in 2009. Nomar Garciaparra benched himself in New York before Theo Epstein turned the Red Sox world upside down by trading him to the Chicago Cubs in 2004. The rest is history.
Jim Rice found himself on the disabled list in August of his final season, and never played in a Boston uniform again. Dwight Evans had to play a year with the Baltimore Orioles before calling it a career. Dennis Eckersley re-invented his career in Oakland, where he became the preeminent closer of his generation. Carlton Fisk found himself on the free market and signed with the Chicago White Sox after Haywood Sullivan failed to find the closest mailbox from Yawkey Way.
Indeed, not since 1983, when Carl Yastrzemski ended his career on a celebratory, crisp, fall weekend at Fenway Park, has a Hall of Fame-caliber Red Sox player been able to retire in fitting fashion in Boston, with so many of them shipped elsewhere in the “twilight’’ of their careers, or choosing to depart for greener wallets in other locales.
Thirty-two years ago, Yaz was the last Red Sox legend to say goodbye with a tour worthy of a Yankees shortstop or closer. “Yaz Day’’ served as the bulk of the farewell tour, the victory lap limited to Yastrzemski’s trot around Fenway Park, shaking hands with some of the fans who watched him play for 23 years.
Maybe David Ortiz understands that sort of legacy more than we’ve given him credit. He’ll go down, along with Yaz and Ted Williams, as one of the three greatest hitters to ever play in Boston, a three-time World Series champion with a flair for the dramatic that will be re-played in New England baseball minds for generations.
Barring injury, like Yaz and Williams, he’ll get to finish things on his terms, where he made his name.
Maybe the timing is odd, on his 40th (we think) birthday, but Ortiz’s decision to retire at the end of the 2016 season does ensure at least one thing: He can do no wrong next season.
“We run out of time at some point,’’ Ortiz said in a video on The Players’ Tribune, where he serves as “Editor-at-Large.’’ “Life is based on different chapters and I think I’m ready to experience the next one in my life.’’
It won’t matter a bit if he gets off to another .185 start to the season like he did in 2009, not with the “Summer of Papi’’ on tap.
More than ever, Ortiz will be an attraction in 2016, an icon of New England lore, swatting in the Big Top for six more months, only. There’s no risk of going down like Rice, a player who probably considered it a success when he could lift the bat above his hip by the time 1989 rolled around.
Even if Ortiz does struggle, coming off a season in which he hit a resounding 37 home runs, including the 500th of his career, criticism will be muted by the awareness that next season is partly a celebration of what he meant to Boston. It’s his chance to be feted here on the way out the door, not on a return visit in another uniform.
There’s also Cooperstown to worry about, six years from now when Ortiz should make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame despite the stigma of being a designated hitter who was on “The List.’’ Let’s not forget, the reason it took Rice 15 years to get elected is partly because of a dramatic downturn in his numbers over the final three seasons of his career. Since Ortiz is right on the cusp with the esteemed voters of the BBWAA anyway, what would a similar struggle over the final two years mean for him?
Despite his Cooperstown-caliber numbers, it hasn’t always been a smooth sail for Ortiz over the past 13 years. There were the rumblings that the Red Sox nearly cut him after his disastrous start in 2009, a possibility that seems incomprehensible six years and another World Series title later. He could be a diva, whining about his contract, even as the Red Sox did everything in their power to make sure he remained a life-long member of the franchise.
Otherwise, we have zero idea why he’s announcing his decision now, effectively surrendering a team option for 2017 worth $10 million if he were to reach 425 plate appearances next season. Perhaps Ortiz’s ego wants to give the team plenty of time — especially in the absence of Dr. Charles Steinberg — to plan his farewell, eyeing the overblown departures of Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera with a tinge of jealousy.
He’ll get it in 2016. Deservedly so provided his team’s aspirations aren’t overlooked.
The 1983 Red Sox finished 78-84 in Yastrzemski’s final season, the same record as the 2014 edition.
Ortiz doesn’t want to go out like that, but that remains to be seen.
“After next year, time is up,’’ Ortiz said. “So, let’s enjoy next season.’’
May the tour begin. Plan your parting gifts accordingly.
Contact Eric Wilbur at: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @GlobeEricWilbur
The walk-off hits of David Ortiz
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