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‘Today was different’: When David Ortiz reminded Boston, ‘This is our f****** city’
"In the wake of incomprehensible terror, the words were forceful, defiant, and proud."
The 2013 season began inauspiciously for David Ortiz. For the first time in his Red Sox career, the longtime designated hitter began the year on the Injured List.
Then 37 years old, Ortiz — Boston’s two-time World Series champion, already an icon for his beloved personality and clutch hitting — was still a force at the plate. He’d once again put up impressive numbers in 2012, batting .318 with a whopping 1.026 OPS, yet was limited to 90 games due to an Achilles tendon injury.
Boston struggled without him, falling completely out of the playoff race and ending up last in the American League East. Heading into 2013, his original prediction of being recovered in time for Opening Day had proven too ambitious.
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By Marathon Monday, Ortiz was still with the team’s minor league affiliate as he continued rehab from his injury.
For several hours that day, everything seemed to be ideal. Amid beautiful spring weather, the Red Sox won an exciting Patriots’ Day game on a Mike Napoli walk-off double. And as the marathon proceeded across the city, the team departed for Logan Airport after the game ahead of a road trip.
Then, at 2:49 p.m., a bomb exploded near the marathon finish line. Twelve seconds later, a second bomb went off farther down Boylston Street. Three people — Martin Richard, Lingzi Lu, and Krystle Campbell — were killed. More than 280 people were injured, and at least 17 people lost limbs in the explosions.
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In the wake of such a horrific tragedy, first responders as well as local and national authorities worked tirelessly to treat the injured, and track down and apprehend those responsible for the bombings. Sports, like everything else, was instantly relegated to the background.
The Red Sox were not scheduled to play another home game for four days following the three-game series in Cleveland. Even taking the field the day after the bombings in an away game was an emotional and difficult experience for players. Still, the team did its best to play for and honor its city, with third baseman Will Middlebrooks coining a phrase that would become a rallying cry: Boston Strong.
Ortiz was still doing his minor league rehab, but had already been eyeing a return to the Red Sox for the next home series, slated to begin on Friday, April 19, against the Royals.
Larger events again took precedent, as the full-scale manhunt for suspects continued. The Friday game was canceled as Boston remained in a state of lockdown. That night, Boston police located and arrested a second suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who had been hiding inside a boat in Watertown.
As the city was reopened, Bostonians wearily emerged from days of trauma. The Red Sox were now set to play the Royals on Saturday, April 20, at 1:10 p.m. Exactly how the crowd in attendance felt, however, was understandably difficult to say.
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It was in this moment that Ortiz, having rejoined the team and making his first Red Sox start at Fenway Park since August of the previous year, stepped forward to address the crowd.
His speech was preceded by an emotional pregame ceremony, with the Red Sox honoring the victims and first responders, but to go from that directly into baseball felt wrong.
“How do you go from that to playing baseball? It’s an emotional leap,” said Charles Steinberg, former adviser to then-Red Sox president, Larry Lucchino, in a 2018 interview. “That’s when I said, ‘We need an elbow. We need a transition. We need something to take us from the gravity of this ceremony that will somehow let the fans be ready to play baseball.’ That’s when the notion of having David Ortiz be the punctuation mark arose.”
Having been given little time to prepare, Ortiz kept his remarks brief. But in 54 words, he spoke volumes to the City of Boston:
All right, all right, Boston.
This jersey that we wear today. It doesn’t say Red Sox. It says Boston.
We want to thank you, Mayor Menino, Governor [Deval] Patrick and the whole police department for the great job they did this past week.
This is our f****** city, and nobody’s gonna dictate our freedom. Stay strong. Thank you.
Ortiz’s initial words were cheered, but his now-iconic phrase, “This is our f****** city,” received roaring approval. Fans, players, and even the local officials on-hand may have been surprised at his usage of an expletive, but they rallied around it.
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“He crystallized a moment in time,” former police commissioner Ed Davis explained looking back on the event in 2016. “He was a guy that just sort of spoke for all of Boston.”
For Ortiz, he hadn’t even realized that he had “dropped an F-bomb.”
“Sometimes people say things and don’t know where it comes from,” Ortiz would explain.
“He later apologized for the swear, but not the sentiment,” wrote Boston Globe reporter Julian Benbow in his recap of the speech. “In the wake of incomprehensible terror, the words were forceful, defiant, and proud.”
The Red Sox went on to win the game, 4-3, but Ortiz’s speech has undoubtedly remained the most memorable part of that day.
Despite the universal approval he had received, Ortiz could have been sanctioned by the Federal Communications Commission for his strong language (as it came on live television).
But in a moment of fitting grace, FCC chairman Julius Genachowski tweeted a message of clear support, noting that he stood “with Big Papi and the people of Boston.”
Beyond that day, Ortiz and the Red Sox were a pillar for Bostonians to lean on in 2013. The team that had finished last the year before transformed itself back into a winning ball club. Boston finished 97-65, and made a run to the World Series.
Ortiz anchored the postseason run. His grand slam in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series jumpstarted a comeback, and he belted a whopping .688 average (11-16) in the World Series matchup with the Cardinals.
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The Red Sox prevailed, winning the series in six games (and doing so at Fenway Park for the first time in 95 years). It was one of Ortiz’s finest achievements, but across all of his magical moments as a baseball player in Boston, his emphatic address to the Fenway crowd on that April day forever stands out.
“I’ve had a lot of great moments and emotional situations,” Ortiz said of his speech at the time. “Today was different.”
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