A 10-time all-star and three time world World Series Champion with the Boston Red Sox, David
Ortiz is one of the most legendary and popular players in baseball history.
But it hasn't always been easy.
Here's a look at the true story behind the legend of Big Papi.
David Ortiz comes by his love of baseball naturally.
Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, David's father Enrique "Leo" Ortiz was also
a pro ball player back in the 70's, though he never made the jump to Major League Baseball.
David Ortiz never got to see his father play, though;. when little Big Papi was born, Leo
Ortiz quit his diamond dreams in order to find a steady job to support his growing family.
Good on you, dad.
David Ortiz was also extremely close with his mother, Angela Arias.
In fact, for his first few years in baseball, he actually went by the name David Arias.
Tragically, though, Angela Arias was killed in a car accident in 2002 at the young age
of 46, meaning she never got the chance to see David become a superstar.
"I want to thank my mom…"
"I want to thank you, Mom, wherever you are at, I love you so much and I miss you."
Though Ortiz is a Boston legend, he was originally drafted by the Seattle Mariners.
Unfortunately for Ortiz, though, Seattle already had established stars at both of his positions:
Paul Sorrento at first base, and Edgar Martinez at Designated Hitter.
That made Ortiz expendable.
In a decision they would come to regret, the Mariners sent Ortiz as the "player to be named
later" in a trade to the Minnesota Twins.
Ortiz did get one big thing out of his time in the Mariners organization, though.
While playing at their Single-A farm team in Wisconsin, Ortiz met his future wife Tiffany.
A Wisconsin native, Tiffany introduced Ortiz to another lifelong love: the Green Bay Packers.
Since then, the Ortiz family has reportedly attended Packers games at Lambeau Field on
a regular basis.
He's a true cheesehead!
In the summer of 1984, when Ortiz was eight, a gangly 16-year-old pitcher became a national
hero when he took the mound for the Domincan Republic in the Summer Olympics.
The pitcher was Ramon Martinez, who was soon signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers, and over
the years he and his younger brother Pedro Martinez became idols to a whole generation
of Dominican players including Ortiz.
So it was almost fate when, following an injury-marred 2002 season with the Twins, Minnesota decided
to cut Big Papi rather than risk paying him more money in arbitration.
"After the 2002 season, I remember I was released by the Twins.
They basically don't want to pay me."
Pedro Martinez, who was then the star pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, happened to run into
Ortiz later that very day and was thrilled to hear the news.
Martinez wrote in The Player's Tribune,
"I jumped in the air and clapped.
We needed a first baseman in Boston, and I knew that could be David."
"he got his phone, he called Larry Lucchino, basically told them 'this guy is special'"
"so two days later, the Red Sox signed me, and here I am!"
During the mid-2000's, Major League Baseball was hit with a major doping scandal that implicated
many of the game's top sluggers in the use of performance enhancing drugs.
Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Rafael Palmero, and Barry Bonds were just some of the stars
exposed by evidence that they had used steroids.
But what about Ortiz?
Well, in 2009, the New York Times published an article reporting that Ortiz's name was
on a 2003 list of big-league ballplayers who had failed a drug test.
Ortiz later strongly denied the allegations in a press conference, saying the most he
did was use legal nutritional supplements.
He said to the media,
"I definitely was a little bit careless back in those days when I was buying supplements
and vitamins over the counter legal supplements, legal vitamins over the counter but I never
buy steroids or used steroids."
Ortiz's name has never been linked to any steroid use since, nor has any evidence ever
been found actually linking him to performance-enhancing drugs.
On the evening of June 9, 2019, Ortiz visited the Dial Bar and Lounge, an establishment
in eastern Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
That's where a man approached the baseball legend, and, from just a few feet away, shot
him in the back.
Ortiz was rushed to a hospital, where doctors had to remove parts of his gall bladder and
intestine in what was described as a six-hour procedure.
The Red Sox then chartered a plane to fly him back to Boston, where he underwent another
successful surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital.
His wife, Tiffany Ortiz reported that her husband was, quote, "stable, awake, and resting
comfortably" in the ICU.
Within the week, Dominican Republic's national police announced that several suspects in
the attack had been arrested, and that the would-be killers had been paid roughly $7,800
to kill Ortiz.
Thankfully, they failed.
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