- My dad was always there for me,
as a kid growing up.
One day - I don't know how he did it -
but he escaped out of his job, and he show up at this one
tournament that we had. And I just hit a home run,
and he just came out of the crowd.
Those are the little things that you feel like,
as a kid, you'll never forget.
When your parents give you that support,
and they're always there for you.
[Upbeat music]
I come from a poor family.
My dad has a job, he works in the auto-part place.
Something that he also encouraged me to get to know,
a little bit, as well.
- I used to play a lot of baseball as a kid,
but, growing up, you know,
all of the sudden I fell in love with basketball.
I remember I used to go to the baseball field,
and then if I see a basketball court I would stop at the
basketball court and forget about the baseball field.
- He made me understand the importance of being focused,
and knowing, at an early age, what I want.
You want every kid to be a pro at the age of 16,
and then he protected me even more,
because he knew there's failure all the way around you.
And he wanted to make sure that, if I fail,
it wasn't because I wasn't working hard enough.
He wanted to make sure that if I fail,
it was gonna be because God want it to be that way.
My parents always encouraged me to get to be well-educated.
They sacrificed themselves to pay for school,
and that was very important to them.
I can call myself lucky, because I got four kids,
and they're pretty much like me, you know,
they're happy people. My older just graduated.
If you want to see a man this size crying,
then go check up on the video.
I'm not the type of dad that, just because I have the possibility
for you to have everything, I'm gonna give you everything.
No, you gotta earn it. You need to know the real deal,
what the real life is all about,
so you are a better human being.
When you are humble, people love you no matter what.
Nobody is perfect, you make mistakes as a human.
So I tried to teach them that.
In a relationship with your dad, or with your kids,
you gotta be able to listen.
There are people with more experience,
who know about life more that what you know.
I'm in my 40's and still when my dad talks to me,
I listen. He knows how to connect with me, you know?
I make him laugh a lot.
We always have that type of connection.
And, in moments of struggle, he's always there.
Life is all about, you know, do things that make sense.
Do things that help you to grow,
that help you to be a better person.
And that's what I try to teach 'em.
Hi, I'm David Ortiz, and I'm here because of my dad.