September 21st, 2006 → 11:42 am @ Seth Mnookin // No Comments
In case you missed it, last night David Ortiz hit his 50th home run of the season, equaling Jimmie Foxx’s club record, set in 1938. Amalie Benjamin has a nice line in her write up in the Globe:
“They stood, as the ball from the hand of Boof Bonser — what a name for that footnote — lifted off Ortiz’s bat with two outs in the sixth inning, a home run that in its flight, in its landing in the center-field seats to the right of the yellow line, did more than equal a Red Sox record. It did exactly what it should have, breaking a 1-1 tie, though the Twins went on to an 8-2 victory.
Because that is who David Ortiz is. And that is what David Ortiz does.”
I know this has been repeated ad infinitum, but here are some of the Red Sox players who never hit 50 home runs:
* Ted Williams (career best 43, 1949)
* Carl Yastrzemski (44, 1967)
* Jim Rice (46, 1978)
* Mo Vaughn (44, 1996)
* Manny Ramirez (45, 2005)
* Jerry Remy (2, 1978)
To further honor the greatest clutch hitter in the history of the Red Sox…
Here’s an outtake from the book on how the Sox ended up with Ortiz in the first place.
Here’s an excerpt on Papi’s breakout ’03 season.
If you go to the bottom of this page, there’s an audio link to my reading about Ortiz’s game-winning single off of Esteban Loaiza in the 14th inning of Game 5 in the 2004 ALCS. (As Joe Buck memorably said on national TV, “Damon coming to the plate, he can keep on running to New York. Game 6, tomorrow night!”)
Here’s a photographic recap of Papi’s 50 homers (courtesy of the Globe).
And here’s a gallery of Ortiz’ walk-offs (also courtesy of the Globe).
Enjoy.
Post Categories: David Ortiz
Shalomar
18 years ago
I was at the game last night and 3 things impressed me:
1. Despite our out-of-contention status, the place was packed through the 8th inning. Pretty impressive loyalty.
2. One bonus of not being in the pennant race: fans seemed pretty chill and were just there to enjoy Fenway, a nice night, and baseball. And of course Papi’s dinger made it worthwhile.
It was pretty stress-free…
3. .. that is until Hansen threw some meatballs that I could have hit and the crowd was merciless. Lots of ‘Nice mullet, go back to St Johns’ chants. It was good to see the competitive spirit was still alive and well.
gmschmidty
18 years ago
Seth I dig the adult-film soundtrack music on the intro to your reading from that Globe link. Stylish!
Retire_Number_14
18 years ago
I too was at the game last night, and everything Shalomar writes is accurate. I had this feeling, before the game whilst scarfing the goods of The Sausage Guy, that the fans who would fill the park that night were indeed real fans. Everyone there was just hoping for a good ballgame, which it was until the 8th. But that game will live in my memory as the night Big Papi hit the big 5-0. It was a great moment, and congratulations to a great player.
On a side note, this is a personal plea to Mr. Epstein. Do what ever it takes to get Torii Hunter in a Sox uniform. The man absolutely kills the ball at Fenway, and his homer there last night was Manny-esque. It reminded me of a shot that Bo Jackson hit there back in 90 or something, that sent shudders through the crowd, not unlike how a guillotine slam must’ve done the same to execution witnesses on the streets of London centuries ago. That, I believe, was the first spectator sport. But, I digress. Get Hunter, man. Get him. Imagine No. 48 patrolling CF in The Fens.