As David Ortiz entered baseball’s Hall of Fame, one of seven players inducted this weekend in Cooperstown, N.Y., the former Boston Red Sox slugger joined that group as only he could — gregariously, smiling and with contagious enthusiasm.
David Ortiz enters the Hall of Fame with enthusiasm only he can bring
Even among baseball’s most electric stars, Ortiz had a different energy — and it still affects the game when he takes the microphone during All-Star Game broadcasts or appears during the playoffs.
Ortiz was a defining character during one of the most memorable eras in one of baseball’s best rivalries, a star for the Red Sox when they ended their World Series curse in 2004 and as they battled the New York Yankees in October after October. He was already a legend before he inspired the city after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, declaring Boston “our f—ing city” in a speech that became the stuff of lore.
On Sunday, he told the story of his first spring training at-bat with the Red Sox, when he tried to move a runner over against his former team, the Minnesota Twins. Then-Boston manager Grady Little pulled him aside and told him he didn’t want Ortiz to move runners over — he wanted him to drive them in.
“The rest is history,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz was one of the best designated hitters in history, slugging 541 home runs and racking up 2,472 hits over 20 seasons. He was a 10-time all-star and a seven-time Silver Slugger who always seemed to be better when it mattered most. The Red Sox won three World Series titles in 10 seasons with him in the middle of their order. Fellow Boston star Pedro Martinez, a 2015 inductee, sat behind him as he spoke Sunday.
Ortiz headlined a Hall of Fame class that righted some long-perceived Cooperstown wrongs and welcomed some of the game’s pioneers. The other additions: Bud Fowler, Buck O’Neil, Minnie Miñoso, Tony Oliva, Gil Hodges and Jim Kaat.
Ortiz was the only player voted in by the writers last offseason. The other six players were chosen by the Era Committees, formerly known as the Veterans Committee, which consider the candidacies of former major leaguers no longer eligible for election by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, as well as those of managers, umpires and executives.
Fowler is believed to be the first Black player in professional baseball, integrating otherwise White teams three-quarters of a century before Jackie Robinson was allowed to integrate the major leagues. Hall of Famer Dave Winfield spoke on behalf of Fowler, who died in 1913. Winfield offered a brief history of a trail that began in Cooperstown and finally wound its way back.
“There’s an unmistakable line you can follow from Bud to Andrew ‘Rube’ Foster, who created the Negro Leagues in 1920, to Jackie Robinson in 1947,” Winfield said.
Fowler helped form one of the best Black barnstorming teams of the late 1880s — the Page Fence Giants. He grew up in Cooperstown. He played for more than a dozen professional teams. He never got the chance to play in the major leagues.
Neither did O’Neil, the longtime Negro Leagues star and manager who spent eight decades in baseball. O’Neil was the first Black coach in MLB history, and he emerged as one of the sport’s most treasured historians before he died in 2006. On Sunday, induction finally arrived.
O’Neil’s niece, Angela Terry, addressed the crowd on his behalf. She noted the joy he would have taken in being inducted with Fowler and Miñoso.
“We also applaud the committee for not subjectively limiting their interpretation of a successful career in baseball to a singular focus upon statistics,” she said. “In other words, expanding their view to include the totality of one’s work in baseball.”
Like O’Neil, Miñoso made a name for himself in the Negro Leagues. He was one of the first dark-skinned Latino players in the majors — a forerunner of Ortiz in that way and in the joy with which he played. The Cuba native was the first Black player for the Chicago White Sox and emerged as a treasured star who grabbed attention and attracted fans with his on-field energy. He died in 2015.
Miñoso’s widow, Sharon, spoke on his behalf, recounting the difficulty he faced as he broke through stubborn racial barriers.
“What makes today’s recognition especially bittersweet is that Minnie faced many obstacles to arrive at this day. As a dark-skinned Afro-Latino at the height of segregation, he knew of the racial challenges he would face in the United States,” she said. “Little did he know, as a pioneer, he was opening doors for many who came behind him.”
Oliva, another Cuban-born star who narrowly missed induction in the past, followed Miñoso into the Hall of Fame. Playing for the Twins for his entire career, Oliva won three batting titles, led the American League in hits five times, was the 1964 AL rookie of the year and went to eight straight All-Star Games from 1964 to 1971. He hit .304 for his career.
The writers had 15 years to put Oliva in Cooperstown but never did. The Veterans Committee considered him five times. The Golden Era Committee considered him twice. Finally, this year, he made the cut.
“Thank you to all those guys back there who kept me on the ballot for 45 wonderful years,” said Oliva, 84, who joked that if he didn’t get into the Hall of Fame this time, “it’s all over for Tony.”
Similarly, Hodges and Kaat were long considered potential Hall of Famers who seemed to be among the most prominent snubs.
Hodges, like Oliva, narrowly missed induction over and over and over. Playing most of his career with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, he went to eight All-Star Games and won two World Series titles, and he ranked 11th in home runs when he retired. As a manager, he led the Mets to their legendary 1969 title. He died three years later.
Kaat won 283 games, which ranks 31st all-time. Only four pitchers with more wins — Roger Clemens, Tommy John and 19th-century players Bobby Matthews and Tony Mullane — are not in the Hall of Fame. Kaat scored 16 Gold Gloves and won the World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1982 before embarking on a broadcasting career.
But among them all, no one was received like Ortiz, whose fans traveled to Upstate New York to greet him with chants of “Pa-pi! Pa-pi!” He invited any “American friends” in attendance to his homeland, the Dominican Republic, for when they are “freezing up here.” He’s now the youngest member of the select Cooperstown club — one of a kind in a group of singular figures.
Source: WP
