Big Papi Makes Big Splash, Making Baseball Hall Of Fame On First Ballot

Boston Strong.

David Ortiz, who spent 14 seasons as resident strongman of the Boston Red Sox, carved another niche in his belt Tuesday with election to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot.

At age 46, he instantly becomes the youngest Hall of Famer, displacing Vladimir Guerrero, and the fourth Dominican, along with Juan Marichal, Pedro Martinez, and Guerrero.

The only man who mustered the required 75 per cent of the vote from the Baseball Writers Association of America, Ortiz is the 58th candidate chosen in his first try. He drew 77.9 per cent in the balloting.

The 6’4″ Dominican holds single-season and career home run records among designated hitters. He’s also the lifetime DH leader in games, at-bats, hits, runs, doubles, runs batted in, extra-base hits, total bases, walks, and intentional bases on balls. He won the coveted Edgar Martinez Award, given annually to the best DH, eight times – three more than anybody else.

Ortiz joins incumbents Harold Baines and Edgar Martinez as the only regular designated hitters in Cooperstown, though fellow Hall of Famers Frank Thomas and Paul Molitor also spent significant portions of their careers in the role.

Thanks to the DH, used only in the American League, Ortiz helped the Red Sox break the fabled Curse of the Bambino when they won the 2004 World Series after winning four straight elimination games against the rival New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series. Two other world championships followed, with Ortiz hitting .688 to win World Series MVP honors in 2013.

Earlier that year, he had endeared himself to Red Sox nation with a Fenway Park speech designed to soothe the shattered city after a fatal bombing disrupted the Boston Marathon in April.

He made his last year, 2016, one of his best, with 87 extra-base hits, including 38 home runs, and 127 runs batted in. That left him with a total of 541 home runs – a record 485 as a DH. He delivered 17 more in the post-season.

Also in his last year, Ortiz led the American League with 48 doubles, 127 RBI, a .620 slugging percentage, and 1.021 on-base plus slugging mark.

Affectionately dubbed Big Papi because of his gargantuan stature but amiable disposition, Ortiz was signed as a first baseman by the Seattle Mariners in 1992 but swapped to the Minnesota Twins four years later. Relegated to part-time duty, he was eventually released but signed by Boston a month later, on Jan. 22, 2003.

He blossomed almost immediately, producing the first of his 10 seasons with triple digits in runs batted in.

Ortiz had career peaks of 54 home runs in 2006, 148 RBI in 2005, and personal bests in batting (.332) and on-base percentage (.445) in 2007. A dangerous clutch hitter, Ortiz had 11 game-winning home runs during the regular season and two more in the postseason.

A .286 lifetime hitter with a .380 career on-base percentage, he is one of four Hall of Famers (along with Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Reggie Jackson) to have at least 500 home runs and three World Series rings.

An All-Star 10 times, he also won seven Silver Sluggers, three world championship rings, and MVP awards in the AL Championship Series as well as the World Series. One of the best free-agent signings in baseball history, Ortiz led the league in homers, total bases and on-base percentage and won three RBI crowns with the Red Sox. He also won the Home Run Derby that precedes the All-Star Game.

Not surprisingly, his No. 34 has been retired by the Red Sox.

The Baseball Hall of Fame voting results, announced live on MLB Network, ends a fruitless quest by Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, and Sammy Sosa, talented but controversial stars who have now exceeded the 10-year ballot limit in the annual BBWAA voting.

Any or all could get another chance in December when the Today’s Game era committee meets to consider candidates who made their mark from 1998-2007. But they must find their way onto a ballot limited to 10 names and also receive 12 votes from a 16-member panel consisting of incumbent Hall of Famers, historians, and writers. That translates to the same 75 per cent required in the “regular” election.

According to Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated, there are more than two-dozen contenders for that ballot, which can include managers, umpires, owners, and executives.

Among those vying for spots, in his view, are managers Bruce Bochy, Lou Piniella, Jim Leyland, and Davey Johnson; owner George Steinbrenner; umpires Joe West and Gerry Davis; position players Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Joe Carter, Will Clark, and Albert Belle; starting pitchers Orel Hershiser, David Cone, Bret Saberhagen, and Kevin Brown; and closer John Franco, who saved more games than any left-hander.

Add Bonds, Clemens, Schilling, and Sosa to that group and it seems obvious that it will take more than a giant shoe-horn to fit all those names onto the single veterans committee ballot – meaning some of them will have to wait until the committee convenes again in 2024.

Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa were suspected of inflating their numbers by using performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), while Schilling hurt his own cause with inflammatory political posts on social media.

In the just-concluded balloting by baseball beat writers, voters could pick from a 30-member ballot that was also chosen by a committee. They were able to vote for 10 but were not required to vote for any, leading to an influx of ballots with few or even no votes listed – and a much tougher path for candidates needing three-quarters of all votes cast.

The BBWAA did not chose anyone last year, when Schilling was the leading vote-getter with 71.1 per cent of the vote. Players must be retired five years to qualify for election by the writers.

Among first-timers becoming eligible in the next few years are Carlos Beltran (2023); Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer, and David Wright (2024); and CC Sabathia and Ichiro Suzuki (2005).

When he’s inducted at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, NY on July 24, Ortiz will be joined on the dais by Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat, elected last month by the Golden Days committee. Four others will be inducted posthumously: Gil Hodges and Minnie Minoso, chosen by Golden Days voters, plus Buck O’Neil, and Bud Fowler, elected by the Early Baseball committee. Total membership now stands at 340.

For living members of the Hall of Fame, election is the ultimate honor – personally, professionally, and financially. Ortiz had a top salary of $16,000,000 as a player.