David Ortiz

Baseball

The incredible David Ortiz, aka Big Papi Ortiz, is a true legend of Major League Baseball, who played primarily for the Boston Red Sox, and who is also regarded as one of the greatest clutch hitters of all time. He is a 3 x World Series Champion, a 10 x All-Star, and a 7 x Silver Slugger winner. He also holds the Red Sox single-season record for home runs with 54, set during the 2006 season. His Red Sox number, 34, was officially retired by the team in 2017. He is now an analyst for Fox Sports, the founder of Big Papi Productions, and an ambassador for the Red Sox. In 2007, he founded the David Ortiz Children’s Fund to help children from Boston to the Dominican Republic and beyond.

Born and raised in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Ortiz was obsessed by baseball as a boy. He went on to excel at the spot in High School and it wasn’t long before the professional clubs took notice. In 1992, when he was 17-years-old, Ortiz was signed by the Seattle Mariners. He made his professional debut in 1994, and two years later was promoted to the Single-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the Midwest League, a Mariners farm team. He quickly established himself as one of the Mariners’s best hitting prospects, and was named as the most exciting player in the Midwest League by Baseball America in 1996. He was traded to the Minnesota Twins later that year and quickly rose through their system, making his debut for the club in 1997. He was released in 2002, and due to a chance meet with a friend, he later signed a non-guaranteed free agent contract with the Boston Red Sox, making the team at the season’s start. He remained with the club until 2016, a team he broke records for and won multiple awards with, including three World Series titles, and two AL Hank Aaron Awards.

Ortiz regularly connects with his millions of followers and admirers through Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, posting pictures and videos of his life around baseball. He is available for that personalised shout-out via the Cameo platform, and has an official website, davidortiz.com.