The “Legitimacy” of David Ortiz’ 1st Ballot HOF Induction
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Let’s put out those torches and lower your swords, and let’s clarify something real quick……
This article isn’t to slander David Ortiz or to try and falsely accuse him of something. This is merely a look into such topics that many seem to either forget and or choose to not discuss/ignore because of certain preconceived notions about “Big Papi.”
Is David Ortiz a Hall of Famer?? Of course!! You’d be foolish to say otherwise, given his career stats both in the regular season and in the postseason, which showcased some remarkable runs in October.
Ortiz’ Career Stats
10x All-Star, HR Derby Champ
3x WS Champion, 7x Silver Slugger
WS MVP, ALCS MVP
55.3 WAR
2,472 Hits
541 HRs
1,768 RBI
.286/.380/.552/.931
17 HRs*
61 RBI*
.289/.404/.543/.947*
* = Postseason Stats
However….You can’t talk about David Ortiz’ career without discussing his potential link to Performance Enhancing Drugs at the turn of a new millennium in the early 2000s.
Acknowledging Potential PED Usage
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Potential PED usage…with a huge emphasis on “Potential” is key when it comes to David Ortiz’ name being revealed in a New York Times story back in 2003. The names of over 100 players had appeared to show positive tests for PEDs back in 2003 and were revealed by the Times after MLB and the MLBPA agreed to anonymously test to see how wide spread steroid usage was at the time. Such names that included the likes of Barry Bonds, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez & Alex Rodriguez. After these findings, MLB began to take a stronger stance on Performance Enhances and players like Ortiz never tested positive or threw up a red flag for such things from there on.
Though his name popped up that 2003 list that remains powerful to this day, Ortiz has consistently denied such PED claims time and time again, even as recently as this past week after being Inducted into Cooperstown.
Notably, Ortiz even claimed “Regional Bias” back in 2009 due to many New York Yankees appearing on the said infamous list saying
“What was the reason for them to come out with something like that? The only thing that I can think of, to be honest with you, a lot of big guys from the Yankees were being caught. And no one from Boston...This was just something that leaked out of New York and they had zero explanation about it ...”
False Positives and tough conversations
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Why does this stuff matter you may ask??? As mentioned before, Ortiz’ responses when asked about his name appearing on the 2003 list shows a lack of accountability from “Big Papi.” It also shows him trying to shift the narrative/point the finger at someone else. “Papi’s” media love is partly to blame for this as they’ve allowed Ortiz to use such deflection tactics, whereas with others like Barry Bonds, they aren’t allowed to do the same simply because they were not as acclaimed as Ortiz was and is to this day.
Not once has anyone ever said that David Ortiz officially tested positive for steroids, but when MLB’s Commissioner Rob Manfred questions the integrity of said testing and results back in the early 2000’s……essentially backing Ortiz’ innocence, it brings up a plethora of questions from fans and skeptical media members. One of them being “Why him but not them (Bonds, Rodriguez, Clemens, etc.)?”
With the amount of known PED users & down right not good people that we know are currently in the Hall of Fame, it brings into question how some media members vote on such matters & how higher-ups in the league view upcoming HoF nominees.
Not only do people around MLB bring into question the hypocrisy around the HoF, but it also reminds us how MLB profited off the “Evil” steroid users that they refuse to vote on. Now this isn’t to say that steroid users should be celebrated in comparison to other All-Time greats that played the game “right.” There has to be a distinction between the greats that played baseball with their so called “Integrity” and the greats that impacted the sport with an added boost to their performance. Will we ever get this??? Most likely not but it’s fun to be an outsider on these types of conversations and more often than not, you realize that may seem to have the same thought process with such topics.
what we learned
Ultimately, fans are going to have to live with the fact that All-Time greats like Barry Bonds & Roger Clemens will not be honored into the Baseball Hall of Fame. David Ortiz on the other hand will be forever enshrined, and rightfully so. Ortiz has had such a huge impact on Major League Baseball both during his career and after it, along with his affects on the Dominican Republic and the City of Boston. But the question of “Is he deserving of a 1st Ballot Vote” still stands. After the 2022 HoF voting results were revealed, we were once again reminded of how flawed the voting system is and how certain biases can play a factor into such major awards. ESPN Insider Jeff Passan said it best while appearing on “The Michael Kay Show” when discussing David Ortiz’ 1st Ballot Induction, saying
“If anybody doesn’t look at David Ortiz and doesn’t take the fact that he is charming, funny and has a big personality. If that’s not the factor that got him into the Hall of Fame...then they’re deluding themselves. ”
