David Ortiz is making a mockery of this whole retirement thing.
Athletes usually leave only when their bodies give out, their skills decline and a long line of capable replacements can do their jobs.
More than six weeks into an MLB season that Ortiz, 40, declared will be his last, the Boston Red Sox star has been, arguably, the best hitter in the game.
His OPS (on base percentage plus slugging percentage) sat at 1.080, higher than anyone in either league. He had 10 home runs, 34 runs batted in and 27 extra base hits, the most in the league.
His manager John Farrell told the Associated Press that the performance has been “incredible to watch on a daily basis”.
Ortiz’s flair for the dramatic, which he has exploited most notably in post-season play, has not waned, either.
Last week, he tied a game against the Houston Astros with a two-out triple in the bottom of the ninth inning, then won it two innings later with a two-out, walk-off double.
Baseball’s last, big farewell tour belonged to Derek Jeter two seasons ago. The New York Yankees shortstop finished on a high note, with a game-winning hit in his final home appearance.
But it was a merciful end to three seasons of diminishing numbers. Call it a typical star’s departure, a bit awkward.
Ortiz is as good as ever, which he attributes to better habits, mental and physical.
A designated hitter by trade, he studies pitchers more than he did even a few years ago. He has lost weight, the result of a stricter diet.
If it looks as if Ortiz could play well into his forties, he has nixed any ideas about changing his mind. So far.
“I’m happy with my decision,” he told Yahoo Sports last week.
Hitting the baseball is not the problem. It’s the amount of work he has to put in to get ready. The time each day with trainers. The chronic pain in his feet.
“I think I played enough baseball,” he said.
The Red Sox are not interested in stirring the pot about 2017, just yet, either.
“I know there’s been some talk,” Farrell said. “We don’t want that to be something that grows any further. He’s having a blast playing the game right now.”
If Ortiz does, indeed, call it quits, he will be missed. The man they call Big Papi is one of the game’s extra large personalities.
He is a bear of a man with an expansive nature. He makes opposing players laugh and plays the game with an unapologetic joy.
He also plays with an emotional fire that can turn nasty. He has had wild eruptions at umpires and verbal wars with the same opposing players who otherwise find him so charming.
Besides his legendary roles in Boston’s 2004, 2007 and 2013 championship seasons – the only man who was a part of all three – Ortiz became an accidental, colourful spokesman for the city after the Boston Marathon bombing three years ago.
His simple, defiant remarks against terrorists in front of a Fenway Park crowd the following week seemed to strengthen the fragile emotions in the city.
Given his history of thriving on the biggest of stages, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that he has come out swinging so hard his final go-round.
It was his two series-saving, walk-off hits against the New York Yankees in the epic, 2004 post-season that first established his reputation as a big-time, clutch performer.
So what could be more Ortiz-like than to finish his career with a singularly great walk-off season?
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