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David Ortiz Writes Love Letter To The Minnesota Twins As He Completes His Final MLB Year With The Boston Red Sox

By Georgia Makitalo
Published on: 10:36 PST, Jul 26, 2016

David Ortiz, better known as “Big Papi,” is considered one of the greatest Red Sox heroes ever. Yet, Ortiz started his baseball career in Minnesota between 1997-2002. Now in his 20th and final year in MLB, Ortiz has been looking back at his wild and glorious ride in baseball. In a piece entitled “Thanks For The Memories, Minnesota,” David Ortiz wrote a personal tribute to his former teammates and appreciation to Minnesota Twins fans in The Players’ Tribune site.

In this personal essay, Ortiz recounts his first MLB game in Wrigley Field where Dominican idol Sammy Sosa ruled. Besides sharing younger and thinner photos of him in a Twins uniform, he also wrote about playing poker, as well as the pranks and laughter with his close-knit, mostly rookie group of players in Minnesota.

At the time he was released by the Twins, Ortiz was understandably not happy. Yet, looking back over his career, he remembers his days with the Twins with great fondness. Most of all, Ortiz appreciates the warm welcome from Minnesota fans and included that in the tribute to Twins fans.

“This week is my last series with the Twins. So I want to thank the fans in Minnesota, because they were really good to me and my wife. My career didn’t work out the way I planned with the Twins, but I don’t have anything but love for the people there.”

As a foreigner living in Minnesota, Ortiz pointed out how kind people were to him and how they never made him feel like an outsider. As a player that left his family and everything he knew back in the Dominican Republic, this acceptance made him feel at home.

“What was great about Minnesota was how nice everybody was to me during my time there. If we went out to a restaurant early on, when my English pronunciation wasn’t so great, everybody was super nice to me. Nobody ever made me feel like an outsider, and I’ll always appreciate that.”

Earlier, in June, the Minnesota Twins honored the 40-year-old David Ortiz in a special pregame ceremony. Former teammates Torii Hunter, Corey Koskie, Eddie Guardado, LaTroy Hawkins, and former manager Ron Gardenhire presented Ortiz with a 64-ounce “super hunk” jar of Skippy peanut butter.

Torii Hunter happily retold the story to the Red Sox broadcast team the hysterical prank behind this unusual gift.

“David was a funny guy and he and (Corey) Koskie always went at it,. And he did something earlier to Koskie (one day years ago) and Koskie said, ‘All right.’ He came out of the game in the seventh inning. I think we were winning…. David was still in the game. Koskie went upstairs and put peanut butter all in his tighty whities. David wore tighty whities back then. So he put the peanut butter in between his underwear and everybody knew it.”

Hunter then continued with the story as if it were just yesterday.

“The whole team knew it. And he (Ortiz) took a shower and he came in and put his underwear on. Then he put his pants on and his shirt and jacket and shoes. He took about 10 steps and he got to the door and he paused — like he froze with one foot in the air. And he’s like ‘You guys.’ And he starts going off on us and we were on the ground —?? the whole team was on the ground laughing. He took another shower. I just couldn’t believe he walked 10 steps. I was trying to figure out, ‘Are you used to have something in your drawers?'”

In addition to the honor, the Twins generously donated $10,000 to the Puckett Scholars financial aid program at the University of Minnesota in the name of David Ortiz. Ortiz wore number 34, first worn by the late great Minnesota Twin Kirby Puckett, when he joined the Boston Red Sox. Even as a Red Sox, Ortiz still paid homage to the Twins.

Ortiz is not the only one that felt bad about being released by the Twins. Before he was relieved of his position, Twins general manager Terry Ryan admitted not going into salary arbitration with Ortiz was a huge mistake that still haunts him 14 years later.

“I screwed it up. I released David. Obviously it was a mistake on my behalf, and I’ve owned up to it way too many times now. I’ve talked about it a lot, and I understand the reason why.”

Although losing Ortiz wound up becoming a thorn in Terry Ryan’s side, this ended up being the best thing that ever happened to Ortiz. While all of the other MLB teams rejected him, Ortiz’s friend and fellow Dominican, Pedro Martinez, convinced management to give Ortiz a chance. And the rest is Red Sox history! Yet, Ortiz says that if it all ended in Minnesota, that alone would have made his baseball dreams come true.

“When I had that breakfast with Torii Hunter back in the day, we were two broke-ass ballplayers with a dream. The Twins made those dreams come true, and I got to see Sammy Sosa chase after my double.

“If it all ended there, I still would have been happy.

“Thank you, Minnesota.

“Appreciate you,

“Big Papi”

What is your favorite memory of David Ortiz? Have you read David Ortiz’s full tribute to Minnesota?

[Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images]

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