A lot of faces have been through the Boston Red Sox’s clubhouse since David Ortiz joined the organization before the 2003 season. Some have flown under the radar. Others have left an impression.
So as Ortiz prepares to begin his 14th and final season with Boston, the Boston Herald decided to ask Big Papi about his Red Sox teammates — past and present — as part of its 2016 preview section.
Ortiz told the Herald that Pedro Martinez will go down as his favorite teammate. Martinez spent just two seasons playing alongside Ortiz in Boston (2003-04), but the two developed a strong bond that has continued to grow over the years with Martinez working for the organization in a different capacity.
“The greatest I ever had,” Ortiz said, according to the Herald.
Ortiz offered a more complex response when asked which of his Red Sox teammates was the craziest. There have been some interesting characters to play for Boston over the last 13 years, but, according to Ortiz, there was no one quite like pitcher Alfredo Aceves, who spent three seasons with the Red Sox from 2011 to 2013.
“Oh my God. Him. Aceves was NASA crazy compared to (former Red Sox pitcher) Julian Tavarez,” Ortiz told the Boston Herald. “You know that when you’re ‘NASA crazy,’ you are out there.
“That one game he showed up 20 minutes before first pitch, we were all, ‘Who the hell does that?’ Think about it. You are the starting pitcher, there’s a 7 o’clock game and it’s 6:30, nobody knows where the hell you are. That’s the craziest (expletive) I’ve ever seen. I almost (expletive) myself. We’ve got no starting pitcher. We sent (Franklin) Morales to bullpen. Then here comes Aceves. He’s wearing his uniform, he came straight from his house.”
Ortiz’s larger-than-life personality all but assures he’ll be remembered by some Red Sox players as either a “favorite teammate” or a “crazy teammate.” We’re just not quite sure Big Papi ever will be remembered as “NASA crazy,” which probably is a good thing.
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
