David Ortiz has tallied plenty of hits against the Baltimore Orioles over the years. But in sending off the Boston Red Sox slugger, the O’s opted to focus on one “hit” he’d probably rather forget.
Thursday night marked Ortiz’s final regular season game at Camden Yards, and as such, Boston’s American League East rivals sent him out with a special pregame ceremony. The Orioles started the festivities with a clever twist, playing a highlight reel of Ortiz’s home runs against the New York Yankees that “both Orioles and Red Sox fans can enjoy.”
But that video paled in comparison to the gift they presented to Ortiz: The exact same visiting dugout phone that the Red Sox designated hitter infamously took his anger out on during a July 2013 game against Baltimore.
Our gift to David Ortiz, the exact authenticated visiting dugout phone he smashed on July 27, 2013. #Birdland pic.twitter.com/QygTYmW13m
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) September 22, 2016
Need a refresher on the incident, in which Ortiz was ejected by umpire Tim Timmons for arguing balls and strikes and responded by punishing the dugout phone? Baltimore certainly obliged in that regard.
Who could forget David Ortiz’s most destructive hit at Oriole Park? Our visiting dugout phone! pic.twitter.com/mGSTHEOuYE
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) September 22, 2016
As far as gag gifts go, this is excellent, and Ortiz understandably had a good chuckle when Orioles outfielder Adam Jones trotted the phone out to him.
The @Orioles gifted @davidortiz the very same phone he annihilated in 2013: https://t.co/jgfPvBK9Ly pic.twitter.com/jImbqPTu35
— Cut4 (@Cut4) September 23, 2016
The Orioles also presented Ortiz with a $10,000 check to the World Pediatric Fund in his name to help critically ill children in his native Dominican Republic, a pretty awesome gesture from the club.
Thank you, @Orioles for the generous donation in Papi's name!#ThanksPapi pic.twitter.com/yDNWJO3pRb
— Red Sox (@RedSox) September 23, 2016
The Orioles haven’t had much success against the Red Sox during their current four-game series, but they hit this ceremony out of the park. Check out the full ceremony below.
[mlbvideo id=”1181500283″ width=”640″ height=”358″ /]
Thumbnail photo via Andrew Weber/USA TODAY Sports Images
