David Ortiz played for the Boston Red Sox during the height of their rivalry with the New York Yankees.
It was an era that produced plenty of on-field fireworks, including multiple bench-clearing incidents that only added to the tension that existed between the organizations. But the Red Sox legend recently explained on the “Call Him Papi” podcast alongside Barstool Sports’ Jared Carrabis that he didn’t enjoy participating in brawls during his Major League Baseball career.
“I love the competition. But I never liked fighting, to be honest with you,” Ortiz said. “The fighting thing wasn’t my thing. ‘You’re a big guy, you’re intimidating, I’m gonna come to get your (butt),’ that type of thing. But the fighting thing was never my thing, because I like the competition, I like to whoop your (butt) and then take you out for dinner. That was my thing.
“We got into a couple of brawls on the field that I was like, ‘This is not happening.’ But then, I learned one thing from these big guys (motions to Alex Rodriguez): They got onto the field not with the mentality of fighting. They go onto the field with the mentality of, ‘Hey, OK, let’s move on.’ I tried to (pass that down) to the next generation of players, because bro, at the end of the day, this is not the WWF. This is baseball. And I always thought about what kids would think of when we start playing baseball and then all of a sudden we’re dropping punches out there. That’s the type of thing that didn’t make sense.”
Ortiz was a fierce competitor, no doubt. Sometimes, emotions got the best of him. Like when he charged the mound against Kevin Gregg of the Baltimore Orioles in 2011, for instance. Or who could forget Ortiz pulverizing a dugout phone with a baseball bat at Camden Yards in 2013?
But for the most part, Ortiz was a gentle giant whose passion for the game usually manifested itself with a big smile. And fighting wasn’t exactly conducive with that type of joy.
