This is a part of a series in which NESN personalities share their favorite memory of David Ortiz as they had an up-close view of his career either as a teammate or a member of the media. You can find all of NESN.com’s coverage as Ortiz goes into the Hall of Fame here.
Jared Carrabis was lucky enough to be one of the 34,826 fans jammed inside Fenway Park for Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees.
A World Series title was far from the mind of Carrabis that night, as he just hoped to not see the dreaded Yankees sweep the Boston Red Sox and celebrate on their home field. Carrabis and those in attendance were treated to a much more thrilling outcome, thanks to David Ortiz.
Ortiz belted a two-run home run off Yankees reliever Paul Quantrill in the bottom of the 12th inning, helping the Red Sox stave off elimination with a 6-4 victory. It put the finishing touches on a game that Carrabis believes stands alone in Red Sox history.
“That home run, being at that game, which I still consider the best game ever played at Fenway, that was my best personal experience (with Ortiz) from a baseball perspective,” said Carrabis, who is a well-known media personality for DraftKings and hosts “Beyond Fenway with Jared Carrabis” on NESN 360.
Watching Ortiz send the pitch from Quantrill into the dark sky was certainly a memorable moment for Carrabis, but he also vividly recalls the crowd’s celebration after Big Papi’s blast snapped a skid of three straight losses to the Yankees.
“The thing I remember most about that night was the energy of the crowd that I don’t think can ever be duplicated,” Carrabis said. “You’re never going to have 86 years of anger and frustration, so the energy of the crowd sort of willing the team to win that game and David Ortiz coming to the plate and hitting the home run off of Quantrill, no one left. If you go back and see any footage from that game, it was a good 10, 15 minutes after Ortiz had hit the walk-off homer and the stands were still filled as if the Red Sox were going to play another inning.”
That’s one of the countless memories Ortiz gave to Red Sox fans, including Carrabis. Carrabis also received an experience last year with Ortiz that most fans don’t get.
Carrabis hosted a podcast with Ortiz called “Call Him Papi.” He got the chance to spend an extended period of time with his favorite Red Sox player, which was a once in a lifetime opportunity that Carrabis won’t soon forget.
“Me being a die-hard Red Sox fan and I saw every pitch of his entire career,” Carrabis said, “the experience of getting to sit down with David Ortiz and go over his entire career with him and relive some of those experiences with him, I don’t think anything for me could ever top something like that.”
