David Ortiz Memories: Jim Rice Recalls Big Papi’s Untapped Potential

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.

Boston Red Sox legend Jim Rice was certainly perplexed by the situation.

Rice served as a hitting coach for the Red Sox early on during David Ortiz’s career, when the first baseman looked to become a mainstay with the Minnesota Twins. Rice saw Ortiz routinely hit well whenever the left-handed slugger faced the Red Sox — Ortiz batted .253 with four homers and 24 RBIs in 25 career games against Boston — but once their series ended, Rice couldn’t understand why the power hitter was relegated to the bench.

So, it led Rice to ask Ortiz just that as the two Hall of Famers went on to develop a strong relationship.

“Normally when he played, he always played against the Red Sox and he killed us,” Rice said. “After we finished with them, he’s sitting on the bench. I finally asked David, ‘Why are you not playing?’ Manager doesn’t really like him that well. … Only time I saw David play during that time was when I was the hitting coach. Then all of sudden he comes to Boston and it was a big change. Now he was getting opportunity to show his skill.”

Rice, a phenomenal hitter during his playing career, clearly saw the untapped potential the Twins didn’t see in Ortiz. Rice, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009 and has served as a studio analyst for NESN for 20 years, believed a change of scenery assisted Ortiz in developing into one of the most potent hitters in Major League Baseball.

Once with the Red Sox, Ortiz could lean on Rice for hitting advice, and one particular time, the two got into a passionate discussion that Rice laughs about now.

“I was doing NESN at the time and I came down and I really got into him. I lit his butt up,” Rice said. “I said, ‘What are you doing? You’re better (than this).’ He got up and people thought we were going to have a fight. He put his hand on my chest, he said, ‘I’m going to tell you something right now, four eyes are better than two. If you see me doing something wrong, you better come down here and tell me what I’m doing wrong. If not, we’re not going to be friends.'”

The friendship only grew stronger from there, and Ortiz holds the special connection the two formed in high regard as he gets set to join Rice in Cooperstown.

“My man Jim Rice right across from me, is like a pop to me,” Ortiz told NESN’s Tom Caron in May when he was being inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame. “I got so much respect for him and love. This guy did it all for me.”