When David Ortiz arrives at Yankee Stadium for the final time as a player on Sept. 29, the Yankees should go all-out to celebrate the occasion.
They should present their long-hated (but ever respected) rival with gifts at home plate and they should show a tribute video on the big screen with messages from current and former Yankees who competed against the Red Sox’s feared designated hitter.
It should be a wonderful send-off, a chance for the Yankees and their fans to say goodbye before Ortiz heads back to Boston for the final regular-season series of his career. And it’s an opportunity for the Yankees and their fans to pay back the Red Sox for the wonderful way they treated Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera when those legends’ farewell tours rolled through Fenway Park the past couple of seasons.
And if AL East rivals Baltimore, Tampa Bay and Toronto want to recognize Ortiz, that’s cool, too. It would be a nice gesture after years of fierce head-to-head competition. And before his final regular-season game at Fenway? A true blow-out party.
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But what about when Ortiz plays his final game at AT&T Park in San Francisco on June 8? Or at Angel Stadium on July 31? Or Dodger Stadium on August 7? Or Oakland Coliseum on September 4?
Are those teams, which have little actual connection to Ortiz and the Red Sox, under an obligation to take part in any “Goodbye, David” ceremonies?
No way.
Look, Ortiz has had a wonderful career, obviously. He’s topped the 500-home run mark, and his World Series numbers are pretty ridiculous (three titles, a .455 average, 1.372 OPS, three homers and 14 RBIs in 14 games). He’ll wind up the Hall of Fame.
But he’s not a “full farewell tour” player.
And he doesn’t expect that treatment, he told reporters when he announced that 2016 would be his last in the bigs. Good for him. Self-awareness is a wonderful thing.
Some sort of tour seems to be gaining steam, though. A quick Google search of "David Ortiz farewell tour" pops up guides to notable dates along the way, like this one from ESPN and this one from FOX. And his final spring training game was kind of a big deal. And the fact that anyone is even debating Ted Williams vs. David Ortiz is a bit ridiculous (obviously, that columnist made the right choice).
It's OK to slow down that train without knocking Ortiz's outstanding career. Perspective is a wonderful thing, too.
This brings up a question: Who should get full farewell tours? Even for baseball fans who hate the Yankees, everyone could agree that treatment probably made sense for both Jeter and Rivera, two transcendent players.
Here’s a suggestion. Before asking “does this guy deserve a full farewell tour?” let’s ask a different question: “Could this guy be a unanimous Hall of Famer?”
If the answer is Yes (as it is for Rivera and Jeter), then he probably deserves a full tour. But if the answer is No, he probably doesn’t.
And there’s no way Ortiz will be a unanimous Hall of Famer when he’s eligible as part of the Class of 2022. He might not even get in on his first time on the ballot. Being strictly a designated hitter will hurt his vote totals, as will his connections to performance-enhancing drugs (those perceived connections, right or wrong, have undeniably hurt guys like Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell, and Ortiz will wind up in that same boat unless voter patterns make a major shift over the next couple years).
Let’s ignore, for the moment, the fact that it’s ridiculous we still haven’t had a unanimous Hall of Famer even though dozens of players should have been named on every ballot. This isn’t about that discussion.
It’s about Ortiz, and why his farewell tour should be limited to familiar places like Yankee Stadium or Camden Yards, and not why-are-they-doing-this ceremonies at Dodger Stadium or AT&T Park.
