Former Salt Lake Slugger David Ortiz Elected to Hall of Fame
Watching David Ortiz take batting practice at then Franklin Covey Field was appointment viewing for radio broadcaster Steve Klauke in 1999. The left-handed slugger would go on to set a franchise record of 30 homers from the left side of the plate, a record which would stand for 20 years.
Watching David Ortiz take batting practice at then Franklin Covey Field was appointment viewing for radio broadcaster Steve Klauke in 1999. The left-handed slugger would go on to set a franchise record of 30 homers from the left side of the plate, a record which would stand for 20 years. He led the league with 110 RBIs and routinely popped batting practice homers off the scoreboard.
While Klauke watched batting practice one summer afternoon Ortiz suddenly stopped mid-round, placed his bat over the plate and left the cage.
“He walked around the cage and put his hat on my head,” Klauke remembered with a laugh. “Then said the glare coming off my bald head was distracting him.”
Such was just a small sample of the loveable player that went from being known as ‘Big O’ in Salt Lake to becoming the legendary ‘Big Papi’ with the Boston Red Sox.
Ortiz was named the Buzz team MVP after a record setting 1999 to going just 0-for-20 with the Twins after a call up that September. Klauke and other team observers wondered if he might just end up as another slugger that could put up numbers in Triple-A but wouldn’t be a star at the next level. Ortiz had made 20 errors at first base with the Buzz during the year which would make finding a permanent home in a Minnesota lineup difficult. The Twins gave Ortiz extended runs in the big leagues from 2000-2002 with good, but not great numbers before they released him.
The Twins loss would be the Boston Red Sox gain. Revitalized at Fenway Park, Ortiz would go on to make 10 All-Star Games, smash 541 home runs and drive in 1768 runs over a 20-year Big League career. His biggest impact would come in October, helping the Red Sox to overcome “The Curse of the Bambino” with their first World Series win in 86 years in 2004 and followed up with two more rings in 2007 and 2013, winning the World Series MVP in '13.
On Tuesday Ortiz was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame receiving 77.9% of the baseball writers' votes, becoming the first homegrown player in franchise history to receive the honor (Paul Molitor played two games with the Buzz in 1998 on a Major League rehab assignment at the end of his career and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2004). While Ortiz time in Salt Lake City was brief, it will come full circle as the enshrinement day in Cooperstown will come on July 24 this year – Pioneer Day in Utah.