On Tuesday, David Ortiz made some waves in the New York Yankees universe. It certainly wasn’t the first time, and even with just one year remaining in his career it likely won’t be the last.
Big Papi has made it known that he’d like an ovation at Yankee Stadium on his farewell tour. At first glance this seems beyond absurd. Baseball, like all sports, inspires a profound sense of tribalism and to Yankees fans Ortiz isn’t just not one of the good guys, he’s an enemy. Arguably he’s the enemy.
Since arriving in Boston the slugger has crushed baseballs, and by extension the dreams of the Yankees’ faithful. He has no business demanding respect in the house of the Bronx Bombers.
Darth Vader wouldn’t drop in on a Rebel clam bake for some idle banter. The Joker doesn’t stroll into Wayne Manor hoping high tea will be laid out for him. Ramsay Snow isn’t getting invited to any Stark survivor support groups.
You don’t just let the villain into your home and pretend like he didn’t do anything. That’s far too polite for a group responsible for the term “Bronx cheer”. It’s not realistic.
Except in the mind of Ortiz it is; and he may have a point. Unlike the villains listed above, he hasn’t, to anyone’s knowledge, massacred any innocents or condemned viewers nationwide to some of the most uncomfortable torture scenes in the history of television. Frankly, if he had this would be a very different discussion.
Instead, we are talking about a baseball player and an entertainer. Ortiz is fantastic at both hitting baseballs and generating excitement. The league will be lesser for his absence, and to a lot of more casual fans he is one of the faces of the game.
Whether Ortiz deserves for his wish to be granted is not about whether he’s liked in New York, but rather whether he’s respected. This is where the divide between Yankees fans and baseball fans becomes an apparent.
If you truly love the game of baseball you can’t not appreciate Ortiz’s accomplishments, his style and the way he’s managed to be one of the scariest hitters around even as he reaches forty. He also brings a contagious joy to the ballpark that breaks free of the bonds of “play the game the right way” truthers and that’s fun in a way that the sport sometimes isn’t.
Appreciating baseball and abhorring Ortiz doesn’t make sense. That’s why deep inside their blackened hearts most Yankees fans can find an iota of affection for Big Papi, even if that’s a secret they would take to their grave. That’s why the man deserves one little cheer on the way out, even if it’s a tepid one. That’s why a New York Post Sports Twitter poll has most people in favor of giving the man his “well played sir” gesture.
David Ortiz wants Yankees fans to cheer him in Bronx farewell. What do you say?
— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) February 24, 2016
The issue is Yankees fans. By “Yankees fans” I mean those that are blissfully unaware of the 29 other teams that reside outside the Bronx. If you got this far in the article without being outraged, this label probably doesn’t apply to you. But it does apply to many.
The problem is that when your interest is driven exclusively by geography rather than the love of the game, it’s exceedingly shallow. At a certain point you might as well get an angry mob together and march around in Central Park yelling about how much you hate people from Boston. The beauty, strategy and poetry of the game become more or less superfluous.
These fans’ seething hatred of Ortiz makes them blind to the great moment Yankee Stadium could share with him. Their “Yankees good, Red Sox bad” mentality, while generally applicable in their corner of the world, does not allow for something as subtle being deferential to a foe.
Ortiz does not need Yankee Stadium to cheer for him to feel fulfilled as a person or proud of his career. Instead he made his request because he thought it would be cool. And it would be. A whole city rarely gets the chance to collectively show maturity and be the “bigger man”, but Ortiz is giving them that opportunity.
When it comes, don’t be a Yankees fan, be a baseball fan.
Lead photo: Anthony Gruppuso / USA Today Sports