Jackie Effin' Baseball!

It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Superman!  Nope, it's just Jackie Baseball!

In case you've been living under a rock and hadn't noticed, Jackie Bradley Jr. is finally hitting the way we all thought he would when he first got called up in 2013. Despite gold glove level centerfield play, his .189 and .198 batting averages his first two seasons kept him from sticking in the majors.  In fact, he had a historically bad offensive start to his career. And lots of people were just hoping that he could be close to an average hitter to keep his glove on the field.  He spent most of the early part of the 2015 season in Pawtucket, only starting a dozen games for the Red Sox before August. But then he came up for good and hit over .350 and showed some power, hitting 5 home runs that month, more than he had in total in two and a half part seasons prior to that.  Unfortunately he regressed a bit in September and a lot of naysayers were saying it was a fluke / pitchers learned how to adjust to him / it wasn't sustainable etc.

Big Papi Farewell - A Royal Chair

The Big Papi Farewell Tour continues, as today is the Red Sox last regular season scheduled game at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Unless (until!) they meet in the playoffs, this will be the last chance for Royals' fans to see David Ortiz.  This hasn't been one of his favorite places to hit, as he's sporting a career .260 average there, and last night was no different as he didn't reach base in a 8-4 Red Sox loss.  But prior to the game, the Royals presented him with a chair from the 2013 All-Star game in which he was the American League's starting DH, in a game the AL won giving them home field advantage in the World Series, and allowing the Red Sox to celebrate that year's championship at Fenway Park for the first time in 95 years!

Here is video of the presentation.


Don't forget to order your Big Papi Farewell t-shirt here.

Big Papi Farewell - Cigars from the South Side

Chris Sale presenting Ortiz with humidor full of cigars

Unlike the NL parks that started his farewell tour, Big Papi is familiar with US Cellular Field,  having played 67 regular season games there throughout his career.  He also played 2 postseason games there, getting 3 hits including 2 doubles, during the 2005 ALDS.

Yesterday he was the difference in the game with a 2 run home run in the 5th inning which gave the Red Sox a 3-2 lead, and then he added an RBI single in the 7th in a game Boston won 5-2.

In spite of that, the White Sox still honored him prior to his final game here, as they presented him with a humidor full of cigars.  Of course.... they weren't Cubans but Dominicans!

Here you can see video of the presentation

Big Papi Farewell - Atlanta video tribute

Tipping cap to crowd at Turner Field

Being a National League city, David Ortiz has not played many games at Turner Field. However, in his 13 games started there he has hit seven home runs, including a big 3 run shot that had the Red Sox come back from 5 runs down in a huge comeback victory on Memorial Day in 2014. 

In the first game of this two game series, the game was decided by a home run, but it was Jackie Bradley Jr, the hero in the 1-0 victory, as Ortiz just had a pinch hit appearance.  In the second game, the Braves honored Big Papi with a video tribute.  Fans gave him a very loud ovation, and when Ortiz came out of the dugout to tip his cap it got even louder. You can watch the video here.  Unfortunately that was the only appearance of the day for Ortiz, and barring a miraculous World Series berth for the hapless Braves, the last time Ortiz will play in Atlanta. 

Look here for the list of other team's farewells to David Ortiz.  And get your own Papi Farewell Tour tshirt here.

Big Papi Farewell - First Stop: Houston

Photo courtesy of Twitter @MLB

In what was the first of many stops on David Ortiz’ farewell tour, the Houston Astros honored Ortiz with a Stetson cowboy hat in a pregame ceremony.  Astros fans aren’t personally very familiar with Ortiz, as he’s only started 12 games at Minute Maid Park in his career, since Houston was in the National League for most of it, but of course they are well aware of his accomplishments and gave him a nice ovation.  His biggest moment in that park was probably in the 2004 All Star Game when he hit a home run off of Carl Pavano, to help the AL win that game and give them home field advantage in the World Series, which, of course, the Red Sox won that season.

Anyhow after the ceremony, the Red Sox went on to defeat the home team 6-2. Ortiz had a quiet night just reaching base once on a walk. 

You can see the entire presentation here.

And if you were at the game and want to get your own Papi Farewell tour shirt, you can order it online here:

Front

Close up of back of shirt