Bryce Harper’s campaign to “Make Baseball Fun Again” is admirable and important. But while Harper, fast becoming baseball’s most recognizable superstar at only 23 years old, rightfully seizes an opportunity to make his sport more entertaining and less stuffy, he’s hardly the first slugger to dare enjoy himself on the field in recent seasons.
For Boston fans, David Ortiz has been making baseball fun for more than a decade. The charismatic 40-year-old designated hitter, enjoying another incredible offensive season in his last before retirement, has never shied from expressing on-field emotion on behalf of the game’s silly and increasingly obsolete set of unwritten rules in a career spanning parts of 20 big-league seasons. But Ortiz takes no objection to Harper’s effort to become the face of fun baseball.
(PHOTO: AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)
“I think Harper was right about what he said, absolutely,” Ortiz told USA TODAY Sports by phone. “Quite frankly, I think baseball wants to be too serious about what we do. Whenever we have any reaction within the game, people want to make it about, ‘Oh, he’s a showboat,’ you know? People need to realize that this is a game. OK, we get paid a lot of money. But it’s a game. You have to have fun.
“There are a lot of crying babies in baseball. There’s all the complaining and bitching about things. When you strike me out and pump your fist, I don’t care. That motivates me to go out and hit a homer the next at-bat. I don’t really mind. But whenever you hit a homer, and you do what you do, everyone starts complaining. For me, the reality is, I don’t pay attention to any of that crap.
“I’m a winner. I’m a winner. And, listen, I just enjoy beating the opposition. Whatever you say is up you you, but I’m not trying to disrespect anyone. I’m just trying to go about my business, and do what I’ve got to do. There are a lot of fans that pay a lot of money to come watch us put on a show, so they go home happy.”
Ortiz spoke on behalf of Buffalo Wild Wings, with whom he partnered to surprise Yankees fans in a restaurant in the Bronx:
Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson recently ripped baseball’s beanball culture after getting plunked in a game against the Minnesota Twins. And though Ortiz said he had not heard Donaldson’s comments, he agreed that throwing at a batter because of something he did after a big hit represents a disproportionate response.
“There’s a lot of things involved when you hit someone,” Ortiz said. “If you feel like somebody’s showing you up on the field, and you’re the pitcher, go up there and strike ’em out. Listen, I’m not an aggressive person. But I’m a grown-ass man, and if I know that you hit me on purpose, we’re going to have issues. Because I’m not hitting anybody. I’m hitting the baseball.”
(PHOTO: Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images)
Hitting in the middle of a sensational Red Sox offense, Ortiz is off to a great start to 2016. His .339 batting average and 1.148 OPS would both stand as career bests if he can keep them for the entire season. But though Ortiz understands the pleas for him to return for one last season next year, he remains committed to retirement, both due to his desire to spend more time with his family and his weariness with the preparation required to maintain his production, especially after the Achilles injury that sidelined him in 2012.
“I have a lot of fun playing the game, and I know I have learned some much about the game that I feel mentally I’m a better hitter than I was ten years ago,” he said. “I know how to hit, basically. But that’s not my problem. My problem is physically, you start to wear out.
“My body is pretty beat up.”
