Happy Birthday to the Greatest Red Sox Player of All Time

Happy Birthday, Big Papi!!

I know that I may get a lot of flack for this, but in my opinion, David Americo Ortiz Arias is the greatest Red Sox player of all time.  Ortiz turns 45 years old today, according to Wiki.

I know that citing your favorite Red Sox player is different for many people.  For instance, before 2004, I might say that the greatest Red Sox player of all time was Carl Yastrezemski.  David Ortiz, however, was the biggest part of the Team that finally put an end to the Curse of the Bambino, in my opinion, so I've changed my answer.

I remember those games well.  When I say "those games," I mean the four days in October of 2004 when the Red Sox beat the Yankees in the ALC to come back from a 0-3 deficit.  It had never been done and it hasn't been done since.  They won those 4 games and was on their way to win the World Series against the Cardinals.  It didn't even matter at that point if they won or not.  Hell, we were Red Sox fans.  We could have lost and been somewhat okay with it.  We had defeated the dreaded Yankees FOUR GAMES IN A ROW.  As it went, the Red Sox DID go on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals and finally break the Curse of the Bambino.  Papi was there, leading the team after only a short time with the Sox.

The Red Sox acquired Ortiz in 2003, after he was released from the Twins.  It was a chance encounter in the Dominican Republic with Pedro Martinez that convinced the then unemployed Ortiz to come to Boston to talk to the new General Manager, Theo Epstein here in New England.  His first year in Boston, his salary was $1.25 million.

By 2006, Ortiz's salary was $52 million dollars.  Worth. Every. Penny.

Let us not forget, when, in 2013 after the Boston bombing, we found out that the love we have for Big Papi is reciprocated, how we cried.

David Ortiz is Superman.  He got shot in June of 2019 and had life threatening injuries.  Papi has come back from that and he's now a regular on sports commentary shows.

Happy Birthday, #34.  You'll never have to pay for a drink in this town.  We love you!!