It likely won't be that popular in Baltimore, where he once treated a phone rudely in the visitor's dugout at Camden Yards, but David Ortiz is a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
He made it to Cooperstown last night, getting 77.9 percent of the vote. A player needs to get 75 percent of the vote from the Baseball Writers' Association of America for induction.
On their 10th and final years on the BBWAA ballot, both Barry Bonds (66 percent) and Roger Clemens (65.2 percent) came up short. They could still get into Cooperstown at some later point through the Today's Game Era committee.
Over 20 seasons, Ortiz batted .286/.380/.552/.931 with 541 homers and 1,768 RBIs. Ortiz, whose last year was in 2016, posted an OPS of .947 in 85 playoff games and was on three World Series-winning teams. His OPS was 1.372 in 14 World Series games.
He will be honored during Induction Weekend July 22-25 at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y., along with six former players elected in December by two Eras Committees - Bud Fowler, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Miñoso, Tony Oliva and Buck O'Neil.
Also being honored that weekend will be the Ford C. Frick Award winner for broadcasting, the late Jack Graney, and the BBWAA Career Excellence Award winner for writing, Tim Kurkjian, who once covered the Orioles for The Baltimore Sun.
Ortiz was a designated hitter in 87.8 of his career plate appearances, but still amassed more than enough numbers for induction. An eight-time winner of the Edgar Martinez Award as the outstanding DH, Ortiz was a 10-time All-Star and seven-time Silver Slugger winner. He led the American League in RBIs three times and his 1,192 extra-base hits rank eighth all-time.
By the way, if O's fans feel like Ortiz posted about half of his career stats versus the Orioles, they would be wrong. He actually had his lowest OPS within the division against Baltimore pitchers, unless you include his .781 in 25 career games versus Boston. He had an OPS of .961 against New York, .931 versus Toronto, .930 against Tampa Bay and .903 versus the Orioles.
Speaking of Birdland, there are five players and one manager in the Hall of Fame who went in as Orioles. They are Frank Robinson (1982), Brooks Robinson (1983), Jim Palmer (1990), Earl Weaver (1996), Eddie Murray (2003) and Cal Ripken Jr. (2007). The five players all went in on the first ballot and Ripken got 98.53 percent of the vote, one of the highest totals ever. Weaver went in as a manager and was voted in by the Veterans Committee.
Additionally, per the Orioles media guide, there are 17 other modern-day players, managers, and front office executives with ties to the Orioles organization that have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. That list includes Mike Mussina, Luis Aparacio and John Schuerholz, to name just three.
For me, the village of Cooperstown is a special place and somewhere where you can feel like a kid again at any age.
I've covered two O's inductions for radio stations over the years with Brooks Robinson and Ripken. I was there in 1996 as a fan for Weaver's induction weekend. I went with a couple of friends from our college days at Towson and it was a total blast.
The Earl of Baltimore managed the Orioles to 1,480 wins and that included six AL East titles, four AL pennants and the 1970 World Series championship. Between 1969 and 1980, his teams won 100 games five times. No O's team ever managed by anyone other than Weaver ever won 100 games.
In May 2020, I wrote this entry and two of us that went to see Earl inducted recorded a video about our amazing weekend in Cooperstown and going up to watch Weaver take his place among the baseball greats. Our four days at what we came to call "the Coop" included some cocktails, some golfing, several trips into the Hall itself and a few encounters with No. 4.
It's hard to get into the baseball Hall of Fame. That is one of many things that makes it great. That the Hall itself is nestled into a quaint community that is beautiful and peaceful often is a very nice bonus. I've been to Cooperstown during crazy induction weekends and at quiet times, too. It is always a special experience.
One of the greatest speeches, at least I feel that way, I ever heard at the Hall of Fame came from longtime O's broadcaster, the legendary Chuck Thompson. He was inducted in 1993 as the Ford Frick winner. He told the O's fans that day, "You wanted this for me and I wanted it for you."
The ending to his Cooperstown speech was great:
"I say to you, if sometime in the future you return to this wonderful town of Cooperstown and you go to the Baseball Hall of Fame and you happen to go into the broadcast wing, and a member of your group looks up at Chuck Thompson's name on that plaque and asks, 'Did you know him?' I hope that you'll say, 'Yes I did. He was a friend.' "
Still amazing all these years later and still emotional to watch.
How many of you have been to Cooperstown? What was your trip like?
Click here to watch Thompson's speech at the Hall of Fame.