SPOILER: I approve.

Despite having season tickets throughout his tenure I only saw 1 of his 17 regular season walk off hits, the home run off Tony Pena in 2009. I saw all three post-season walk offs and I was in Boston Beer Works for one (off Akinori Otsuka in the first of a split admin doubleheader).

Definitely putting the Fame in Hall of Famer. Coming through in clutch moments (esp in the playoffs) is the extra mustard that we all remember forever. He's truly one of a kind, the right person in the right place to break the curse, and then some.

One can only hope that Koji is on hand at Cooperstown to jump into his arms afterwards!

Around 2009 it looked like things were winding down for Ortiz. Coming off a 102 OPS+, he's turning 34 and has a career line of 317 HR, 1068 RBI, .282/.377/.545, 134 OPS+, 30 WAR. And I remember thinking, even if he's done, what a nice run he's had: a couple of championships, 5 All-Star games, some monster years. He looks a lot like a Boog Powell, Greg Luzinski, Mo Vaughn career. Sure, it'd be nice if he could have lasted into his late 30s, but it would be greedy to ask for anything more than what we've gotten. Everything after that was such a pleasant surprise.

And let's not forget this:

ZiPS Career Projection for David Ortiz (3/2008)

ZiPS: 556 HR, 1,903 RBIs, .296/.390/.557, 2,620 hits
Actual: 541 HR, 1,768, .286/.380/.552, 2,472 hits

And let's not forget this:

ZiPS Career Projection for David Ortiz (3/2008)

The best part of that thread is just over a year later when people bumped it just to crow about how right they were for being pessimistic!

The best part of that thread is just over a year later when people bumped it just to crow about how right they were for being pessimistic!

That is indeed a delightful thread.

#5, yeah, but his mediocre 2009 was in large part a result of having some kind of wrist tendon problem.

In the bigger picture, what numbers might he have put up if he hadn't spend those years with the Twins being told to (in his memorable recounting) "Swing like a little #####\"?

The best part of that thread is just over a year later when people bumped it just to crow about how right they were for being pessimistic!

You'll notice that none of us piped up to disagree, though! :)

#5, yeah, but his mediocre 2009 was in large part a result of having some kind of wrist tendon problem.

In the bigger picture, what numbers might he have put up if he hadn't spend those years with the Twins being told to (in his memorable recounting) "Swing like a little #####\"?

Of course, lots of what-ifs. For the wrist, sure, but a) wrist injuries don't always heal the way you'd like and b) he was at an age where a lot of guys like him tend to fall apart.

I always cringe when I see an old thread resurrected, thinking I might have said something stupid. And maybe I did, but the stupid thing I said was that Ortiz might not be likely to physically break down just because of age and size, and the results kinda backed me up. I'll take it!

I always cringe when I see an old thread resurrected, thinking I might have said something stupid. And maybe I did, but the stupid thing I said was that Ortiz might not be likely to physically break down just because of age and size, and the results kinda backed me up. I'll take it!

I think you win this one, VI!

I was kinda surprised to see I posted on that thread - I read a lot more than I post. Turns out it was a non commital post pointing out a potential caveat, which was ignored. Very on brand, and not completely embarrassing in this case.

Worth noting that he still didn't make the projection, right?

He beat the doubles total!