Bibliographic Details
Big Papi: My Story of Big Dreams and Big Hits, David Ortiz, 17 April 2007, St. Martin’s Press
Summary
Big Papi was born in the Dominican Republic and is the son of Angela Rosa Arias and Americo Enrique Ortiz. He talks about how when he was growing up in the Dominican Republic that they didn't have bats or real baseballs to play with. If they were lucky they found bottle caps and broomsticks to play with. Ortiz says that baseball always brought them together. He was then signed with the Seattle Mariners and played Class A baseball, he then met this girl and lived with her and her mom during the season, this girl became his wife Tiff. He says that while you are young and from a different country in the major leagues it hard to feel like you belong. Especially when he played in Minnesota and his manager Tom Kelly didn't really treat him well. Big Papi also talks about how in 2002 he heard about the day his mother died, and where he was at the time. His mother was driving to Haina from Santo Domingo and she was in the car, and crashed into a dump truck. He talks about how his teammates were his family and how they helped him go through his mother’s death.
Thanks to Pedro Martinez he was signed by the Boston Red Sox. He didn't get that much playing time until mid season, when they took Jeremy Giambi out and put Ortiz instead. The 2004 season started and for the first month of the year doing really good, but then the next three months they were playing average which wasn't good enough for the division they were playing in. Finally the Red Sox were playing better and had made it to the Playoffs as the Wild Card. They wanted to play the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, to get pay back for the Yankees eliminating them the year before. The Red Sox got what they wanted and were going up against the Yankees in the next series. The first 3 games were hectic for the Red Sox they lost all three and if they were too lost another they would be eliminated by the Yankees once again. But because of some clutch hits by David Ortiz they were able to win the next four, eliminate the Yankees, and go on to the World Series. They were playing the Cardinals and beat them in four straight games to become the World Series Champions!
Quote
“That doesn’t even get into the fact that you speak a different language, are used to eating different food, are away from your family and your friends. That’s a lot to overcome” (Ortiz 87).
Reaction
Many people who come from a different country have a lot of obstacles to face. You also don’t know if the people are going to treat you a different way, because of the way you speak or act. Just like the short story by Junot Diaz, The Money, where the main character is in United States and his family all the way in Dominican Republic and they are depressed because they can’t see them.
