Speaker 1: For as long as I can remember, the start of
Speaker 1: spring has been heralded by baseball players reporting to training
Speaker 1: camp with a new season getting underway. Bringing with it
Speaker 1: are enduring optimism for our favorite teams and the summer
Speaker 1: to come. Baseball has sent us through wars, depressions, and pandemics.
Speaker 1: It's seen Jackie Robinson break the color barrier seventy five
Speaker 1: years ago. This eightful and players like je Marshall and
Speaker 1: Roberto Clemente opened doors of possibilities to new generations of
Speaker 1: players from across Latin America. Over All these decades, baseball
Speaker 1: has always been more than a game. It's become part
Speaker 1: of who we are. So why am I telling you this?
Speaker 1: Because after a long, dark off season and a lockout
Speaker 1: that put the schedule in jeopardy, baseball is back and
Speaker 1: there's no better person to help us celebrate than our
Speaker 1: guests today, A once in a generation player who embodies
Speaker 1: the best of baseball both on and off the field.
Speaker 1: He's a ten time All Star, three time World Series champions,
Speaker 1: seven time Silver Slugger, soon to be Baseball Hall of Famer,
Speaker 1: and a hero to fans young and old from New
Speaker 1: England to the Dominican Republic David Ortiz. During his fourteen
Speaker 1: years with the Boston Red Sox, David helped lead the
Speaker 1: team to three championships, including ending the infamous eighty six
Speaker 1: year curse the so called Curse of the Bambino in
Speaker 1: two thousand four. He also set and still holds the
Speaker 1: team record for most home runs in a single season
Speaker 1: with fifty four, and is widely considered one of the
Speaker 1: greatest designated hitters in the history of the game. He's
Speaker 1: also always been focused on giving back off the field,
Speaker 1: particularly through the David Ortiz Children's Fund, which provides critical
Speaker 1: cardiac services the children in need. David, thanks for being
Speaker 1: here today, Mr President. How are you. I'm good. It's
Speaker 1: nice to hear your voice. It's good seeing you. Obviously
Speaker 1: you in a minute. Um. I think everyone who will
Speaker 1: be listening to this podcast knows who you are and
Speaker 1: knows probably that you came from the Dominican Republic, But
Speaker 1: that doesn't explain how you fell in love with baseball
Speaker 1: and how you've finally got a chance to play in
Speaker 1: the major So tell us how old were you when
Speaker 1: you started playing, How were you when you knew you
Speaker 1: fell in love with the game, and how old were
Speaker 1: you when you realized you had a chance to make
Speaker 1: the Major's Well, first of all, I want to say
Speaker 1: hi to all your audience. It's an honor. So we
Speaker 1: having this podcast you Mr President and uh In my case,
Speaker 1: I would like people to understand importance of discipline, dedication
Speaker 1: and one of the most important things. I always take
Speaker 1: a lot of pride on on the things that I do,
Speaker 1: especially when my family list in ball. And and that's
Speaker 1: where my story begins. You know, I was a kid
Speaker 1: coming from uh String neighborhood back in the Dominican Republic.
Speaker 1: But I have a couple of parents who are They
Speaker 1: wasn't professionists, but they one thing to get to be
Speaker 1: done the right way. My mom emphasized a lot of education.
Speaker 1: My dad as well. And my dad was very good
Speaker 1: baseball player. And but back then it came to be
Speaker 1: a professional ball player baseball player, it was harder than
Speaker 1: what it is nowadays. So my dad is just the
Speaker 1: kind of guy that he had a lot of faith
Speaker 1: on God and he always told me the story that
Speaker 1: once he had a quick baseball he basically went to
Speaker 1: church and prayed to God to have that his first
Speaker 1: child was a boy, and and that be came to
Speaker 1: be a baseball player. What I learned from it is
Speaker 1: that dream come true. You know, God have faith and
Speaker 1: got it, and you gotta change your dreams. And at
Speaker 1: some point if you have dedication and discipline, he can
Speaker 1: come through, you know. And my dad skins. I was
Speaker 1: a kid, I remember my favor. My very first toy
Speaker 1: was a baseball back and ball in the glove. But
Speaker 1: me being a lefty back then in the Dominican it
Speaker 1: was hard to found a left under blow. So my
Speaker 1: dad bought me a right handed glove. I used to
Speaker 1: wear it in the hands when I used to wear
Speaker 1: and sometimes I used to wear in the left in
Speaker 1: the hand castaball take the glove off and throw the baseball.
Speaker 1: And when I was like eight or nine, he got
Speaker 1: me into this one literal league team because he used
Speaker 1: to see down when he comes back from work. He
Speaker 1: used to see and to watch me playing baseball on
Speaker 1: the street in front of the house. And my dad,
Speaker 1: for some reason he thought I had something especial going on,
Speaker 1: and since that he started emphasizing on me following up
Speaker 1: with baseball because he said that when I was like
Speaker 1: nine ten years old, the kids that were a ready
Speaker 1: fourteen and fifteen, used to pick me on their team
Speaker 1: to play with him. They used to fight to help
Speaker 1: me playing in dirt team because he said that my
Speaker 1: hands in that coordination at the age of nine ten,
Speaker 1: it was very special. So my dad he just he
Speaker 1: just fall in love where he pushed me, pushed me.
Speaker 1: I was. I was the type of guy that at
Speaker 1: some point I truly fall in love with basketball just
Speaker 1: watching Michael Jordan's and all those guys doing that. That
Speaker 1: in the NBA was pretty big. Back in the Dominican Republic,
Speaker 1: I used to love being the basketball court playing basketball.
Speaker 1: You know. I used to go to the baseball field
Speaker 1: and then if I see a basketball cortin as, I
Speaker 1: used to stop at the basketball court, start playing basketball
Speaker 1: and forget about baseball. That's how crazy it was about baseball,
Speaker 1: about about basketball at the time. But my dad keep
Speaker 1: from pushing me, keep from pushing me. He used to
Speaker 1: go sometimes to the baseball court and be like, hey, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: that's not what you're gonna be. You're gonna be a
Speaker 1: baseball player. Here, let's go to the baseball field. And
Speaker 1: he had got to the point where one day, I
Speaker 1: don't know where I remember I was on my way
Speaker 1: to play basketball, and then they had a baseball game
Speaker 1: going on and they were missing a couple of guys,
Speaker 1: so they know that I used to practice base but
Speaker 1: and I was into it, and the guy pulled me
Speaker 1: into the game and then I hit two homes. When
Speaker 1: that happened, I was like, wow, I think I can
Speaker 1: do this. I can't do this. So I started like
Speaker 1: playing more baseball, and I started following in love more
Speaker 1: with the game. Baseball was my thing. We were in
Speaker 1: Chicago and I was in the bar. We are Ellis
Speaker 1: Bert after the game and the NBA was there, so
Speaker 1: J having security coming to get uh Ellis Burt and
Speaker 1: myself to come and join him, and uh that was
Speaker 1: the time whatever minute, And I told him straight up, hey, look,
Speaker 1: you know what, because of you, I almost not get
Speaker 1: to be playing baseball right now. He was like what,
Speaker 1: And then I started doing the breakdown for him and
Speaker 1: we were laughing and and it was fun. And but
Speaker 1: like I said, you know, Uh, I was lucky enough
Speaker 1: to have parents uh focus on education and sport at
Speaker 1: the same time without ruined the attention for anyone of
Speaker 1: or the two things. Educational sport. They want to make
Speaker 1: sure that I educated myself in that same time. Play
Speaker 1: is for and thanks to your parents. And then we
Speaker 1: all owe him a lot because your dad cat you
Speaker 1: in baseball and you broke the curse of the m
Speaker 1: Vino in two thousand four. That's exactly how he went
Speaker 1: down and started the Yokers. The You know, this is
Speaker 1: very interesting to me because I've spent a lot of
Speaker 1: time in the Dominican Republic over the last twenty years,
Speaker 1: and one of my closest friends and college classmates and
Speaker 1: still lives there. We do a lot of work together
Speaker 1: and and we've talked a lot about how how rich
Speaker 1: the baseball heritage is there. Even the great Satchel Page
Speaker 1: played in the Dominican Republic back in this nineteen sixties
Speaker 1: and fifties. He'd go down there. So there is a
Speaker 1: long history there, and there's a most Americans don't know it,
Speaker 1: but there's a kind of a Latin American World Series
Speaker 1: every year with Mexico, the American Republic, Venezuela, Puerto Rico,
Speaker 1: Cuba and uh. It was several years ago. It was
Speaker 1: in Jalisco, and I was invited to go down and
Speaker 1: be there when we threw out the first pitch with
Speaker 1: the great boxer Canelo, and thank goodness, he threw the
Speaker 1: ball and I didn't have to, so his arm was
Speaker 1: slightly better than mine. Oh my good did you think
Speaker 1: a lot when you played that you were basically walking
Speaker 1: in the staffs of one Marshall Sammy Sells, the great
Speaker 1: Dominican players before. Were you aware that you were carrying
Speaker 1: this heritage forward? Reality is suppression that I, uh, I
Speaker 1: was the kid that all I have a mind when
Speaker 1: that's first joke into the pro was founding the way
Speaker 1: to help my family. We were poor family coming from
Speaker 1: the dominic, and my mom and dad I used to
Speaker 1: work extremely hard to pay for the school, to pay
Speaker 1: for food. We didn't have any extra things because we
Speaker 1: can't afford it. And my childhood was really good because
Speaker 1: he was full of love in respect, but nothing else.
Speaker 1: We don't have any financial statement. It was the type
Speaker 1: of living that it was in the day by day
Speaker 1: type of things and it was basically, you know, surviving
Speaker 1: type of thing. And but my my mom and dad
Speaker 1: they hold on tight, they protect uh their kids. They
Speaker 1: always try their best to take care of us the
Speaker 1: way they can. At the time when I was like sixteen,
Speaker 1: seventeen with all the pressure that I was living into it.
Speaker 1: I know exactly what I need to be and what
Speaker 1: I want to be. I just don't know what it
Speaker 1: was gonna take me to get there, but I know
Speaker 1: my mind has very clear the things that I need
Speaker 1: to do. Two, put my family in a situation because
Speaker 1: I was the only way out. I was their only
Speaker 1: way out. It was the only way out but me.
Speaker 1: So I know that I had that responsibility, and I started,
Speaker 1: you know, working on trying to learn what it takes
Speaker 1: to be one of those guys that you just mentioned. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm very moved by what you said about your mother,
Speaker 1: and I know you lost her about twenty years ago.
Speaker 1: I think this year in the car accident. Yes, and
Speaker 1: you were paying tribute. You're at you every home running. Yes.
Speaker 1: I remember when I lost my mom. I was playing
Speaker 1: for the Twins and it was after New Year Dead.
Speaker 1: My mom used to go to busy her family, you know,
Speaker 1: New Year, you know, and that one time it was
Speaker 1: like basically saying goodbye, because on the way back home
Speaker 1: they asked it happened, and I was pretty close to
Speaker 1: my mom. I was, I was, you know, my mom was.
Speaker 1: I always give some hard time to my sister saying
Speaker 1: that I was my mom favorite child. She just spoiled
Speaker 1: man enough, you know what I'm saying, My moments to
Speaker 1: love cooking and just sit down and watch me eat.
Speaker 1: She used to call me her big boy, you know.
Speaker 1: And we had that type of connection. And once that happened,
Speaker 1: that that heat home hard, you know, because my career, uh,
Speaker 1: he would just beginning, and it was something that no
Speaker 1: one is prepared for that, you know. And and I
Speaker 1: remember I went to spring training in March. I remember
Speaker 1: I used to celebrate my mother's birthday because her birthday
Speaker 1: was marched four wards. We were in the middle spring
Speaker 1: training and that day that it was her birthday. Uh.
Speaker 1: I remember getting to the field, I got to the
Speaker 1: parking lot and I was just bawling, crying, and I
Speaker 1: just sitting down by myself in the parking lot, and uh,
Speaker 1: the whole team came out and picked me up. And
Speaker 1: I remember my boy, Buddy Hunter, he was he was
Speaker 1: my teammate at the time. He was the first one
Speaker 1: who coming and grabbed me. And you know, everybody was
Speaker 1: super cool. And I was in the line of that
Speaker 1: day and I remember I hit two homers on that game,
Speaker 1: and the first thing that came to my mind after
Speaker 1: I hit the first summer was doing that that celebration
Speaker 1: when I got to the plate. And since that day,
Speaker 1: it was like the best feeling I have had after
Speaker 1: I hit the home run. I bet you still miss
Speaker 1: your mother? Oh yeah, every day? My mother dad twenty
Speaker 1: nine years ago, last January six, and uh, I still
Speaker 1: think about her, you know all the time. That's a
Speaker 1: different love, Mr President, That's a different love. You know,
Speaker 1: you got your wife, you got your kids, you got
Speaker 1: your family member, you got everybody, you got friends. But
Speaker 1: the love coming from mom is is different. That's why
Speaker 1: I always tell my kids, you love for your mom
Speaker 1: is the love for your mom, you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's something that is extremely different. That connection is different.
Speaker 1: I'm a guy that I'm buy so many lovely people,
Speaker 1: so many people, like my family is based on that
Speaker 1: sprained love everywhere, but that one type of love is different.
Speaker 1: So you became famous in Boston for many things, but
Speaker 1: no one will ever forget the speech you gave in
Speaker 1: Fenway Park after the Boston Marathon bombing, and uh, you
Speaker 1: captured the feelings of everybody in Boston, but also one
Speaker 1: of the hearts of everybody in America from how did
Speaker 1: that happen? How did you come to be speaking and
Speaker 1: saying that? Do you did you? Did you know what
Speaker 1: you were gonna say when you started talking? No idea,
Speaker 1: no idea. But the one thing that I always tell
Speaker 1: everyone is that first of all, this country it means
Speaker 1: everything to me. You know, um, this is going to
Speaker 1: give me the opportunity to me and my family to
Speaker 1: have a future. And I always keep from telling people,
Speaker 1: you know, like it's going through to me, it's just
Speaker 1: like the Dominican Republic. Uh, It's a country that means
Speaker 1: everything to me. The thing was traveling. I was a
Speaker 1: Boston rehabit and when I saw all that things happening,
Speaker 1: I thought I was watching a movie because I couldn't believe.
Speaker 1: Like the marathon, like who is not related to the marathon?
Speaker 1: Like the marathon is what we raise money to fight disease,
Speaker 1: you know, it's what we where everybody get together for
Speaker 1: the cause. That means a lot to everyone. And when
Speaker 1: I saw that going down and I was, I was,
Speaker 1: I got stuck. I don't I don't even know what
Speaker 1: to think. And I started getting frustrated because I always
Speaker 1: the rest Socks do a great job we with all
Speaker 1: of us as a player, making sure that we are
Speaker 1: involved in the community service. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: We go to hospital, we go to school, we go
Speaker 1: to jobs, we we we we like the rest Socks.
Speaker 1: I'm very proud about what I learned playing for the
Speaker 1: rest Socks when they come down to community service, because
Speaker 1: they made sure that we get involved with the community.
Speaker 1: So one that was going on, I remember seeing a
Speaker 1: black hawk flying by my house, and you know that
Speaker 1: you don't see a black hawk every day. Who know
Speaker 1: that when you see a black hawk there's something going down,
Speaker 1: And it was when all the chasing was going off.
Speaker 1: Three days later, the team comes back in town. But
Speaker 1: three days you know, just seeing all the people that
Speaker 1: lost family members, that love body parts, all these beautiful
Speaker 1: people that was trying to help, that was trying to
Speaker 1: do things, it was very devastating. I mean I I was.
Speaker 1: I was very very upset. And the one thing that
Speaker 1: he homed for me especially it was just one kid
Speaker 1: that got killed, you know, that was something that it
Speaker 1: was very devastating to me. So when the thing came
Speaker 1: back in town, we are again and that was going
Speaker 1: to be my first gig of the season, and we
Speaker 1: had the ceremony going on going on my family. I
Speaker 1: had no clue that they were gonna pick me to
Speaker 1: go out there and say something to the fans. I
Speaker 1: had no idea that happened, Like I want the ceremony
Speaker 1: start going five minutes before. They were like, hey, we
Speaker 1: want you to go out there, and I was in
Speaker 1: the dog. We want you to go out there and
Speaker 1: say something to the fans. And all I say out
Speaker 1: there was me being a citizen. I never thought about
Speaker 1: me being Dave Rutize, me being the face of the franchise,
Speaker 1: me being who I was. All I thought about was
Speaker 1: all the stuff that we went through through all those
Speaker 1: days as an American citizen, and and that was what
Speaker 1: I left over an amount when I took over the microphone.
Speaker 1: And all I want to make sure when I say
Speaker 1: what I say is that I want people to know
Speaker 1: that even going through all that this is the greatest
Speaker 1: country to live. Because I know where I come from,
Speaker 1: and I know the lack of opportunity that you can
Speaker 1: have in the third world country. What is something that
Speaker 1: here in this country, if you come in and work hard,
Speaker 1: they give the opportunity to have that American dream that
Speaker 1: we all talk about, and that was it. That was me.
Speaker 1: You did a great thing for America that day. More
Speaker 1: after this, when was your first season in the major
Speaker 1: leagues and how old were you it was? I got
Speaker 1: cold up my first game, very first game, was a
Speaker 1: really feel something that I think it was the best
Speaker 1: experience of all time because you're talking about one of
Speaker 1: day uh legendary fields. Growing up as a kid, my
Speaker 1: favorite player was Carby Pocket, and carry Pocket at the
Speaker 1: time was working in the front office for the Minnesota Twins.
Speaker 1: But when I got cold up, he was there. Uh
Speaker 1: he was in the clothhouse, and I think it was
Speaker 1: the greatest thing and the reason why he he came
Speaker 1: to be my favorite player, it was because when I
Speaker 1: was a kid, I had no patience to sit down
Speaker 1: to watch the baseball game, and my dad's in the
Speaker 1: playoffs between the Braids and the Minnesota Twins. He basically
Speaker 1: forced me to see on to watch the game, and
Speaker 1: I sit down, and that was when Kirby made that
Speaker 1: that incredible cash in center field that we all remember,
Speaker 1: and he went out there to hit and then he
Speaker 1: hit a bomb. So as a kid that I stayed
Speaker 1: with me forever. So when I got traded from Seattle
Speaker 1: to Minnesota, the one guy that I wanted me, I
Speaker 1: mean badly, was Kirby. And Kirby was so good to me.
Speaker 1: He was like a father to me, Like he was
Speaker 1: the most fun guy to be year around, you know.
Speaker 1: And and Kirby take care of all of us, all
Speaker 1: of us, you know, And he was working in the
Speaker 1: front office in the spring training. Used to come down
Speaker 1: and make sure that, you know, our mindset, of our
Speaker 1: preparation and everything was good to go. But at same time,
Speaker 1: he was a cloud, which I think made baseball, you know,
Speaker 1: even more fun when you have a guy like him,
Speaker 1: you know, being him. It was something that that really
Speaker 1: really helped us out. And unfortunately we're into losing Kirby
Speaker 1: down the road. And when I got to Boston the
Speaker 1: number that used to wear I Minnesota, he was already
Speaker 1: one of his number that he was hanging up there. Uh,
Speaker 1: they asked me one number, I want to wear it?
Speaker 1: And then I went from Kurby. Oh well yeah, that's
Speaker 1: how he went down. But yeah, my first game was
Speaker 1: to really feel I remember amy so as I playing
Speaker 1: right field, Mark Grays played first Gray. I used to
Speaker 1: be a first base on another time. So Mark Grays
Speaker 1: was one of my hey were played to watch. So
Speaker 1: Sammy told Mark Grays about it, and I remember Mark
Speaker 1: Gray sending me one of his glove autographs to me.
Speaker 1: That was everything. I lost it when I didn't see
Speaker 1: that glow it was it was, it was beautiful, It
Speaker 1: was beautiful, and that was what I got. My first hit,
Speaker 1: My first thing in the Big League was a double.
Speaker 1: That's great. I remember in nine when I was still president,
Speaker 1: I went to Atlanta to celebrate the twenty five anniversary
Speaker 1: of Henk Karen breaking Babe Bruce home run record and
Speaker 1: a lot of the great All Stars were there, but
Speaker 1: the only player that was playing still in doing well
Speaker 1: who came with Sammy Celsis And I said, I can't
Speaker 1: believe you're here. I really appreciate you making the effort
Speaker 1: to come, And he said, uh no, no, no, I
Speaker 1: had to be here. What you should want to know
Speaker 1: is where the others are. Did they think we'd be
Speaker 1: making all this big money if it hadn't been for
Speaker 1: Hank Aaron getting baseball and doing what he did, you know,
Speaker 1: and I love the way baseball bills on each other,
Speaker 1: you know, traditions sometimes now a hundred years old. It's
Speaker 1: it's beautiful. And Hank Aaron and I became very close
Speaker 1: friends that He said something that night that I'll never forget,
Speaker 1: just because it's what I see often in the greatest athletes,
Speaker 1: a certain humility, you know. And I said, I said, Hank,
Speaker 1: who's the best player you ever played with her against?
Speaker 1: And he said, oh, that's not close. He said William Mazes.
Speaker 1: He said, he, uh, he had the best arm from
Speaker 1: outfield since for Berto Clemente. He could run like a
Speaker 1: deer and he could hit like a demon, and he
Speaker 1: would have broken Babe Ruth record too, if the Giants
Speaker 1: hadn't moved to Candle State Park where the wind blew
Speaker 1: oh yeah, from Blackfield right in the home flight. He said,
Speaker 1: there were nights even God couldn't at home running Candlestick.
Speaker 1: But I thought, you know, here's this guy celebrating his
Speaker 1: epic record talking about other people. And I see that
Speaker 1: all the time in baseball, a sense of the history,
Speaker 1: of the sense of the appreciation for other people. And
Speaker 1: I've always respected out about you the way you treat
Speaker 1: the game with respect, to treat the players with respect,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, what now that you say that
Speaker 1: A few things before I forgot when you were talking
Speaker 1: about Mr hang Aaron's I have a wonderful spirit with him.
Speaker 1: Before I got to hang out even more with him.
Speaker 1: I remember we one day without them for War Series
Speaker 1: and I went with the family to the Bahamas and
Speaker 1: I'm sitting down having dinner with my family and the
Speaker 1: table and this yet man stand all right next to
Speaker 1: me and told me. I'm not looking at him and listening.
Speaker 1: I'm listening to what he's saying. And he said, hey,
Speaker 1: and with my grandson, can you sign this baseball for me?
Speaker 1: And I was like, of course. And then I got
Speaker 1: the baseball and when I was about to sign it,
Speaker 1: I look up and when I saw him, I was like,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, why don't you sign one for me?
Speaker 1: It was the coolest thing that I ever happened to me.
Speaker 1: When I saw me saying asking me for an autograph,
Speaker 1: I was like, not another, you sign one for me?
Speaker 1: How about that? And now we alway used to make
Speaker 1: fun at it about it after that, and when it
Speaker 1: comes down to prospect the game, the one thing that
Speaker 1: I always Mr President and thought about while I play
Speaker 1: it was that this game is like when you are
Speaker 1: an Olympic running that you have to pass the torch
Speaker 1: to someone else. Uh the game, I would say, unfortunately.
Speaker 1: It's like that. Why I say unfortunately, because when you
Speaker 1: fall in love with this game, you never want to
Speaker 1: be out of it, and at some point you have
Speaker 1: to because you don't get any younger. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. By the one thing that I always enjoyed
Speaker 1: was being able to pass the torch do it on
Speaker 1: the prowd way. Because I have so many young talented
Speaker 1: players now that I don't play, coming to me and
Speaker 1: be like, hey man, you know I appreciate it where
Speaker 1: you did things and the way you handle the business
Speaker 1: with we all of us, you know, coming up guys
Speaker 1: that played with me, Guys that even more part of
Speaker 1: the opposition that I had to sit down and get
Speaker 1: their advice because I believe in the talent. I love
Speaker 1: to see the guys that had the great talent and
Speaker 1: being able to get them advice, let them know how
Speaker 1: things though, because all I want all I work about
Speaker 1: when I play, and even now that I don't place,
Speaker 1: make sure that the game get better and better and better.
Speaker 1: And the only way that happened is with educational perspect
Speaker 1: it's stay there forever. We'll be right back. Do you
Speaker 1: announce your retirement in before the season and then you
Speaker 1: went out and at the most home runs by a
Speaker 1: player in his final year? Ever, how did you know
Speaker 1: it was time to hang it up? And did you
Speaker 1: ever have any second thoughts? Um? Reality is that the
Speaker 1: season before that one, you know, my last first gear,
Speaker 1: playing my last four years, I will go in through
Speaker 1: a lot of pain and my achilles. I first injured
Speaker 1: my right one and then all of a sudden, my
Speaker 1: my left when the start, you know, start hurting, and
Speaker 1: the rest of the did a great job. They had
Speaker 1: a whole team working on me. I remember, uh for
Speaker 1: the seven p m. Gang, I used to come around
Speaker 1: to to theddy, but once this olders treatment start taking places,
Speaker 1: I had to come to the field by noon. So
Speaker 1: I would left living, you know, the family, earlier than
Speaker 1: usual to make sure I get ready and prepared to
Speaker 1: play the game. So to me, I always wear the
Speaker 1: uniform with a lot of pride and and I know
Speaker 1: that the fans always expect me too to come through. Uh.
Speaker 1: While I wore the uniform like that, that was the
Speaker 1: responsibility that I kind of build up through the time,
Speaker 1: and and and I had that connection with the fans,
Speaker 1: and and I want to make sure don't miss a
Speaker 1: beat while I played so two that going through all
Speaker 1: that two that in fifteen, I I remember, and that
Speaker 1: was when I find out that I gotta go through story, right.
Speaker 1: I remember we were playing I think it was a
Speaker 1: Seattle and then we went to Houston something like that.
Speaker 1: I can't really remember, but I remember I hit a double.
Speaker 1: And when I was a second base, they have a
Speaker 1: new picture coming in. And while I was sitting there,
Speaker 1: you know how the players come around you to talk
Speaker 1: to you, you know, interact with you. Uh, while the
Speaker 1: picture is getting ready, the infielder came around and everybody
Speaker 1: was like twenty years old. And I were like, wait
Speaker 1: a minute, all this guy can be my kids? Is
Speaker 1: not fun? Uh? And then I'm hurting. I mean, what's
Speaker 1: going on here? I went home that night and I
Speaker 1: was thinking about a big time and plus I had
Speaker 1: a hossle to get that double. And when I stopped
Speaker 1: a second base, I want to make sure that the
Speaker 1: next guy hit him. It makes you hit another double
Speaker 1: or hit at home run, because I don't think I
Speaker 1: was feeling like scoring with the basic. That's how much
Speaker 1: I was hurting. So all this stuff started stacking up.
Speaker 1: And then I went to play to Houston and exactly
Speaker 1: the same thing happened. I hit a double, they got
Speaker 1: a new picture coming in. And then I remember our
Speaker 1: two ways, who is short but he was like nineteen
Speaker 1: at the time something like that, came to me and
Speaker 1: he was looking up to me and was like, hi, Poppy.
Speaker 1: That was when I said, Okay, this is really happening.
Speaker 1: This is the message right here. He's a great player, Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: And I went home. We got back from the road
Speaker 1: thread and I went home and I started talking to
Speaker 1: the family. I told my agent Fernando, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: hang it out after this year. And then I remember
Speaker 1: Fernando asking me, hey, but what happened. If you're older,
Speaker 1: U prayer option kicks in. I'm like, I don't care.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get the prayer for next year, and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna try my best. I'm gonna get people everything I got,
Speaker 1: you know. And and that wasn't an amazing seas and
Speaker 1: amazing this this, and I put some incredible numbers. I
Speaker 1: don't even know how I did it, because be my
Speaker 1: last year everywhere I go, people always have something going
Speaker 1: on for me every every stadium, which is something that
Speaker 1: I really appreciate. When I went to New York, my boy,
Speaker 1: Marianna and the whole Yankee they did an amazing ceremony
Speaker 1: for me, something that I was kind of nervous about
Speaker 1: before he happened because I don't know what it was
Speaker 1: gonna turn out to be, you know, because I remember
Speaker 1: we did Jitter uh a couple of years before that.
Speaker 1: So the Jitter ceremony, I think with Park was really good.
Speaker 1: I feel really gay. Everything was very respectful. I mean,
Speaker 1: the organization did an amazing job. But you know, sometimes
Speaker 1: the fans get out of control. You know, you can
Speaker 1: control that. So when I went to the europe My ceremony,
Speaker 1: it was a little nervous. The Yankee were, uh, Betty
Speaker 1: committed to uh the ceremony. Everything went perfect with my family.
Speaker 1: I mean it was beautiful. Were you took over and
Speaker 1: the as I read the collective bargaining agreement. Now in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, every team gets a designated hitter. Is that right?
Speaker 1: So you must like that? Oh man, I wish they
Speaker 1: can be playing again. Let me let me ask you
Speaker 1: one thing before I let you go. Tell us how
Speaker 1: you started and why you started the David Ortiz Children's
Speaker 1: Fun and what does it do in New England. I
Speaker 1: think the people would like to know that because I
Speaker 1: really believe that every citizen who can afford to in
Speaker 1: terms of time and depending on how young their kids are,
Speaker 1: I want to have something to do besides their day job.
Speaker 1: And I think you made a heck of a decision here,
Speaker 1: So tell us how you started it and why what
Speaker 1: it does. I think everything began knowing where it comes from. Look,
Speaker 1: if you had never been bored, sometimes you never get
Speaker 1: to know. They're really important things in life, you know.
Speaker 1: I I can call myself lucky that I as a child,
Speaker 1: I never had to face any critical situation, Thanks God
Speaker 1: and thanks my parents for it. But I saw a
Speaker 1: lot of parents family struggle with with a sick child.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, I'm crazy about kids, kids who
Speaker 1: may are everything. You know. I I got my own
Speaker 1: kids and whenever they see children and I think they
Speaker 1: deserve the best, you know, And that's how my foundation begins.
Speaker 1: Just thinking about all the parents that can afford pay
Speaker 1: for surgery, especially heart surgery. I mean, there's so many
Speaker 1: disease out there, cancer, diabetic, I mean, you name it,
Speaker 1: and I had to shoot for one of all of them.
Speaker 1: And the reason why I went for heart surgery it
Speaker 1: was because I remember a friend of mine. I was
Speaker 1: in the Dominican in a friend of mine. It wasn't
Speaker 1: it was the Sunday, never forget about that. I was
Speaker 1: getting ready to go to the beach with my family
Speaker 1: and he told me, can you give me five minutes.
Speaker 1: I want to take it to a place for you
Speaker 1: to check up on what is going on there. And
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, let's do it. The place
Speaker 1: was five minutes away from my house and in that
Speaker 1: place is where I had my foundation running right now.
Speaker 1: It's a hospital settiment. I went there and it was
Speaker 1: a heart broken when I when I went there because
Speaker 1: it was this one kid who at the time was
Speaker 1: my older son age it was four at the time,
Speaker 1: and it was this little girl who also was there.
Speaker 1: The tour than just got I certainly done by. It
Speaker 1: was basically like it wasn't complete because they were needing medicine.
Speaker 1: The hospital he had only too bad. It wasn't much
Speaker 1: going on. And then and when I all that, I
Speaker 1: came out of that room crime because the first thing
Speaker 1: I thought about, I put myself from that situation and
Speaker 1: those parents. Let's keep parents situations happing my kids, Thank
Speaker 1: god they were healthy. But I just wore the shoes
Speaker 1: for two minutes and and and it feel horrible. So
Speaker 1: I remember walking out of that room. I promised him
Speaker 1: that I was gonna be back. And I came into
Speaker 1: the country during the season and I did so many
Speaker 1: different things, activities and stuff like that. And I remember
Speaker 1: I raised like two underground. So I went back to
Speaker 1: the hospital and donate that money. But my team and
Speaker 1: my advisor, they told me the best way to do
Speaker 1: it is building up a foundation. And that's exactly what
Speaker 1: we did. We build the foundation. We started doing it.
Speaker 1: Then we started doing things and slowly and now we
Speaker 1: can say that more than ten tho kids have benefited
Speaker 1: themselves from that foundation. And over I would say, kids, hi, God,
Speaker 1: get their surgery done. And it's a it's a game
Speaker 1: changer for their family because I see when most of
Speaker 1: the kids that come into the foundation, they come from
Speaker 1: single mom and this hard problem they can being dependent
Speaker 1: their mom have to be on top of and all
Speaker 1: the time, because you know, it's very critical. They a
Speaker 1: lot of them die from the heart problem. And uh,
Speaker 1: once we get their surgery done. A couple of months later,
Speaker 1: you can see mom coming in more taking care of
Speaker 1: herself with a new job. Because the kids start being independent,
Speaker 1: you know, they start doing their own activity as a kid.
Speaker 1: More happiness, it's it's I'm very proud. I think I'm
Speaker 1: more proud of doing that thing then thing. All the
Speaker 1: home druns that I hear, I think this time, my
Speaker 1: really home run is suppressing, because well, that's life is
Speaker 1: all about. You're gonna hit a lot more with that.
Speaker 1: I was thrilled when I saw what you did. I
Speaker 1: can't thank you enough. Well, I could keep you here
Speaker 1: tomorrow morning. I've had a wonderful time. I think that
Speaker 1: you know what it's all said and done. If you've
Speaker 1: been lucky, and you've been lucky, and I've been lucky,
Speaker 1: what you really want is for every kid to have
Speaker 1: a chance to live whatever the best life that he
Speaker 1: or she can live is. Yes, it is, it is.
Speaker 1: I'm blessing enough to have a good kid. My kids
Speaker 1: they are just let me, happy people, very humble. They
Speaker 1: don't act like they have anything, but I guess is
Speaker 1: because of the way you raise them. That is very important.
Speaker 1: I always emphasize on that, especially when you when I'm
Speaker 1: talking to the youth. You know you got I know
Speaker 1: that your mom and dad they are your best friends
Speaker 1: and they always gonna be there for you and the
Speaker 1: ups and down, and you need to pay attention to
Speaker 1: what they had to say. The longest you pay attention
Speaker 1: to what they had to say, your future gonna be
Speaker 1: brian because they're always gonna want the best for you.
Speaker 1: David Ortie is the whole world admires you and everybody
Speaker 1: that ever thrilled little baseball game, which is every baseball player,
Speaker 1: love the game and treated it with the great care
Speaker 1: you have. We thank you for this time, and I
Speaker 1: hope at least to some more good things, and I
Speaker 1: hope some more people will send some money to your
Speaker 1: foundation so you can help more kids. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: Misuppressing what's the honor of being the postcast. I haven't
Speaker 1: seen you in a minute, and Uh, I'm so glad
Speaker 1: that I everything went google you doing this, uh Kobe time,
Speaker 1: because you know that was that was something that care
Speaker 1: all of us. I think I got better than guy.
Speaker 1: We have been through it. We gotta continue paying attention
Speaker 1: to it, but I'm so glad to see you doing well,
Speaker 1: you and your family, and uh I can wait to
Speaker 1: see you soon. Thank you. I can't wait either. Why
Speaker 1: am I telling you? This is a production of My
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, the Clinton Foundation and at Will Medium. Our
Speaker 1: executive producers are Craig Menascian and Will Manadi. Our production
Speaker 1: team includes Jamison Katsufas, Tom Galton, Sir Harowitz, and Jake Young,
Speaker 1: with production support from Liz Rafferee and Josh Farnham. Original
Speaker 1: music by Wat White. Special thanks to John Sykes, John
Speaker 1: Davidson on hell Orina, Corey Ginstley, Kevin thurm, Oscar Flores,
Speaker 1: and all our dedicated staff and partners at the Clinton Foundation. Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm back at Courtsield and I'm a deputy Director the
Speaker 1: Clinton Global Initiative. President Clinton established the Clinton Global Initiative
Speaker 1: to create a new kind of philanthropic community to address
Speaker 1: the complex realities of our modern world, where problem solving
Speaker 1: required the active partnership of government, business, and civil society.
Speaker 1: Over the years, are proven model has grown to include
Speaker 1: action networks that can quickly mobilize in the phase of emergencies,
Speaker 1: whether that's helping Puerto Rico and the Caribbean recover in
Speaker 1: the wake of Hurricanes Rma and Maria. Or Advancing an
Speaker 1: Inclusive US Economic Recovery amid COVID nineteen. To learn more
Speaker 1: about this work and see how you can get involved,
Speaker 1: visit Clinton Foundation dot org. Slash podcast