Summer Live and Premium 2018
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/2/2018
David Ortiz is one of the most feared sluggers of the 21st century, leading the Boston Red Sox to three World Series titles as their talisman and star player. Despite a delayed start to his career with the Minnesota Twins, Ortiz hit 541 home runs during his time as a professional, more home runs than Mel Ott, Jimmie Foxx, or Ted Williams were able to hit.
Offered here is the very baseball that Ortiz hit for his 536th career home run. This longball tied Ortiz with the legendary Mickey Mantle, at the time leaving them even in 17th place on the all-time home run leaderboard. Ortiz’s milestone home run came during the Red Sox 12-2 victory against the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway Park on September 11th, 2016. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Ortiz crushed an up-and-in offering from Oliver Drake to right field, depositing the ball just over the 380’ sign in front of the Orioles bullpen. The 37,551 Red Sox fans in attendance on this warm September evening gave their beloved star a richly deserved curtain call on the top of the dugout steps. Ortiz would play 19 more games in the Major Leagues, ending his career with one of his best seasons yet. The big DH hit 38 homers in 2016, to go with a .315 batting average and the most RBI (127) in the American League and the most doubles (48) in all of baseball. Ortiz’s number “34” was retired by the Red Sox during a ceremony in the 2017 season.
After hitting home run number 536, Ortiz received this Official Major League Robert D. Manfred Jr. baseball from the fan who caught it after the ball hopped out of the Orioles bullpen. Ortiz has signed the sweet spot of this ball in blue pen, adding his number “34” to his signature. On the panel to the south of the sweet spot, Ortiz inscribed “Got back from fan who cot [sic] it in the stand”. On the panel to the north of the sweet spot, Ortiz inscribed “Game Use 9/12/16 HR 536” and “Tied Mickey Mantle”. This baseball represents an incredible opportunity to own a piece of Red Sox history. This item comes with a LOA from David Ortiz.