Red Sox: Ranking players who have had numbers retired at Fenway Park
By Sean Penney
David Ortiz – No. 34
We have finally arrived at the latest player to have their number retired at Fenway Park.
Ortiz ranks a mere eighth among Red Sox hitters with 48.2 fWAR and he never won an MVP award. His role as a designated hitter held him back in both regards, yet did nothing to diminish the fact that he was one of the most feared hitters in baseball for over a decade.
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The Red Sox scooped Ortiz up after the Minnesota Twins discarded him to the scrap heap and the move paid immediate dividends for Boston. He finished fifth on the MVP ballot in his first season with the Red Sox and went on to make 10 All-Star appearances.
Big Papi finished among the top-five on the MVP ballot in five consecutive seasons and piled up seven Silver Slugger awards. He led the league with 54 homers in 2006 and led in RBI three times. Ortiz hit at least 30 home runs and drove in 100+ RBI ten times in his 14 seasons in Boston.
What sets Ortiz apart from the rest of the prolific hitters on this list is his postseason production. He took it up a notch in October, hitting .289/.404/.543 with 17 home runs in 85 playoff games. His resume is chalk full of clutch moments and walk-off hits in the postseason. He’s also the only one on this list with multiple championship rings, winning Wold Series titles in 2004, 2007 and 2013 – earning World Series MVP honors in the last of those three title seasons.