Remember July 27, 2013? Red Sox DH David Ortiz was ejected after arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Tim Timmons. Ortiz angrily smashed his bat against the dugout phone in the visitors’ dugout, then came back onto the field to shout at Timmons while being held back by manager John Farrell and two of his coaches. Dustin Pedroia and Shane Victorino tried to get Big Papi to calm down, but to no avail.
With Ortiz’s retirement tour nearly complete, the Orioles decided to honor the veteran slugger with... that smashed bullpen phone. Behold:
Our gift to David Ortiz, the exact authenticated visiting dugout phone he smashed on July 27, 2013. #Birdland pic.twitter.com/QygTYmW13m
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) September 22, 2016
The Orioles also honored Ortiz on the field prior to Thursday’s game. As the Orioles’ Twitter noted, the organization considered showing a video having fun at Ortiz’s expense, highlighting his 29 at-bats against lefty Brian Matusz in which Ortiz has only four hits. They instead showed a highlight reel of Ortiz hitting home runs against the Yankees.
Most importantly, though:
The Orioles also presented a $10,000 check to The @WorldPediatric Project in David Ortiz’s name to help critically ill children in the DR.
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) September 22, 2016
