With one swing of the bat on Saturday night against the Rays, David Ortiz became the 27th player in Major League Baseball history to hit 500 career home runs.
The historic homer was his second of the night and came off of Rays’ lefty Matt Moore. In a season that’s destined to wind up with another last place finish for the Red Sox, Ortiz achieving the impressive milestone is one of the few bright spots from the year.
But it didn’t seem as if Ortiz would get there this season with the slow start he began the year with. Through the All-Star break, Ortiz was hitting just .231 with 15 home runs and 43 RBI’s. However, since the Midsummer Classic, Ortiz has been on a tear, blasting 19 home runs while hitting around .340.
Ortiz leads the Red Sox in home runs (his next closest rival is 15 home runs back) as well as RBI’s in 2015, and is just five RBI’s from another 30+ homer, 100+ RBI season — his third straight and ninth overall. Ortiz’s 442 homers with the Red Sox is good enough for third in franchise history, behind just Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski.
However, despite tremendous career stats, there still remains the question of whether or not David Ortiz is worthy of the Hall of Fame. In my mind, he absolutely is. Not only is he one of the best Red Sox players in history, he is simply one of the best baseball players in history.
The Unbiased MLB Fan 