David Ortiz: Say It Isn't So Big Papi

For those of you who do not follow baseball, more specifically the Boston Red Sox, - or for those of you who do - a story broke about a week ago that one of the Red Sox's most beloved player, David Ortiz, tested positive for PED in 2003. For the acronym challenged, PED stands for "performance enhancing drug."

The law firm in which I work has five attorneys and one of them walked up to me and made this statement to me: "David Ortiz is on the list."

I was blindsided to say the least because Ortiz is the very last person in baseball I would suspect of taking any kind of drugs, nevermind a PED.

The "list" is a list of names - many of which have been leaked to the press - of more than 100 baseball players who tested postitive for performance enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's 2003 anonymous survey to determine the extent of use of PEDs in baseball. More than 5% of players tested in this anonymous survey testing turned up positive results which prompted MLB to institute a drug policy that included testing programs and penalties for failed tests - including suspension. Most recently, Los Angeles Dodgers and former Red Sox player Manny Ramirez served a 50-game suspension for testing positive for PED.

But David Ortiz? Of all the players in baseball, Ortiz is the epitomy of all that is good about baseball: as a player, he unselfishly contributes to his team on the field, and unselfishly gives so much of himself back to the community off the field. David Ortiz's smile could inject light into a black hole. He is Big Papi.

Say it ain't so.

To date, Ortiz has yet to find out exactly the drug for which he tested positive. According to an Red Sox blog posted on boston.com, a source stated that paperwork and court proceedings are necessary to gain access to the information, i.e the actual test results, and that the test results and any correlating information is in the hands of the federal government as a result of Congress' investigation and subsequent hearings of illegal steroid use/PEDs in baseball.

Fans will recall that the Minnesota Twins released Ortiz in 2003, who, back then, was an average player and whose time with the Twins will be remembered by injuries and inconsistencies - not by the player that David Ortiz became when he joined the Red Sox in 2003. Fans like myself who lived through the agony of 1975 and worse, 1986 - saw Ortiz become a magical baseball wizard in 2004 during the ALCS when the Red Sox were at the brink of elimination, down 3 games to none against the New York Yankees. Behind the magic of Ortiz - and a bunch of other "idiots" that year, the Red Sox did the unthinkable, winning four straight games and defeating New York to advance to the World Series, and ultimately win their first World Serie championship in 86 years.

Ortiz's stats in 2004 were mind-boggling: In his second season with the Red Sox, this was his first full year as the Sox's DH. Ortiz was voted onto the All Star team - a first in his career. He batted .301, hit 41 home runs and had 139 runs batted in. Against the Yankees, Ortiz hit an unbelieveable .400 with five home runs and 19 RBIs. He had multiple game-winning hits during the wild card games with the Angels, during the ALCS with the Yankees which helped advance Boston to and ultimately win the World Series. I still get chills when I think about 2004. Ortiz's post-season magic garnered an MVP honor for the American League Championship Series.

In 2005, Ortiz hit 47 home runs and the following year in 2006 he hit a new Red Sox record of 54 home runs surpassing Jimmie Foxx's old record of 51 single season home runs.

In 2007, Ortiz was once again instrumental in leading the Red Sox yet again to the World Series, their 2nd championship in 3 years. Ortiz played the entire 2007 season with a torn meniscus in his right knee, and various nagging injuries to his shoulder but managed to finish the year with a batting average of .332. He hit 35 home runs.

Ortiz was beleaguered with a wrist injury in 2008 and finished the season batting .264, his lowest since joining the Sox. And this year, Ortiz went through a horrendous slump but has managed to climb out of that hole with grace and dignity. He did not make excuses. He took himself out of the lineup because he knew his presence was only hurting the club.

It takes a special kind of ballplayer to do that.

But this story of Ortiz's steroid/PED use has blindsided and staggered fans. Some were quick to judge Ortiz and label the Red Sox's two World Series championships as "tainted." Others like myself want only evidence, hard-core proof.

Ortiz has never backed down from the press. He has always been accomodating and gracious and he openly stated that he will get to the bottom of this and will share any information he receives with his team, with the press and with the fans.

When the rest results are obtained, and David Ortiz steps up to the plate and says it IS so, he will have to be the one to deal with this. For whatever the reason he tested positive, whatever it was he ingested or injected or drank or rubbed on his body - who knows - he is the only one who really knows the truth.

Is David Ortiz a genuine victim of his own ignorance? Or is he the biggest hypocrite the Red Sox fans have ever seen?

I do not condone drug use of any kind - in routine life or in sports. Illegal drugs of any kind endanger your health, your children, and others. PEDs are cheating drugs but worse - no one knows what kind of reaction a player will have to a PED. Is it really worth the risk of finding out? Is bonus money worth finding out if your heart will stop or if you will suffer various organ failure or your emotions become so unbalanced that your friends become your enemies instanteously?

No amount of money is worth that - at least in my opinion. But according to that list, and to those who testified and those who got caught - apparently the pressure to perform - and earn that money - is so great that PEDs are just another day at the gym.

For some players like Jose Canseco, Raphael Palmeiro, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and many others I could spend hours naming here, that gym, and all the weight it carries, came crashing down on their heads.

I hope that David Ortiz is able to bear that weight with dignity, grace, strength and more importantly truth - all those important qualities that have made Big Papi who he is to Red Sox Nation - when he uncovers exactly what happened in 2003.