40-year old Dominican slugger David Ortiz has announced that the time has come for him to retire after a 19-year old career in Major League Baseball, including the past 13 seasons with the Boston Red Sox. Yesterday, Wednesday, 18 November 2015 he announced that his career would be over next season. Ortiz has won three World Series and is a nine-time All-Star.
David Ortiz remembered a moment during the winter of 2002, when the Minnesota Twins released him after four seasons during which he did not play very consistently. In Santo Domingo he met with Pedro Martinez, who told his general manager of the Boston Red Sox, Theo Epstein, that Ortiz should be signed. He said: “You’ve got to sign this kid, he is special.”
He was immediately contracted for one year and the rest is history, with more than 500 homeruns and on course to the Hall of Fame.
Nevertheless Ortiz had a doubt: “why did you tell Epstein that I was special?” As reported in Diario Libre. Pedro’s answer, according to Ortiz, was: “I threw you a 92-mile an hour cut fastball, high and inside. Big hitters can’t get the bat out. You’re the first one who hit a homerun off that pitch. You are special.” Diario Libre features a video of that home run.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/14153965/boston-red-sox-slugger-david-ortiz-retire-2016-season-report
http://www.diariolibre.com/deportes/beisbol/david-ortiz-anuncio-oficialmente-su-retiro-el-dia-de-su-cumpleanos-40-BI1912535