Nightengale: Without a doubt, David Ortiz is a Hall of Famer
To paraphrase that great Boston orator, since, well, we’re a family newspaper.
You’re darn right, David Ortiz deserves to be a Hall of Famer.
Ortiz used slightly more colorful terms talking about his candidacy, but really, this shouldn’t even be a debate.
The man has 498 home runs, just two shy of the magical 500 mark that gains automatic entrance into the Hall of Fame, with the exception of those who have been caught, or linked to performance-enhancing drugs.
It’s the only reason why Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez and Mark McGwire aren’t in the Hall.
Of course, that could change if catcher Mike Piazza is elected in 2016, considering the steroid suspicions surrounding him throughout his entire career.
If Piazza gets in, voting on players with suspicions could be dramatically altered.
If you vote for Piazza, and pretend you didn’t see the physical changes — while also ignoring the whispers from team officials and his teammates — it’s absolutely absurd not to vote for Bonds, one of the greatest players in history.
The performance-enhancing drug debate, will rear its ugly head too when Ortiz hits the ballot.
Rays lefty Blake Snell is USA TODAY Sports' Minor League Player of the Year
Ortiz, remember, tested positive during the so-called anonymous drug tests in 2003. Ortiz insists he must have taken a banned substance that he purchased over the counter. Who knows, maybe it was a false positive test? Maybe he was just caught.
No one but Ortiz knows for sure, but the bottom line, he never failed a single drug test after Major League Baseball implemented a drug-testing program in 2004.
He was never punished, penalized, or had to hire lawyers in Biogenesis, BALCO, or any other illegal drug operation.
So, even if you don’t believe anyone linked to performance-enhancing drug use should enter the Hall of Fame without buying a ticket, it would be a gross injustice to keep Ortiz out.
“I never knowingly took any steroids,’’ Ortiz wrote on the Players’ Tribune website in April. “If I tested positive for anything, it was for something in pills I bought at the damn mall. If you think that ruins everything I have done in this game, there is nothing I can say to convince you different."
If you want to talk about numbers, trying to convince yourself the 500 home-run club no longer has the same stature, look at the dwindling number of home-run hitters in the game today.
There’s only three weeks left in the season, and Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles (41) is the only player in baseball with more than 40 homers. We’ve had only seven players hit 50 homers since the implementation of drug testing.
Yet, here is Ortiz, who claims he’s undergone at least 80 tests in his career, who continues to be among the game’s greatest power hitters, even two months shy of his 40th birthday.
MLB's 2016 schedule: Seven things to know
The man has 32 homers — the 11th time in the last 13 years he has his at least 28 in a season.
He has quietly had a monstrous past three months, hitting .305 with 26 homers, 69 RBI and a 1.058 OPS since June 11, spanning 269 at-bats.
If the Red Sox were in contention in the AL East race, he’d be mentioned in MVP discussions.
Instead, the coronation of his season will be hitting his 500th homer, becoming the 27th player in history to acheive the feat, cementing his candidacy for Cooperstown.
Oh sure, he has played most of his career, 87% of his games as a DH, but then again, Hall of Famer Frank Thomas played 56% of his games as a DH.
The real separator for Ortiz, just in case anyone still has their doubts, is his playoff resume.
He has dominated the postseason, winning three World Series championships for the Red Sox. He hit .295 with a .409 on-base percentage and .553 slugging percentage in 82 postseason games. Oh yeah, and he was the MVP of the 2013 World Series and 2004 ALCS.
If you want to punish him for the anonymous, confidential drug test, which he insists was simply careless buying nutrients, it’s simply wrong. He wasn’t even buying androstenedione, the performance-enhancing drug Piazza and McGwire admitted to taking, which had not yet been banned by baseball.
Stop the nonsense.
There is absolutely no doubt Ortiz is a Hall of Famer.
The only question is whether he’ll have 500 homers or 600 by the time he’s eligible.
See you in Cooperstown.
GALLERY: ACTIVE PLAYERS WITH 300+ HOMERS
