It isn’t often that big time stories, with big time athletes just disappear. I mean we are still talking about Pete Rose being banned from baseball. I’m sure in 20 years there will still be someone talking about Tom Brady “more likely than not” deflating footballs a little too much.
And yet, here we are today and nobody talks about David Ortiz being shot in the Dominican Republic anymore. For those who don’t know, David Ortiz (former Red Sox great) was shot on June 9th, 2019. It was all the rage in the media for the better part of that month. The Red Sox even sent their private plane to fly him back to Boston to get medical treatment at Mass General Hospital.
For years there had been speculation about Ortiz being deep in the gambling world. Perhaps being a little too deep. There was an odd move by Ortiz where he was selling everything in his home in the Boston area. People were saying that even laundry detergent was being sold. In my experience, people who are as rich as Ortiz should be, shouldn’t have to sell random household items. The thought that there may have been some bad gambles made by “Big Papi” and he needed to make some quick cash.
The prevailing opinion (of anyone with a brain) was that the gambling habit caught up to him when he was shot. The official word was that it was a case of “mistaken identity.” That’s about as believable as someone in the United States not recognizing Donald Trump.
What prompted these thoughts of mine was this morning Barstool Sports Baseball Blogger Jared Carrabis announcing that he is now doing a podcast with David Ortiz. Here is the announcement if you want to have a look: https://www.barstoolsports.com/video/3373961/i-have-a-podcast-with-david-ortiz-now
Now I don’t blame Carrabis for the podcast. Ortiz to Red Sox fans is like John Elway to Broncos fans. I would do anything to do a project Elway. I’m sure Carrabis feels the same way about Ortiz. The shocking part here is just the speed in which the story disappeared.
In today’s culture of digging up old tweets and taking people down for things that happened years ago, one would think someone is working on this case as we speak. Then again, I got to thinking about who would be doing this.
We all know that major papers in Boston are pretty much owned by the Red Sox. I mean, the Boston Globe is literally owned by the same person as the team. Even after the shooting, the Globe covered a local songwriter who wrote a horrendous song comparing Ortiz to Martin Luther King Jr. So it’s no shock that’s not being covered there. Ortiz is some kind of ambassador for the Red Sox and I’m sure any media outlet that thought to covered would have been punished by the team. Maybe take away media credentials and not let them in to see the games.
Ridiculous bias aside, there is another reason people are hesitant to dive deep in the Ortiz shooting. It all comes down to Ortiz himself. From all accounts, he is a tremendous person. He treats the media well and has donated a tremendous amount of money to various charities and tremendous causes. And that goes a long way. Nobody wants to be the guy who takes the good guy Ortiz down. Not only will it poison their relationship with the man himself, but also with his colleagues.
It just brings merit to the old phrase about treating others the way you want to be treated. Ortiz made a tremendous PR move by being a decent person. And when a not so nice incident pops up, they have his back. If media members hear a bad thing about “Big Papi,” they look the other way because he was good to them. It is just natural and we all do it.
But there has to be someone like me who is more adept at investigative journalism, that could take a look here. Even someone who Ortiz pissed off at some point that would be interested in getting some dirt on him. But, here we sit and nothing has emerged in more than 2 years. Maybe there’s a disgruntled Yankee fan who is still bitter about 2004 that will get after it some day.
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