David Ortiz is only Red Sox player worth shooting

Posted on September 16, 2010

David Ortiz of the American League laughs in the dugout before the Home Run Derby during All Star Game festivities at Angel Stadium on July 12, 2010 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

Last weekend the Boston Red Sox came to town to play the Oakland A’s. Their road gray uniforms said “BOSTON” in dark blue lettering across the front. It was the players inside the uniforms that made me sad. The 2010 edition of the Red Sox lacks the star power and swagger of past teams due to injuries and old age. Who were some of those guys on the field? I headed out to the Oakland Coliseum on Sunday afternoon to shoot the game and realized there was really only one guy in the Red Sox lineup that I cared about. A guy who’s smile and Ruthian swing have been a joy to photograph for over a decade. The guy I am talking about was Big Papi, otherwise known as David Ortiz.

I had no interest in shooting Red Sox shortstop Yamaico Navarro. I was not very excited about shooting lead-off man Darnell McDonald. In order for me to have fun at this game I needed to amuse myself and and focus my attention on the one ballplayer on the field who will go down in the history of the game as one of most colorful figures and clutch hitters of his era. When I see guys like Ortiz the historian in me takes over. I realize that at nearly 35 years of age Ortiz is approaching the end of his career, and my opportunities to photograph him are drawing to a close.

I do not have many pictures of Ortiz from his early days with the Minnesota Twins. He was never a stand-out player with the Twins in the late 1990’s, so when they came to town I never paid much attention to him. However, once he moved over to Boston for the 2003 season his career really took off, and he became one of those guys you always paid attention to, both before and during the game, on the field and in the dugout.

Besides being one of the game’s great sluggers during the past decade, Ortiz has one of the best smiles and personalities in the game of baseball. You always need to pay attention to him during batting practice, as he flashes his smile so much he is a guaranteed to get you a really nice pre-game portrait in the bag before you go up to the Coliseum press dining room for the really awful $10 lunch. One day last week they had this mystery meat loaf that was really nasty. I should have taken a picture of that!

Ortiz has been so much fun to photograph during his great run with the Red Sox. I was able to shoot him help the Red Sox win both the 2004 (see above) and 2007 (see below) World Series. Never one to hide his emotions, Ortiz gave me great smiles when he homered, and when he celebrated in the locker room. He also put on a great show this year during the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game in Anaheim. I shot the contest from the camera platform behind the left field fence and had a great view while shooting, and watching, as Ortiz peppered the right field bleachers with home run balls on his way to winning the crown.

Like I mentioned earlier, this year’s Red Sox club is hard to watch right now. I can’t believe they have a 82-64 record. Most teams would be thrilled with a record like that, but this year’s club will not make it to the playoffs, and that means this season has been a failure to the Red Sox Nation. This club will have to do some major re-tooling in the off season, and you gotta wonder what this means for David Ortiz. He has had a nice season as their designated hitter, driving 30 home runs out of the park while knocking in 91 runs and maintaining a respectable .262 batting average. Ortiz is making $12.5 million this year, and the club has an option to keep him for 2011 at the same price, but will they?

I don’t know if Ortiz will be playing for the Red Sox in 2011, but I do know that he will be DH’ing for one American League club next year. That means I will still get to shoot that great smile and that powerful swing at the Coliseum. I will also be able to continue photographing him in the visiting dugout before the game, which is where I have made some of my best pictures of him. If Big Papi does leave the Red Sox, I hope they are able to make some moves to improve the team and bring some star power back to Fenway Park. Baseball is better when the Red Sox are good, and despite this year’s $162,447,333 payroll fans in Boston are not happy. When I see the Red Sox in 2011 at the Colsieum I hope they have more guys worth shooting, so I don’t have to get excited about Marco Scutaro.