In a move that can only be characterized as classless,
the Tampa Bay Rays organization will not honor David Ortiz with any type of on-field ceremony or bestow any gifts on him. The only acknowledgement of his
Hall-Of-Fame-worthy career will be a brief video during the second inning of his final game at the ludicrous
Tropicana Field on Sunday, September 25th. It's not that the Rays are a cheap organization—after all, they
did hold ceremonies for:
Cal Ripken,
Mariano Rivera and
Derek Jeter. Part of this issue is probably that the Rays have considered themselves "rivals" of the Red Sox since they started playing baseball at their joke stadium back in 1998. In fact, they only
truly challenged Boston in 2008, when they bested
The Carmine Hose in the ALCS. In any event, Tampa will be the only city other than Atlanta to snub
Big Papi. Of course, he only played 16 total games in his entire career in Atlanta. By contrast, in 118 regular-season games at
The Trop, Ortiz has 34 homers (notably #500) and 88 RBIs.
