"To me, that championship meant the most. Because all of us won."
When David Ortiz signed his first contract with the Red Sox in January 2003, the Patriots had already hoisted the Lombardi Trophy once.
By the time Ortiz retired with the Red Sox in 2016, Boston captured another eight titles — including three more Super Bowls, three World Series titles, one NBA championship, and a Stanley Cup.
In total, Boston has won six Super Bowls, four World Series, two NBA Finals, and one Stanley Cup since the turn of the millennium.
But which title does Ortiz — who won three with the Red Sox over his Hall-of-Fame career — cherish the most?
Unsurprisingly, he opted to stick to baseball, even though he remains an ardent fan of the Celtics and other Boston teams.
“To me, I think that breaking the ice in 2004 — I think it was one of the most incredible ways to win,” Ortiz said Wednesday at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Raising Cane’s restaurant in Downtown Crossing. “Coming from behind, beating up the freaking Yankees, man. To me, that was one of the most special things of all time.”
Understandably, the 2004 Red Sox and 2001 Patriots tend to resonate with most Boston sports when it comes to the most celebrated championship within this market.
But even with the emotional weight and drama that came with Boston erasing an 86-year drought in 2004, Ortiz’s favorite title actually came nearly a decade later.
“When you move forward, and then you think about what we went through in 2013 with the [Boston Marathon] bombing, people dying, people getting injured for the rest of their life, the chaos in the city. Now you go from entertaining to a crisis.
“And just looking at this city, the way we bounced back, the way all you guys put it together, the way we united. It’s like a superhero movie. That’s the way I look at it. … Everyone always asks me, ‘Hey, Papi, did you get prepared to say what you said? I’m like, ‘I’m a citizen. I love this city.’ I was here. That year, I started the season on DL and the team was traveling at the time, and I was here rehabbing. So I suffered with what happened. We all did.”
Amid the grief and tragedy following the Boston Marathon bombings, the 2013 Red Sox rallied and resonated with the city — with a scrappy roster winning 97 games en route to another World Series title.
Ortiz left his fingerprints all over Boston’s run through October — clubbing a dramatic, game-tying grand slam in Game 2 of the ALCS against the Tigers before winning World Series MVP honors after batting .688 with six RBI against the Cardinals.
“Just watching the city putting it together, unite, fight back, and at the end, us winning the championship,” Ortiz said. “To me, that championship meant the most. Because all of us won.”
It’s been nearly eight years since Ortiz last played for the Red Sox. But the 48-year-old Ortiz frequently makes trips back up to Boston — regularly sharing the same sentiment when it comes to Boston’s evident and lasting impact on his life.
“I always say this, Boston to me is one of the most incredible cities when it comes down to food, when it comes to sports, when it comes down to music. … And it’s because the people around here, the citizens, are so involved in everything — as an entertainer — that we do,” Ortiz said. I mean, you guys, to me, are the greatest.
“I always say this when I go back home, I’m so glad that I played in Boston, because the fans in Boston got the best out of me. I learned while I played here that I had to get prepared to do my best every day, and it was because you guys showed up every day.
“It didn’t matter if it was cold, if it was raining, if the game was one-sided. It didn’t matter, you guys were there pushing, pushing, pushing. … So to me, New England is one of the greatest [places] to be able to perform at any type of level.”
