The packed crowd at Fenway cheered and waved signs as Ortiz took the field for the pre-game ceremony in his honor.
"He has been as beloved a sports hero as we could ever hope to have," the announcer said over the loudspeaker. "Ladies and gentlemen, let us now welcome back and welcome home, number 34 forever, Big Papi, David Ortiz!"
Ortiz greeted some of the other Red Sox greats whose numbers have been retired: Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, Wade Boggs, and the most recent player to get the honor, pitcher Pedro Martinez, who urged the team to sign Ortiz in 2003.
"Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to give Boston the greatest gift ever, my compadre, David Ortiz!" Martinez said.
Ortiz hit 541 home runs in his 20-year career, and spent the last 14 of those seasons here in Boston, before retiring at the end of last season. And he was a key part of three World Series Championships, including in 2004 — their first World Series win in 86 years.
The retired numbers of Red Sox greats are lined up on the facade in right field, and a red cloth was lifted off a new spot, revealing Ortiz's number 34.
"I remember hitting batting practice on this field, I always was trying to hit those numbers," Ortiz told the fans. "But I never thought about having my number up there, because I look at those numbers with so much respect, and I know every single player that his number is hanging up there, did things really really special for this ball club and this community."
Along with hundreds of home runs, Ortiz is remembered for his heartfelt and kind of profane speech to fans after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings — something to the effect of "don't mess with this city" — which the announcer last night described as his "unforgettable and unrepeatable oratory." Friday night, he kept it clean, thanking the team, his family and the Boston fans.
"It don't matter where we were playing at, it don't matter if it was raining, It don't matter if it was 110 degrees, you guys always there for us," he told the fans. "I love you Boston. Thank you."
His fans say they love him back.
"That I got a chance to watch him play, like, I'm going to tell my grandkids that. I'm going to tell my grandkids I was here today," said John Heffernan of New Gloucester, Maine. "He rallied them," said Sandy Walsh of Merrimack, New Hampshire. "He was a cheerleader as well as a coach, as well as a teammate, and he did his best. You can't ask for anything more," she said. "He's a special guy, and, you know, we're all going to miss him here in Boston, I know that," said Mark Santoro of Medford.
For Ortiz, the number 34 — once on his jersey, and now on the wall, never to be worn by a Sox player again — had a special meaning. It belonged to his friend and mentor Kirby Puckett, who took Ortiz under his wing when he was just starting out as a rookie with the Minnesota Twins.
"When I first start wearing that jersey, that number, I was just happy and proud because of him," Ortiz said after the ceremony. "Never thought about my number hanging up there with all those legendaries."
Now, Big Papi's become something of a legend himself.
