Throwback to When David Ortiz Smashed the Dugout Phone and Got Ejected
Players in Major League Baseball are not known to keep their tempers in check. Year after year, we see multiple incidents where live games are interrupted with random acts of disruption. From fan altercations to feuds between rivals, baseball has it all.
From the San Diego Padres vs Atlanta Braves in 1984 to the Cincinnati Reds vs St. Louis Cardinals in 2021, it does not seem like these brawls are going to stop anytime soon. Make no mistake, these fights add to the hype surrounding baseball and prove that players across the major and minor leagues wear their hearts on their sleeves.
Talking about epic face-offs, let’s take a walk down memory lane and revisit this insane incident involving 3-time World Series champion David Ortiz.
Throwback to when David Ortiz smashed a dugout phone!
Without a doubt, David Ortiz is one of the most iconic designated hitters and the first basement to play in the MLB in the last two decades. The Dominican Republic-born athlete spent 20 seasons in Major League Baseball playing for the Minnesota Twins and the Boston Red Sox between 1997 and 2016.
But he was often known to lose his calm while on the baseball field. Don’t believe us? Then take a look at the below video from the regular-season series game from 2013, played between Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.
‘Big Papi’ thought he had earned his third walk of the evening with a 7-2 lead on the O’s in the 7th inning, but the home plate umpire ruled the 3-0 pitch a strike even though Ortiz was headed towards first. He eventually struck out and had words with the home plate umpire about the sequence.
And what happened next, is history.
Fast forward to when David Ortiz was playing his final regular-season series in the MLB back in 2016. The Orioles went on to present him with the broken dugout phone as part of the pregame festivities.
Who could forget David Ortiz’s most destructive hit at Oriole Park? Our visiting dugout phone! pic.twitter.com/mGSTHEOuYE
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) September 22, 2016
A fitting end to a career that would make any young baseball fan jealous? We think so too.