Player Name: David Ortiz (Arias)
Sets From: 1997 Donruss Signature, Flair, Fleer and Fleer Ultra
Card Numbers: 76, 11, 512, 518
Why are these cards a must have?: David Ortiz was actually thrown away . . . twice! First with the Mariners, who signed him out of the Dominican Republic. The Mariners received Dave Hollins from the Twins for a player to be named later. That player was Ortiz. Then after the 2002 season where he hit 0.272/20/75, the Twins tried to shop him around in the off season has he had been plagued with knee issues all year. There were no takers and the Twins ended up releasing him. In the spring of 2003 the Red Sox took a flier on him and the rest is history. Imagine being thrown away by two teams and not even being 27 yet. After signing with the Red Sox, he put up some monsterous seasons. He racked up 4 All Star selections, and 5 top 5 MVP finishes. Not to mention the ALCS MVP and 4 Silver Sluggers. He is a career 0.287/289/969 guy and although his best years are behind him, there is still time to get to 400. He is another guy not going to the Hall of Fame, but I suppose an argument could be made to get him in. Even though he hasn’t dominated for a decade (my personal ticket to the Hall), I think he will be nominated and probably hang around on the ticket for a few years. The 2004 World Series carries a lot of weight. Everyone likes Big Papi, it’s hard not to like him.
On a scale of 1 – 10, how must have are these cards: 8, it’s a few of those cards, you just have to own if you are a Red Sox fan. Or even just a fan of the game. In the book they run about $15 – $50, on eBay you can find it for around $8 – $50. I’ve seen graded versions of these cards go for as much as $300. The Fleer and Ultra are the two I like the best, but the auto is real cool as well.
