David Ortiz is by far one of the most revered athletes in Boston.
A street and bridge adjacent to Fenway Park, the home stadium of the Red Sox, are named after him. His team during a 14-year career soon removed the number 34. He was the character who was in charge of haranguing a traumatized city, days after the terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon.
The next great moment of the Dominican it will be a ceremony at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Propelled by his prowess on and off the diamond, the “Big Papi” seems headed for exaltation in his first year of eligibility within the vote of the Association of Baseball Writers of America (BBWAA).
At dawn on Friday, Ortiz was close to 84% support, according to Ryan Thibodeaux, the amateur who in recent years has been in charge of keeping a tabulation of the votes of the journalists who make them public in the days prior to the official announcement of the results.
for now, Ortiz would exceed the minimum of 75% that is necessary to be elected. But nobody knows if his percentage will stay at that level or will be lower in the end.
Day by day, he would be the only one capable of preventing no one from being elected in the BBWAA vote for the second year.
The Hall of Fame will announce the results of the vote on Tuesday. Those who get enough endorsements will join Cubans Minnie Miñoso and Tony Oliva, as well as Jim Kaat, Gil Hodges, Bud Fowler and Buck O’Neil, who were elected by the baseball era committees.