David Ortiz
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

We now know the complete Class of ’22.

On Tuesday evening, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced which players had received the requisite 75 percent of the vote from the BBWAA to be inducted into it’s hallowed plaque gallery.

And that list of players to be inducted this summer has increased by… one: David Ortiz.

David Ortiz — By the numbers

His smile is enormous. His clutch hitting was compelling. And he dominated all the way to his final season, when he left many wondering how many more years he could do it.

After he was unceremoniously released by the Minnesota Twins, Pedro Martinez advocated for Boston to sign the big Dominican slugger. The rest is indeed history.

Ortiz was a three-time World Series champion and 10-time All-Star with the Boston Red Sox.

After hitting 58 home runs over six seasons with the Twins, Ortiz exploded with Boston. He hit 453 home runs in 14 years with the Red Sox and became the face of the Red Sox to a generation.

In 2,408 career regluar-season games, Ortiz posted a .380 on-base percentage and 141 OPS+.

Over 85 career postseason games, Ortiz slashed .289/.404/.543 — a .947 OPS — with 17 home runs and 61 RBI. He was the MVP of the 2004 ALCS (a heart-breaking memory for Yankees fans) and the MVP of the 2013 World Series — at age 37.

He has become the man most associated with the designated hitter position. And, now, he joins Harold Baines and Edgar Martinez as a DH in the Hall of Fame.

Ortiz becomes the fourth Dominican player to be inducted into the Hall, joining Martinez, Juan Marichal and Vladimir Guerrero.

Not alone

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and Sammy Sosa now fall off the ballot, failing to be elected in the maximum ten years of candidacy. But Ortiz won’t be alone in Cooperstown this summer.

He joins six past players who were elected by selection committees previously for enshrinement this summer. Tony Oliva, Jim Kaat, Minnie Miñoso, Gil Hodges, Bud Fowler and Buck O’Neil were voted into the Hall by the Early Baseball Era and Golden Days Era committees.

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Tab Bamford
Tab has written about MLB, the NHL and the NFL for more than a decade for publications including The Fourth Period, Bleacher Report and La Vida Baseball. He is the author of two books about the Chicago Blackhawks and has been credentialed for the MLB All-Star Game and postseason and multiple Stanley Cup Finals. He is the co-host of the Line Drive Radio podcast.

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