Maybe the friendship between David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez has some substance to it after all, and maybe A-Rod is the only person who can jokingly turn the city of Boston against Ortiz.
During “The Tradition,” an annual awards program for Boston’s The Sports Museum on Thursday, Ortiz fielded a question from moderator Tom Caron asking, “Do you really like A-Rod?” It came as Ortiz’s segment on stage had started to wrap up, according to the Boston Globe, and followed a Q&A where Ortiz discussed planning a vacation before the Red Sox’s 2004 comeback to win the World Series and how “Boston is everything to me.”
But when the question about Rodriguez was asked, everyone laughed. Then groans and boos reportedly scattered throughout the audience after Ortiz finished his answer.
“Look, he’s a good guy, man,” Ortiz said, according to The Globe. “The thing is, he’s got his own personality. In my case, I love you the way you are. I don’t want you to be the way I want you to be … I am the way I am, you are the way you are, I’m going to love you the way you are, you’ve got to love me the way I am.”
Ortiz and Rodriguez were key members of the Red Sox and Yankees, respectively. They played key roles in the 2004 playoff series where Boston won en route to snapping its World Series drought. Then, they both became wrapped up in off-the-field performance-enhancing drug issues, with Rodriguez’s lawyer seemingly accusing Ortiz at one point, without naming the designated hitter, for his role in the controversy. Rodriguez’s lawyer then clarified his comments to say that he wasn’t referring to Ortiz.
Now, they both now work on the same Fox Sports broadcast team for postseason baseball games. Ortiz blossomed in his role during the MLB playoffs, and he also took a jab at Rodriguez’s yoga video posted to Instagram.
Rodriguez and Ortiz are both first-timers on the latest Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America results for the Class of 2022 set to be released in January.