Boston Red Sox
Ortiz took the field during a somber pregame ceremony and, in his second language, offered 54 words, including exactly the right ones Boston needed to hear.
David Ortiz speaks to the Fenway Park crowd on April 20, 2013, following the Boston Marathon bombings. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi
March 23, 2026 | 12:35 PM
2 minutes to read
(Alongside Boston.com’s March Madness-themed bracket of the best soundbites in Boston sports history, we’re taking a deeper look at the background behind some of this year’s entries in the field of 16).
More than anyone else in Red Sox history, David Ortiz delivered in the biggest moments.
This is where we’ll recite some of the highlights of his resume not because it’s necessary, but because his particular history-changing moments of massive magnitude are a permanent pleasure to revisit.
So: He was the driving force of three Red Sox World Championship teams (2004, ’07, ’13), of course. He delivered walk-off hits in back-to-back games of the franchise-altering-in-all-the-right-ways comeback against the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS. He hit .688 against the Cardinals in ’13 World Series. He walloped 54 home runs in the 2006 season, and 483 in his Red Sox career.
Yet as remarkable as Ortiz’s actions were when he had a bat in his hands, he also knew how to come through with just the right words. Especially one unforgettable Saturday in April 2013, when the city needed to hear them most.
Five days after the Boston Marathon bombings, the city remained unsettled and impossibly sad as the Red Sox prepared to play their first game since the tragedy. Ortiz took the field during a somber pregame ceremony and, in his second language, offered 54 words, including exactly the right ones Boston needed to hear.
“All right. All right, Boston,’’ he said upon striding from the dugout to near the pitcher’s mound and taking the microphone. “This jersey that we wear today, it doesn’t say Red Sox, it says Boston.
“We want to thank you, Mayor Menino, Governor Patrick, and the whole police department, for the great job they did this past week.”
Then came the defiant declaration that fit the city and the moment when it was needed most.
“This is our [expletive] city, and nobody is gonna dictate our freedom. Stay strong. Thank you.”
The crowd roared. Some of us smiled for the first time in days. The Federal Communications Commission let the curse word slide, because how do you punish someone for finding just the right thing to tell a heartbroken city?
David Ortiz came through, not only when the Red Sox needed him most, but when Boston did. Every other quote in this bracket is playing for second.
Chad Finn
Chad Finn is a sports columnist for Boston.com. He has been voted Favorite Sports Writer in Boston in the annual Channel Media Market and Research Poll for the past four years. He also writes a weekly sports media column for the Globe and contributes to Globe Magazine.
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