David Ortiz Clears Trump’s Wall
A day after conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly passes away, Big Papi took on the discourse of the immigration debate.
David Ortiz, of the AL East-contender Boston Red Sox, has spent a career facing walls and blasting baseballs over them. At the age of 40, Ortiz has liberated baseballs from the strict borders of a baseball diamond 31 times this season on his way to enjoying one of the best offensive outputs of his career — a real accomplishment for a veteran whose slash after 20 years in the Bigs is .286/.380/.551. The accomplishments of Big Papi — as he is called — on the field, and his affable personality off of it, have earned the Dominican-born player credibility and a national platform when commenting on the state of national discourse regarding the immigration debate. Yesterday, Big Papi told Jorge L. Ortiz of USAToday this:
Ortiz, 40, pointed out that he’s not particularly knowledgeable about politics and typically doesn’t comment publicly on the subject, but he said remarks by Trump, who has vowed to build a wall to seal off the country’s Southern border and have Mexico pay for it and who said Mexico is sending rapists and criminals to the USA, “didn’t sit well with me.”
“When you speak like that about us, it’s a slap in the face,” Ortiz said of Latinos in general. “I walk around sometimes, and I see Mexican people trying to earn a living in an honest way. And to hear somebody make those kinds of comments, it hits you. I think as Latin people we deserve better. Things have gotten much better in that regard. … As Latin people we deserve respect, no matter where you’re from. And especially our Mexican brothers, who come here willing to do all the dirty work.
Presidential election years tend to unearth underlying discontent in a country, discouraging even the most optimistic like Ortiz who believed in America’s progressing attitude toward immigrants. Coincidentally, Ortiz’s comments came a day after the passing of conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly. Called the First Lady of Conservatism, the 92-year-old was most remembered for her activism in favor of traditional gender roles in society — she was a staunch anti-feminist. Prior to her death, she had endorsed Donald Trump; his brand of misogyny an apparent match for her disdain of gender equality. Though immigration wasn’t at the center of most of her career in conservative activism, she displayed how her views also align with Trump’s anti-immigrant nativism when she published this on her organization’s website last February:
The best baseball players today are American-born. All six of the six recipients of the top awards this past season are native born American, but more than a quarter of Major League Baseball players are foreign-born, with whom our youth are less likely to identify. Some of these players cannot speak English and they did not rise through the ranks of Little League. These foreign-born players enter on visas and take positions that should go to American players. Fewer than four percent of the Baseball Hall of Fame is foreign-born, yet 27 percent of today’s players are foreign-born.
Those foreign-born Hall of Fame statistics are suffering in the same way Bryce Harper’s home run totals are:
It may not be fair to point out the poorly informed musings of a dinosaur nostalgic for baseball’s past — heck, that’s most baseball beat writers — but suffice it to say, this sentiment isn’t confined to curmudgeonry. Last September, American-born and current Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Bud Norris had this to say:
This is America’s game. This is America’s pastime, and over the last 10–15 years we’ve seen a very big world influence in this game, which we as a union and as players appreciate. We’re opening this game to everyone that can play. However, if you’re going to come into our country and make our American dollars, you need to respect a game that has been here for over a hundred years, and I think sometimes that can be misconstrued.
In one comment, Norris managed to reveal his ignorance to world baseball history and monetary policy. Baseball has been played in Japan since 1872, in Mexico since 1840, in Cuba since 1860, and the Dominican Republic since 1880. The founding professional teams in the Dominican — Tigers, Eastern Stars, Eagles and Lions of the Chosen One — will celebrate their one-hundredth anniversary in 2021. Even if baseball were a definite American invention and not a natural evolution of ball and stick games, America now shares the game with many cultures who honor it as part of their history.
Monetarily, Norris and Schlafly both had beefs with foreign-player making good old American greenback, but for different reason. Schlafly continued in her screed:
Baseball owners are doing the same thing that big corporations do: Bring in foreign labor to take jobs that ought to go to Americans. American baseball players are better, as the awards and Hall of Fame prove, but perhaps baseball owners think that foreign players are cheaper and easier to control.
Norris’ contempt for Latin players taking his American Dollars is likely a frustration with current amateur regulations. American-born ballplayers are subject to have their rights purchased in the amateur draft; signing bonuses are dolled out by mostly predetermined dollar amounts and life-changing money is mostly reserved for the higher draft picks. International players, for the most part, are free agents; though there are many restrictions on MLB teams. American-born players spend a decade or more playing professional baseball before earning the contract leverage that comes with free agency. International players as young as 16 may sign with whomever they like — and sometimes for good money — creating a perception that it’s advantageous to be foreign-born; a possible source of clubhouse discord. 19-year-old Cuban phenom Yoan Moncada, whose signing restrictions weren’t limited, received a signing bonus of $31.5 million; compare that figure to NL MVP favorite Kris Bryant who signed for $6.7 million after being selected second-overall in 2013.
Schlafly’s concluded:
It is time to cut off visas for foreign baseball players, and return our national pastime to Americans.
Heck no! While there are many reforms that are long past due for foreign-born players and minor leaguers in general, no one wants to be deprived of something like the near-MVP caliber season of Ortiz. MVP? It isn’t crazy. Because he doesn’t play a position, Papi pays a penalty in WAR — 3.9 compared to AL MVP favorite Mike Trout’s 8.2. Ortiz, does rank near or at the top in most of MLB’s most respected offensive statistics:
wRC+ 163: 2nd, behind Trout.
wOBA .422: 2nd, behind Trout.
SLG % .625: 1st, eat it Mike!
He at least deserves consideration for the Most Valuable Quadragenarian. David Ortiz is just one example: José Altuve, Manny Machado, Edwin Encarnación, Yoenis Céspedes, the list goes on; like American cuisine, baseball wouldn’t be the same without its infusion of foreign influence.
In baseball, walls aren’t meant to divide, but instead they represent an opportunity; the term home run is an American euphemism for success. The walls are adorned with large brightly painted numbers daring individuals to meet its challenge — find your pitch, swing hard, and hit it over me. If the ball clears the wall, you’ll be welcomed by cheers at home. Most times players hit a home run on the field, but daring to speak out, Ortiz hit one off of it — tip your cap.
