What makes David Ortiz a Hall of Famer? Stories from those who know him best

David Ortiz has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot with 77.9% of the vote. He put up huge numbers at the plate, and Big Papi proved to be a larger-than-life presence off the diamond as well, with a boundless charisma that affected teammates and opponents alike. We asked Ortiz's contemporaries for their favorite stories of the man, and they did not disappoint.

David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez share a desk for the Fox pregame show now, after years of playing against each other in the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. But their relationship goes way back to when both began their professional careers as teenagers in the Seattle Mariners organization. Ortiz signed with the Mariners as a free agent in the fall of 1992, and Rodriguez was drafted No. 1 overall by Seattle the following summer.

Rodriguez became a superstar almost immediately, finishing second in the AL MVP voting in 1996 at age 21. Ortiz bounced around, moving to the Twins in a trade in 1996 before Minnesota grew impatient and released him following the 2002 season. Rodriguez recalls working to persuade then-Rangers owner Tom Hicks to sign Ortiz, for $1 million, because he felt that the left-handed hitter would thrive in The Ballpark in Arlington, where the wind mostly gusted to right field. «I don't know if it was a roster crunch or a budget issue or what,» Rodriguez recalled earlier this week. «But the Red Sox jumped in» — at the prompting of Pedro Martinez, Theo Epstein signed Ortiz for $1.25 million — «and the rest is history.»

Rodriguez would've been Ortiz's teammate in 2004 if the Rangers' proposed trade of Rodriguez to the Red Sox hadn't been squelched by the players' association. Instead, Ortiz and Rodriguez became AL East