As the Major League Baseball regular season winding down so too is Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz’s retirement tour.

Ortiz, like many prominent professional athletes before him, has gone on a farewell tour of sorts, receiving nice ovations from just about every opposing crowd and picking up a few gifts along the way.

This happened on Thursday at Camden Yards in Baltimore prior to a game between the Red Sox and Orioles. Ortiz received a gift from Boston’s NL East rival, but not just any gift. It was a bullpen phone he broke during an epic tirade in 2013. It’s been deemed authentic and should also be deemed awesome.

The tirade in question came back in 2013 when Ortiz disagreed with a strike call during an at-bat at Camden Yards. After striking out, the Red Sox DH walked toward the dugout while continuing to remind the home plate umpire about his bad call.

Ortiz’s frustration continued into the dugout, where he took a mighty swing at the bullpen phone and smashed it. He was quickly tossed and came back on the field one more time to argue after being ejected.

Since this was 2013 and Boston was having fun on its way to another World Series championship, Ortiz’s teammates jokingly fixed the bullpen phone the next day. Their repairs included some cans and string.

Credit to Baltimore for having some fun with what is usually a cliche, ego-boosting ceremony. Hopefully other teams take note of the creative gift-giving (and not on the bullpen phone smashing).

[Orioles]

About Ryan Williamson

Ryan is a recent graduate of the University of Missouri and has recently returned to his Minnesota roots. He previously has worked for the Columbia Missourian, KFAN radio in Minneapolis and BringMeTheNews.com. Feel free to email me at rwilliamson29 AT Gmail dot com.