I am going to attempt a measured response to Andrew Marchand.

Sports writers offer no value to understanding baseball. They simply use their column to hand out merits and demerits depending on how much they like the player:

"Stand up and cheer.

That is what Yankees fans should do over the next three nights when Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz walks to the plate during his final appearance in the Bronx. Ortiz deserves this respect as arguably the most important figure in the game's greatest rivalry since George Herman Ruth."

You forgot about Roger Clemens and arguably some others, but, whatever. The key here is that HE PLAYS FOR THE RED SOX.


"So if Yankees fans want to jeer Ortiz until the bitter end, it's their prerogative. But it's not right. To boo Big Papi based on his alleged involvement with performance-enhancing drugs, for one, would be heaping with hypocrisy. Some Yankees fans will point to the New York Times report that Ortiz failed a PED test during what was supposed to be an anonymous phase of Major League Baseball's drug program. Given Ortiz’s lack of an explanation, and the arc of his career from castoff to superstar, it is easy to understand how a reasonable person might label Ortiz guilty.

Still, it shouldn't prevent fans from honoring what Ortiz has definitively done -- not what he might have done."

That's a straw man.

Yankee fans are not anti-steroid activists. They are pro-Yankee activists.

Again, HE PLAYS FOR THE RED SOX.


"Did you cheer Andy Pettitte upon his return, post-Mitchell Report? Did you applaud Alex Rodriguez in 2015 when he hit 33 homers? If you answered 'yes' to either of those questions, how can Ortiz’s supposed use prevent you from acknowledging him during his final at-bats in the Bronx?"

Difference being ... THEY WEREN'T PLAYING FOR THE RED SOX.


"On the other hand, Ortiz has never failed a test that wasn’t anonymous. He has never been caught up in a BALCO or a Biogenesis scandal. That doesn't make him innocent, of course, but it doesn't make him guilty, either. The PED issue remains relentlessly complicated when it comes to honoring players from the last quarter century."

That's it? He might be guilty and he might not be guilty?

Of course, Marchand wouldn't know if it's "relentlessly complicated" because he hasn't relentlessly pursued the truth.

Maybe so, maybe not, I dunno. Journalism!


"His infectious smile, his ability to build friendships with seemingly anyone and everyone in the game, and his exploits at the plate in clutch moments will be a part of rivalry lore forever."

Infectious smile? This is embarrassing, yet revealing.

Nobody as ESPN is going to proclaim that we can't believe in Ortiz because he couldn't believe in himself? No?