Papi Goes to Bat

You hear all kinds of stories about what it’s like to work with celebrities and athletes. We learned firsthand on this one. It wasn’t that David Ortiz was difficult. Not in the least. And we’re not just saying that because we’re lifelong Boston fans who put Papi on our sports Mt Rushmore … but man, time is at a premium with these guys.

We were first told that we’d have two hours with Papi. When we arrived at Fenway on the day, we got tucked into a side room (closet?) and were told it would be more like an hour and a half. Hmm, OK, that’s 30 minutes per spot. Not easy but not impossible.

Time ticked away.

Papi was in his final season before retirement so he was being pulled in a million directions. Turned out, his commitment right before us was running long. There was a media appearance that needed to be squeezed in, too. Oh, and a game that night.

By the time Papi arrived, our clock had run down to 40 minutes. But we’re talking about one of the most clutch players in the history of baseball here. His first words as he entered the room were “OK, man, let’s do this.”

And we did. Three spots in 40 minutes. Plus a little autograph time at the end, of course. (see picture of CJ and Papi below.)