BOSTON — David Ortiz made a surprise appearance at Fenway Park on Saturday to help the Red Sox honor Albert Pujols, who will retire at the end of this season.
Ortiz and the Red Sox presented Pujols with a No. 5 sign from the Green Monster scoreboard. Watch the full ceremony here.
The 42-year-old Dominican Republic native — who Red Sox manager Alex Cora recently called “The Machine” — has worn No. 5 almost his entire major league career. He wore No. 55 with the Dodgers last year.
Ortiz gave Pujols a big hug. Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts and Michael Wacha joined Ortiz on the field for the ceremony. They hugged Pujols as well.
Pujols, a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, has 3,323 career hits. He ranks fifth all-time both in homers (683) and doubles (676).
He was arguably the most feared hitter in baseball from 2001-2012 when he batted .325 with a .414 on-base percentage, .608 slugging percentage, 1.022 OPS, 475 homers, 505 doubles, 15 triples, 1,434 RBIs and 2,246 hits in 1,859 games.
But he has slashed .251/.306/.436/.742 in 1,147 games since the start of 2013.
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