BIG PAPI PLAYS TOUR GUIDE
David Ortiz stepped up to the plate, apparently surprising a group of unsuspecting hotel guests and showing them around the city of Boston. The former Red Sox slugger seemed to shine in his temporary role of tour guide — even while following an itinerary peppered with unlikely stops.
The three-time world series champ started the “Big Day with Big Papi” with a little fresh air, as documented in a recent video he made in partnership with the Sheraton Boston Hotel. After ambushing his newfound travel buddies in the Sheraton’s club lounge, the uniform-clad gang headed out to the Fenway Victory Gardens near Kenmore Square.
While visiting the urban green space, Ortiz and his fellow travelers got their hands dirty, literally, and did their part in helping to create the Hub’s first-ever public butterfly garden. It looks like Papi was there more for moral support than manual labor, sharing words of encouragement as his companions planted seeds. However, the baseball legend leapt back into the action when it came to releasing a rabble of monarch butterflies and sampling honey from the garden’s on-site apiary.
The group then traveled down the street, not to Fenway Park as you might suspect, but close. Papi escorted his posse to Game On! Sports Bar on Lansdowne Street, where he went head-to-head with them in some aggressive table tennis matches. Turns out that, despite being ball-centric like his sport of choice, ping-pong is not his game.
“That ball don’t like me,” Ortiz said after missing a hit, later adding, “As my grandfather used to say, you’re not supposed to be good at everything.”
To cap off the whirlwind day, Papi brought the pack to Vejigantes Restaurant in the South End, which he deemed one of his favorite places to eat in town. The baseball legend took the lead and ordered a proper spread of Puerto Rican food for the table, including marinated steak topped with peppers and onions, traditional mofongo and his menu item of choice, fried chicken.