CLASSY PARTY FOR PAPI

Sox to say it, but Yanks right to honor slugger

The Yankees have had a lot of practice at this sort of thing and you could see that Thursday night when they celebrated a guy who’s brought the club so much misery. The Big Papi party was the ceremony equivalent of a grand slam, thanks to its respectful tone and nifty gifts.

The Yanks said goodbye to David Ortiz in the best way possible, by bringing out a beloved former star of their own, Mariano Rivera, and leaving out the self-indulgent jokes that, frankly, so often mar these events. You know what we’re referring to, Red Sox.

The Yanks kept it all about Ortiz, who is retiring at the end of the season, and it worked beautifully.

Ortiz felt the love, too, though he also admitted he was “a little nervous because I had my family with me.” But he seemed touched by the moment, Rivera’s presence, the reception from a crowd with more than a little bit of red in it and the presents.

“It was a great ceremony,” Ortiz said after the Yanks’ 5-1 victory. “I want to personally thank the Yankees for taking their time and remembering my career. It was very professional and a very nice ceremony.”

He soaked up the fans’ reactions — mostly cheers, which figured, since many fans seemed to be rooting for the Red Sox. That became even clearer when a big chunk of the 41,597 souls in the stands cheered wildly for Xander Bogaerts’ fourth-inning homer.

“There were no boos out there — it seemed like everybody was happy that I am leaving,” Ortiz said, laughing.

Rivera, whom Ortiz has long admired, emerged from the dugout with a huge grin on his face and gave Papi a big hug. Then he helped the hulking slugger unveil the big gift — the Yankees commissioned a 30-by-60 oil painting by artist Justyn Farano of Ortiz tipping his cap at the plate at the Stadium. Ortiz beamed at the artwork.

“It was nice,” Rivera told the Daily News a few moments after the ceremony was over. “Always, when you have a type of player like David, with the charisma he has, it’s about respect in the game and how he gave his best toward the game. You always appreciate that. Me being here and representing the New York Yankees, after playing against David for so many years, it was great.

“It was great and I’m happy that I was here… It’s respect.”

Said Ortiz: “Mariano, man, he knows he’s one of my idols. Mariano and me, we have that great relationship. We have the same agent and I’ve known Mariano for a long time and I have so much respect for Mariano. Having him in the ceremony was very special to me.”

The Yankees weren’t the only ones who got it right — most fans nailed it, too, when they cheered for Ortiz, including as he approached for his first at-bat, leading off the second inning. Many of them were standing, even those not sporting Sox gear. There was a roar when he hit a ball hard, but foul, to right field against CC Sabathia.

And then the universe aligned itself again — when Sabathia made Ortiz flail at a breaking ball for strike three, the crowd cheered. Ortiz came out of the game for a pinch-runner after walking in the fourth. He’s a lifetime .303 hitter against the Yanks with 53 homers (52 with the Sox).

It must have been hard to make that much of a fuss over a Rivalry figure who has done so much damage to the Yankees over the years — no one who cares about the pinstripes will ever forget 2004 and his back-to-back Fenway walk-off hits, the homer that kept the Sox alive with a Game 4 win and the single in Game 5 that allowed them to believe something amazing could actually happen.

That’s all in the past now and so is Ortiz’s career, at least once the AL East-champion Red Sox finish with postseason play. They could be a few weeks, based on how good they’ve become, but that’s another column. And if you’re a Yankee fan, there’s no obligation to root for them then.

But it was right to cheer Ortiz for one day and right for the Yankees to take such good care of him. Ortiz has had a great career and might find his way into the Hall of Fame. He gave that wonderful, profane speech at Fenway before the first game there following the Boston Marathon bombing.

Don’t know about you, but we’ll always like Ortiz for that one line about whose f’ing city Boston is.

So he deserved it all, including the gifts. In addition to the painting, David Cone and Jacoby Ellsbury presented Ortiz with a custom-created, leather-bound book. Inside were personal notes written to Ortiz by current and former Yankees, a nice touch. Derek Jeter, Hideki Matsui, Andy Pettitte and Johnny Damon were among the ex-Yanks who penned missives and current Yanks such as Ellsbury, Joe Girardi, Brett Gardner and Mark Teixeira did, too.

“It blows my mind, let me tell you,” Ortiz said of the book. “It was super-nice.”

At the end of the ceremony, PA announcer Paul Olden asked for one more Yankee Stadium ovation for Ortiz. The slugger tipped his cap and the loudspeakers played “Sweet Caroline,” the Neil Diamond song that’s become a Red Sox anthem. There was plenty of singing along.

It was weird to hear that song in these confines, but somehow right, too, at least for a few moments. Then the universe aligned itself again.