Ballots were casted, votes were counted and the 2022 National Baseball Hall of Fame class is now finalized. In his first year on the ballot, longtime Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz was voted to be immortalized amongst the sports most prestigious players.

Ortiz is the lone inductee from the 2022 Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) Hall of Fame Ballot, earning 307 votes out of 398 ballots to earn 77.9 percent of the vote, 2.9 percent over the required threshold of 75 percent. 

Ortiz, born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, began his major league career with the Minnesota Twins as a September call-up in 1997. 

His career began promisingly, hitting .329 in 49 at-bats within 15 games in that month. However, the next handful of seasons with the Twins proved difficult for Ortiz as he fought wrist fractures, knee injuries and even the death of his own mother. 

A few offensive slumps and high expectations not being met led to the Twins releasing Ortiz following the 2002 season. 

In 455 games with Minnesota, Ortiz hit 58 home runs (HR) with 238 runs batted in (RBI), a .266 batting average (AVG) and an .809 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS). 

Prior to the 2003 season, Ortiz signed a non-guaranteed free-agent contract with the Boston Red Sox worth $1.25 million if he were to make the team during spring training. After spring training in 2003, Ortiz made the team and chose to wear number 34 with the Red Sox. 

His first season with Boston was a breakout year, posting 31 HR with 101 RBI and a .961 OPS to land him fifth in the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) voting. 

Ortiz continued to thrive with the Red Sox the following year, hitting 41 HR with 139 RBI and a .983 OPS to earn him his first all-star nod, first silver slugger award and a fourth-place AL MVP finish. In the 2004 postseason, Ortiz helped lead the Red Sox to their first World Series title since 1918 to end the notorious “Curse of the Bambino.” 

In 14 games, he hit 5 home runs, two of them being walk-offs, with 19 RBI and a .400 AVG to help the Red Sox break their 86-year streak without a championship

After 2004, Ortiz proceeded to put up elite offensive numbers with the team. In 2006, he broke the Red Sox’s single-season home run record with 54 HR, breaking the previous record of 50 set by Jimmie Foxx back in 1938. In the same year, he led all of MLB in walks with 119 and total bases with 355. 

In 2007, he earned his second World Series Championship with the Red Sox as well as more all-star game appearances and silver slugger awards. 

Later on in his career, Ortiz won his third and final World Series ring with the ball club in 2013. He would go on to play three more seasons with the team, retiring after the end of the 2016 season. 

Directly after his retirement, the Red Sox announced that they would retire Ortiz’s number the very next summer, stating that 34 was to never be worn by any other Sox player.

In 20 years as a Major League Baseball player, Ortiz hit 541 HR to put him seventeenth all-time in the history of the sport. 

He appeared in 10 all-star games and earned seven silver slugger awards to go along with his three World Series rings, stamping the exclamation point on a Hall of Fame worthy career.

Ortiz will join Gil Hodges, Bud Fowler, Jim Kaat, Minnie Moñoso, Buck O’Neil and Tony Oliva, who were voted in by the Early Era Baseball Committee back in December 2021, in an induction ceremony. 

The ceremony will take place in Cooperstown, New York on July 24, 2022. 

All statistics and information were acquired from baseball-reference.com and mlb.com.