ESPN+ has found a format that works for series that dive into the history of our favorite sports. We’ve seen it with Peyton’s Places covering the NFL, we’ve seen it with Abby’s Places covering soccer, Rowdy’s Places covering combat sports and even Eli’s Places which took a look at the world of College Football. Now, Hall of Fame designated hitter David Ortiz, better known as Big Papi, takes on a tour of some baseball history in Big Papi’s Places.
The fifth episode, titled “The Long Ball,” takes Ortiz all around the country as he looks into the history of the home run. He speaks with one of the greatest home run hitters of all-time, the man who coins the term “walk-off” and even Payton Manning himself.
The episode opens with Ortiz meeting Manning at Coors Field in Denver for the 2021 MLB Home Run Derby. Papi provides some history on the event, explaining that it started out with a weekly television series in 1960. We also see some more modern event highlights, including Ken Griffey Jr., Mark McGwire and Robinson Cano.
The real focus on this segment though, is on Peyton Manning and we see a clip of a young Peyton hitting a home run in Little League. The two hosts take a spot in the stands and Payton competes with some kids to catch home run balls. It doesn’t go very well for the Hall of Fame quarterback.
Eventually, Papi and Payton take the field during batting practice and Peyton attempts to catch fly balls in the field of play. That doesn’t go very well for him either, but eventually he does manage to make a catch, much to the delight of the crowd.
The two of them then watch the Home Run Derby together as Ortiz provides some more insight on the home run. He takes us through some history, saying players would lead the league with fewer than 10 home runs in a season, until Babe Ruth changed the game in 1919.
Ortiz then heads to Los Angeles where he meets wit the man with the fifth most home runs of all time – Albert Pujols. With 679 career homers, Pujols is a good man to talk to about home runs. They look all the way back to his rookies season and Pujols mentions that he took advantage of the opportunity to learn from McGwire, who was a teammate for his first year with the St. Louis Cardinals.
They then focus on a specific home run Pujols hit in the 2005 NLCS against the Houston Astros. With the Cardinals down by two with two outs in the ninth inning, Pujols faced Brad Lidge, one of the best closers in the league. Pujols talks us through his thinking during the at bat and lets us know he knew a slider was coming, which he then hit way out of left field.
Ortiz then explains that there is nothing better than a walk-off home run and heads back to Boston to talk about the most famous one. He then takes us through the iconic Carlton Fisk walk-off home run in Fenway Park from the 1975 World Series.
Ortiz goes even deeper into the history of the walk-off though, by meeting with Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley, who coined the term. Eckersley explains that it seemed like a no-brainer that a pitcher would come up with that term because the pitcher is the one walking off while the other team celebrates on the field.
They get away form the history of home runs a bit as they briefly discuss Eckersley’s incredible career. They then take a look at some of the most memorable walk-off home runs in history, including the ones hit by Joe Carter, Aaron Boone and even David Ortiz himself. Of course, they finish up with one Eckersley gave up himself – the one hit by an injured Kirk Gibson in the 1988 World Series.
This was a fun episode, but this topic could have been explored over far more than just 21 minutes. It almost feels as though there should have been separate episodes for the Home Run Derby and the walk-off while another just looks at some of the best power hitters ever. Stll, even this condensed version of that was entertaining.
You can watch Big Papi’s Places on ESPN+ now. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for just $6.99 a month and can cancel at any time.