The Truth About David Ortiz

All outcomes are arbitrary. David Ortiz is an established star. He was also, briefly, a flickering light. After a moribund start to the season, the Red Sox first baseman is finally showing signs of life—which would be better news if vitality weren’t such a fragile and fleeting thing. Success means understanding how you won. Salvation, on the other hand, means seeing that you could have just as easily lost. I won’t pretend to know what the future holds for Ortiz. He’s still within slumping distance of the Mendoza Line, and anything can happen between now and October. But a collapse wouldn’t be any more revealing than a resurrection. In a league where the best hitters fail 70 percent of the time, it’s silly to infer too much insight from a handful of marginal outs. A liar deceives with words. A box score distorts with numbers. If you want the real scoop on Big Papi, you’ve got to look past the data they print in the papers. Baseball fa...