Ortiz never played Wiffle Ball before, although as a kid in Santo Domingo he used to play a street baseball game that used a bottle cap. He said the Wiffle Ball bat seemed really small and much too light.
``I feel like I was hitting the ball with my arm," he said later. ``It's not hard, I'm just not used to it."
But young Stievater had a bad feeling about the next pitch. Light bat or not, Ortiz is still Boston's Mr. October.
``I knew he was a really good hitter," said Stievater. ``I knew he was going to hit. It was really awesome. He's such a great guy. He missed two of them but then he hit two over the Sausage Guy."
Big Papi made a big hit in more ways than one.
Three Harvard Business School graduates chipped in $30,000 at a charity auction so that Big Papi, the Pied Piper of baseball, would play Wiffle Ball with 30 kids. The money goes to support Good Sports Inc., a Dorchester nonprofit organization that donates sporting goods for city youths.
Ortiz donated an afternoon in this affluent suburb to help those in some of the city's poorest sections. In some ways, it was a Robin Hood move, the designated hitter grabbing money from the rich to help the poor.
``Good Sports has been doing great things in the community," said Ortiz. ``I think it's a really good thing because some kids who don't have enough money to buy sports equipment, now they'll have some sports equipment to play with."
Asked if playing sports can help stop the violence that has terrorized Boston this year, Ortiz was emphatic.
``Definitely. Definitely," he said. ``Nobody wants to be involved in things like that. They're gonna follow sports and try to stay out of trouble."
Sweet swinger Every kid got to both pitch and hit against the Red Sox slugger during his two-hour stay.
