DAVID ORTIZ

David Ortiz — Big Papi — is one of the most beloved figures in Boston sports history and one of baseball's most clutch performers. He won three World Series titles with the Boston Red Sox (2004, 2007, 2013), ended an 86-year championship drought in his first year with the team, and delivered perhaps the single most emotionally resonant sporting moment of the 2013 postseason with his rally-starting grand slam and "This is our f***ing city" speech three days after the Boston Marathon bombing.

He retired in 2016 with a.286 career batting average, 541 home runs, and a 10-time All-Star selection. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022 on his first ballot.

After baseball he built a media and food business empire anchored around his personality — warm, loud, and impossible not to like.

Big Papi's Kitchen (restaurant brand), Big Papi Foods (branded packaged food line), 34 Degrees North (production company), Big Papi's Dominican Grill (restaurant locations), various equity stakes in Dominican Republic businesses, media appearances and hosting work, speaker circuit

Ortiz went the personal brand route — restaurants, food products, media — rather than traditional venture capital. For Dominican-born athletes, this is a familiar playbook: build businesses that connect to your identity and community, not just whatever Silicon Valley is excited about.

He has been consistent about keeping his businesses tied to food and hospitality, where he has genuine expertise and relationships.

Big Papi's Kitchen has expanded into multiple revenue streams — restaurants, licensed food products, media appearances — making his name an actual commercial brand rather than a one-time endorsement. Smart, consistent brand management over a decade.

He had some early real estate investments in the Dominican Republic that were complicated by his shooting incident and subsequent recovery period in 2019. He has spoken about the difficulty of managing business deals while dealing with a genuine near-death experience.

Ortiz talks about building for your community — his businesses have a deliberate Dominican Republic component. He wants to create wealth in the place he came from, not just extract from it.

Has three children from previous relationships, including Ana Rosa, Alex, and D'Angelo. Married Tiffany Brick in 2014.

Survived an assassination attempt in a Santo Domingo bar in June 2019 when he was shot in the back — recovered fully after emergency surgery.

Attended high school in the Dominican Republic and was signed at 17. Did not attend college — was scouted directly into the minor league system.

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