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It was the buzz of Greater Bangor on Thursday – that Big Papi would finally discover Maine.
Specifically, rumor had it that David Ortiz would make an appearance at the Senior League World Series being held at Mansfield Stadium.
The Red Sox had the day off, after all. Never mind that it was a lone day of solace before Boston faces its next Series of the Century, a five-game set against the New York Yankees this weekend that may determine the Red Sox’ postseason fate, if not the future of the free world as we know it.
Of course Ortiz would show. Hey, the guy’s surely feeling guilty after saying during last month’s annual Maine Day observance at Fenway Park that while he loves seafood, he had never been to Maine and didn’t know how to get here.
Heck, he doesn’t know who legendary Red Sox slugger Jimmy Foxx is either, but as long as Big Papi keeps going deep in walk-off fashion, who in Red Sox Nation really cares.
Maine Gov. John E. Baldacci, never one to pass up an obvious opportunity, followed up Ortiz’s admitted lack of geographic depth by sending Big Papi 41 certified Maine lobsters – one for each home run Ortiz had hit at the time – along with an open invitation to visit Maine at the end of the season.
The governor also sent along a AAA TripTik with personalized directions should Ortiz decide to drive up Interstate 95 to Vacationland for an old-fashioned lobster bake.
And what better reason to head north than to mix crustaceans with competition, or at least so thought the fairly brilliant individual who put the rumor of Ortiz’s pending visit to the Senior League World Series into play.
Never mind that Ortiz, a 30-year-old native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, had no specific rooting interest in the tournament – this year’s Latin American champions are from Venezuela.
But it sounded good, and people were buying it.
I first heard the rumor as I was leaving Mansfield Stadium on Wednesday night.
By Thursday morning, the word had spread from the stadium to the street and phone lines were burning between Bangor and Augusta and many points in between.
Phone queries to the State House were greeted with a “that’s news to me” response. Calls to the local radio station were answered in similar fashion.
And David Mansfield, who runs the Bangor stadium named in his son’s memory, also knew nothing beyond the rumor stage.
If he had, he said, he would have told the world, because certainly that would have assured a huge throng of paying customers to the Senior League World Series for a possible sighting, a possible autograph, and, by the way, the final day of pool play among 10 of the best teams of 15- and 16-year-old baseball players in the world
But, alas, the hours passed, and as much as people cast an occasional eye toward the parking lot, no Big Papi sightings.
There were Little Papi sightings aplenty, kids in the stands wearing blue or green T-shirts with “Ortiz” and the number 34 on their backs.
Hope remained until the host team played, but by the time Bangor’s tournament life ended with an 8-0 loss to Pearl City, Hawaii, so, too, had a rumor with a fairly lengthy shelf life of its own.
Must have been the work of a Yankees fan.
Ernie Clark may be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or eclark@bangordailynews.net
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