NEW YORK -- As David Ortiz walked onto the field a few minutes before 7 p.m. Thursday night, Yankee Stadium public address announcer Paul Olden provided the keynote for the evening.
"Tonight, the Yankees would like to put the rivalry aside for a few minutes and honor David Ortiz," he said.
And in a simple, dignified pregame ceremony, the Yankees did just that. They gave the retiring Boston Red Sox slugger a leather-bound book filled with personal notes from past and present Yankees players, before legendary former closer Mariano Rivera presented him with an oil painting of Ortiz tipping his cap at homeplate in Yankee Stadium.