The first time was May 8, 1998. David Ortiz was not yet larger than life; he was barely extra-large as he walked to the plate at the Metrodome in the bottom of the fourth inning. It was a Friday night in Minneapolis, with 22,612 fans on hand. The late Hideki Irabu was on the mound. Matt Lawton was on second base.
Irabu threw a fastball. This was the 105th plate appearance of Ortiz’s career, and it was the first time a baseball delivered by a Yankee would approach him and look the size of a beach ball. He took a mighty cut, and produced a worm-burner over the mound, through the middle, into center field.