David Ortiz on retirement, dugout phones and more

On his last regular season trip as a player to Baltimore, during a dugout press conference where he mainly discussed his team, David Ortiz did take a few questions about playing against the Orioles and playing in Baltimore over the years.

He was asked, of course, about what happened in the visiting dugout on July 27, 2013. Ortiz destroyed a dugout phone during a brief tirade. For that, a player that made an average of $86,419.75 per game that year was fined the sum of $5,000. He appealed the fine.

It's been more than three years now and Ortiz was asked today how he would feel if, as a joke, the Orioles presented him with a dugout phone as a retirement gift.

He took the high road.

"Like I always say I don't expect anything from anybody. But I'm just happy for people taking their time to honor me and it's something that is really special to me," he said.

Ortiz was asked about competing against the Orioles over the years and facing longtime rivals like Adam Jones and Matt Wieters.

"It's been great man," he said. "I saw those kids coming up. I remember Adam Jones when he first came up with Seattle, as an infielder. Then all of the sudden he transferred to the outfield and he came to be a Gold Glover. He is truly athletic and is a really good friend of mine. Always happy to watch him perform at the highest level. Very respectful. Same thing with Wieters. I saw him when he first came up. The foundation of their organization, pretty much."

Ortiz may miss a few things about the majors and one will probably be hitting at Camden Yards. He is a career .259 hitter at Oriole Park with 29 homers, 84 RBIs and an OPS of .874 in 533 plate appearances. It seems like his career numbers are actually even better than that.

But he has hit a homer in five of his last eight games at OPACY. Since 2012, he has 15 homers in 34 games in Baltimore.

"This is a very nice ballpark," Ortiz said. "It is a very good hitting ballpark. You see the numbers those guys on the other side are putting up. It's a good ballpark to hit."

Ortiz was asked why the time is right to retire now.

"Your body man, it takes a lot out of me to prepare for the game," Ortiz said. "I've been dealing with stuff the last four years and every year gets worse. I have to put a lot of effort and work in to perform at the highest level. At some point it wears you out."

He was asked about the Hall of Fame and how designated hitters should be look at and considered for that.

"It all depends how you want to look at it," Ortiz said. "I don't talk about it much. If they put up numbers. You go to the Hall of Fame if you put up numbers, right? I haven't seen anyone walk into the Hall of Fame without numbers. Seems like most of the guys in the Hall have won a lot championships and put up personal numbers and done a lot of special things for the game.

"I'm not going to kill myself thinking about it right now. I've still got plenty of time to grab some knowledge. We'll see how it plays out. But when you play as long as I've played and you do what I have done, of course it is important to you."