After playing parts of six seasons with the Minnesota Twins with unremarkable results, Ortiz moved to the Red Sox, where he played a leading role in ending the team's 86-year World Series championship drought in 2004, as well as winning championships in 2007 and 2013; he was named the World Series Most Valuable Player in 2013. In his first five seasons with the club, he averaged 41 home runs and 128 runs batted in (RBIs), leading the American League (AL) twice in the latter category and setting the team's single-season record of 54 home runs in 2006; he finished in the top five of the AL's Most Valuable Player voting all five years.
Upon his retirement, Ortiz ranked sixth in AL history with 541 home runs, fifth in doubles (632) and ninth in RBIs (1,768). Regarded as one of the greatest clutch hitters of all time,[2] he had 11 career walk-off home runs during the regular season and two during the 2004 postseason, the first of which clinched the AL Division Series. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2022.