David Ortiz

[the 'stache]

Curious that Ortiz couldn't get wet in a car wash while in Minny (108 OPS + in 1,700 PAs), yet he goes to Boston, cheater central, and he's immediately an MVP candidate.

It gets on my nerves to no end that Pappi is loved because he speaks broken English, and he's oh such a sweet guy, yet Ryan Braun gets vilified because he used a cream to heal an injury, and supposedly "threw the collector" under the bus. Both broke the rules. But, the truth is, everything Braun said about Dino Laurenzi Jr in that press conference was 100% accurate. None of that changes because his test result was positive. Laurenzi Jr sat on the sample for three days. The chain of custody was broken. His implicit instructions were not followed. He should have been fired regardless of the sample's test results. But Braun's a villain because he read a statement his attorneys typed up. And 5 years later, though he's served his suspension, made restitution, met with and apologized to Laurenzi Jr, and is now up for the Roberto Clemente Award (he's always been heavily active in charity work since coming to the Majors), Braun's still booed left and right though it's clear he's a fantastic player who doesn't need steroids to destroy a baseball.

The simple fact is that Braun came up to the Majors, and was immediately a superstar. Ortiz first came up to the Bigs in 1997, and didn't show any star power at all until 2003.