Interviewing David Ortiz

Interviewing David Ortiz

By Alex Dobbins

Back in maybe late October or early November, on one random day, Mrs. Miles explained that she received some email from someone from the New Hampshire Lottery, explaining that David Ortiz was coming to town, and that there would be an opportunity for a few local journalists to ask him some questions. How do you turn that down? Of course I said yes. 

If you’re unfamiliar with who David Ortiz is, let’s just say he is a Boston legend. He wasn’t always in Boston; he spent time with the Seattle Mariners, and most notably, the Minnesota Twins. However, once he reached the arbitration period (the team and player fight over money for a few years before the player can test free agency and get the most money/go to a new team in the easiest way), the Minnesota Twins, who have notoriously been cheap, just let David Ortiz go. Pedro Martinez, also from the Dominican Republic like Ortiz, begged the team to go out and sign him- and so they did. And the rest is history. Ortiz won 3 world series with the Red Sox (including their 86 year drought breaker in 2004), hit 483 home runs as a Red Sox (over 500 all teams combined), and had many memorable moments.

This opportunity was particularly special for me as I am a big Red Sox fan. Ortiz retired after 2016, however I began going to annual Red Sox games with my family back in 2015, so I got to see him a couple times. Additionally, back in 2024, in the official Red Sox pro shop, we discovered a physical base that was signed by David Ortiz, and I actually split the cost with my parents- it is easily one of the most special pieces of baseball memorabilia that I own.

Then came the logistics. Weirdly enough, the event was held at a casino- not just any casino, THE BROOK in Seabrook. I am 17. Also, figuring out a date that worked for everyone took some time- like 3 date changes in total. However, a date was set, and it was stuck to. 

I tried not to think about it too much over the 2-3 months we had to wait from when the final date was set to when it actually happened. I only started thinking about questions maybe the day before the interview. I was under the impression that all reporters would be in the room with David, and we’d maybe have time to ask 1-2 questions, so that’s what I prepared, and I thought my questions were good. However, upon waiting for Ortiz to arrive at the venue, we learned that we would all have our own separate time with him and that there was more time for us to ask questions. 

The last search I made before getting in the car and driving to the casino was “how to talk to celebrities” - that was genuinely my biggest worry. David Ortiz is certainly a famous person, and I hadn’t really had an opportunity to even meet a famous person, much less INTERVIEW THEM. Google AI just told me to act normal, basically- easier said than done. 

Then I got to interview him. Getting to shake his hand was REALLY cool, and it was kind of funny, but he definitely wasn’t as big or intimidating as I would’ve anticipated, it makes sense as he retired literally 10 years ago. I asked my 2 questions, looked awkwardly at the numerous cameras recording our interaction, and realized that I had time to ask more questions. Well, I can’t just say “that’s all” right? Just for some inspiration, I had prompted ChatGPT to merely give me some ideas of questions just to get my brain working, and thankfully, some of those ideas popped into my head in those couple sof econds of awkwardness. Additionally, since I had to have a parent accompany me since I was going to a casino under the age of 18, my mom said what question she would ask him if she had the opportunity, so I was able to sort of reword that question into my own way and ask, which was regarding his speech after the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings, specifically if he had a script or anything when making that speech. 

I asked him about at what point he realized he would be spending the rest of his career in Boston, and also how he was able to pull off his 2016 season (one of the best seasons of his career was his last season, at age 40), and what his favorite career moment was- which he took in a much different way than I anticipated. I expected something baseball related, he talked about a specific moment about visiting a kid with cancer, and hitting a home run for them, which I think touched everyone in the room. 

I went into the interview so nervous that I was going to forget my questions, I would stutter, mess up, or something, but it went better than I expected. A few people who analyzed my body language in the recordings said I was composed and calm. I then got to take pictures with him, and it was over- not yet. Unexpectedly, we were allowed to stay for the entirety of David’s visit to The Brook, which included a Q&A with more of the general public- a bunch of people got signed jerseys and took pictures with him, and then someone asked David some questions in front of the crowd of drunk New Englanders. Apparently, this all somehow benefited NH education? The governor was there? It was honestly really confusing. I couldn’t shake the idea that, apparently, proceeds from casinos fund our education.

I also got interviewed! The Union Leader and Seacoastonline were there, and they all wanted to talk to the student reporters, so it was quite cool, and surprisingly, I did not mess up in those interviews either. It was a very cool experience. And I woke up on the following Friday morning to find out I made WMUR! They did not interview, but they did record, and they chose a clip from MY interview to put in their broadcast. Also very cool.

I’m still sort of shocked that everything came together; I was sort of expecting it to not work out/be a scam for awhile, until it was not. It was certainly unforgettable.

Below, I have attached some photos from the event, and have linked the articles written about the event.