The home run also proved to be number 504 in Big Papi’s career, which ties him with Eddie Murray for 26th all-time in MLB history. After Murray, his next target on the all-time list would be Gary Sheffield (509), followed by Mel Ott (511), Ernie Banks (512) and Eddie Matthews (also 512). He now also has 446 home runs with the Red Sox, which puts him six behind Carl Yastrzemski for second place (452) and well behind Ted Williams with 521, whom he has a chance to catch only in the career total category.

How to determine the franchise record for Opening Day home runs depends on how you define the criteria. In terms of home run totals, use of the Play Index at Baseball-Reference.com (purchase a subscription if you don’t already have one) reveals the following:

Yaztrzemski and Evans are tied at the top for home runs hit on five separate Opening Days, but Yaz bests Dewey by one in the total home run department thanks to two home runs hit in the opener in 1968 versus the Detroit Tigers. Likewise, Pedroia is currently tied with three others players (Williams, Rice, and Ortiz) with home runs in three individual openers, but he has four total courtesy of the two he hit in last year’s opener in Philadelphia versus the Phillies.

Other players who have hit home runs for the Red Sox on different Opening Days include Jason Varitek, Trot Nixon, Tim Naehring, Jackie Jensen, Bobby Doerr, and Tony Conigliaro.

For the curious, the major league record in terms of home run totals across multiple Opening Day contests is eight, held by Frank Robinson (eight individual games), Ken Griffey Jr. (seven games), and Adam Dunn (six games).

Big Papi is far and away the leader in most offensive categories as a designated hitter: most plate appearances (7188), most hits (1779), most doubles (450), most home runs (385), and most RBI (1256). Counting only players with at least 2000 plate appearances as a DH, his OPS of .941 ranks second to Edgar Martinez (.959).

Not surprisingly, Ortiz is far and above the leader in franchise history.

Known early in his Red Sox career for the dramatic, Ortiz has hit 10 walk-off home runs; all but one have come with the Red Sox, though the latest on 26 August 2009 against Chicago White Sox reliever Tony Pena (no relation to former catcher Tony Pena or his son, Tony).  Three of those came in 2006, which was the same season that he set the single-season franchise record for home runs with 54.  In total at Fenway Park, he has left the yard 164 times, all but one time with the Red Sox.

Most of his home runs have come as a DH; 46 have come with him playing first base.  Two home runs have come as a pinch-hitter; his only one with Boston happened 29 May 2011 against Tigers reliever Jose Valverde.

In total, his home runs have plated 627 runners; about one-third of his home runs have come with runners on base.  Ortiz has 11 grand slams in his career, all but one with Boston; his latest came 20 June 2012 off Miami Marlins pitcher Chris Hatcher.  42 of his home runs have come with two runners on base; 110 have been hit with one runner on base.

The pitcher who has surrendered the most home runs to Big Papi is current Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay, who has given up six; all came while Halladay was with the Toronto Blue Jays.  Current Toronto pitcher Jamie Moyer is second with five; seven other pitchers have allowed four.  In his career, the left-handed Ortiz has shown more success against right-handed pitchers, with only 89 home runs coming off southpaws.

Of the 58 Ortiz hit with the Minnesota Twins, with whom he played between 1997 and 2002, four were against Boston pitchers.  The last came against former teammate Pedro Martinez, who served up an offering to Big Papi on 16 August 2002.  Ortiz also hit one against the Red Sox off Pedro’s brother Ramon Martinez on 07 September 2000, which proved to be the one grand slam he would hit with the Twins.

Not surprisingly, most of his home runs have come against American League East Division opponents; Toronto has been victimized 46 times.  Outside Boston’s division, the Texas Rangers lead opponents with 27 home runs surrendered to Ortiz.  The National League franchise with the highest total is the Miami Marlins, who have allowed eight.

Source: David Ortiz Career Home Runs – Baseball-Reference.com

Since the awards were first handed out in 1957, 16 Red Sox players have captured the honor a total of 36 times. The first year the awards were given, only one award was made for both leagues, and Frank Malzone won the inaugural honor at third base. Five Boston players have won the award multiple times, with former outfielder Dwight Evans holding the team record with eight Gold Gloves won between 1976 and 1985 and Carl Yastrzemski capturing seven in his 23 seasons with the club. Nine times, the Red Sox have had more than one honoree in the same season; twice they have had three. Yastrzemski, Scott, and outfielder Reggie Smith all won at their positions in 1968 and Evans, outfielder Fred Lynn, and shortstop Rick Burleson each capture the honor in 1979. The last time the Sox had more than one winner in a single season came in 1990, when pitcher Mike Boddicker, the only Boston player to ever win a Gold Glove as a pitcher, and outfielder Ellis Burks both won. Gold Gloves have been at a premium for Boston players since averaging better than one per season between 1957 and 1985; catcher Tony Pena in 1991 had been the last Red Sox player to capture the defensive honor before Varitek ended a 14-year drought in 2005, giving the team a total of just five awards in the last 22 seasons.

Boston is also one of ten teams in post-season history to climb back from a 3-1 series deficit to win the series.[1] In 1986, the Sox were one out away from losing to the California Angels in the American League Championship Series when Dave Henderson’s two-run home run to left field at Angel Stadium gave Boston a temporary one-run cushion; the Red Sox would eventually win the game 7-6 in extra innings to force the series back to the East Coast. There, perhaps still stunned by the turn of events in Game Five, the Angels easily crumbled under the sodium lights at Fenway Park as Boston won Game Six 10-4 and then took Game Seven 8-1 behind a strong effort by Roger Clemens and home runs by Dwight Evans and Jim Rice to win the pennant. Boston also accomplished the same feat 18 years later in one of the most memorable comebacks in league history. Against the New York Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series, the Red Sox found themselves down three games to none after getting trounced 19-8 in Game Three at Fenway Park, but Boston won two extra-inning affairs in Games Four and Five to send the series back to New York. After winning Game Six to force a winner-take-all finale, the Red Sox completed the first-ever comeback from a 3-0 post-season series deficit in Major League Baseball with an easy 10-3 win over a shell-shocked New York ball club, with former Boston outfielder Johnny Damon hitting two home runs and driving home six in the effort.