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Big League Stew

Tue May 03 09:16am EDT

David Ortiz celebrates with military members after big homer

By 'Duk

It was far from a normal Monday night on the diamond.

One day after President Obama announced the death of world terrorist Osama bin Laden, Major League Baseball came together to honor the brave men and women in the armed forces who got us there. The Washington Nationals debuted their special stars-and-stripes uniforms while the San Diego Padres donned their camouflage that's usually only reserved for Sundays. In the New York Yankees clubhouse, players talked about 9/11 and justice while the New York Mets announced 4,000 free tickets for military members for Tuesday's game. The Los Angeles Dodgers said their free ticket offer would last the entire month of May at Dodger Stadium.

The coolest tribute, however, came at Fenway Park when David Ortiz(notes) lifted a seventh-inning pitch into the seats above the Green Monster and came home to celebrate the two-run homer with the group of military members that was sitting next to the Boston Red Sox dugout.

Watch the celebration here

The soldier in the picture above is Army Ranger Sgt. Lucas Carr. The South Boston native threw out the first pitch before the Red Sox's 9-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels and also led the crowd in chants of U-S-A! U-S-A! during the game.

Later, the man they call Big Papi treated him to Fenway's version of the Lambeau Leap because of an encounter the pair experienced earlier in the game.

From the Associated Press:

Ortiz said the soldier gave him a patch from the uniform of a buddy that "went down" after the slugger walked back earlier in the game.

"Maybe it was good luck," he said, smiling.

All in all, a very cool moment. This screencap alone brings goosebumps.

Big BLS H/N: Sox & Dawgs

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