'It was something that really marked me'

David Ortiz said Friday that the attack suffered three months ago in his native Dominican Republic marked him forever, since he is a kind person who has no conflict with anyone, speaking for the first time since in an interview granted to the First Impact program, Univision.

The "Big Papi", who last Monday surprised to appear in Fenway Park to throw the first ball in a game against the New York Yankees, revealed that he felt itchy when he was shot in the back, and that he was in a situation in which he had never been before.

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“It was something that really marked me, because I am a person that I never have any problem with anyone, I am a person that I like to make friends, I like to be a kind person, a person who takes Well with everyone, I'm not a problem person, I don't like problems, ”Ortiz told First Impact.

"I was in something I had never felt before in my life, and it was trying to survive," he added.

On June 9, former Boston Red Sox player was shot in the back in an attack outside a bar in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He underwent three surgeries to treat life-threatening injuries and was discharged on July 29 from the Massachusetts General Hospital, where he arrived on a plane chartered by Red Sox.

“I feel very good, thank God I have already started a week here to exercise, but when something like that happens to you the body tends to vary, to feel different, a process, but thank God we are already getting to where we like to be, '' he said.

He recalled that that day, he spent the whole day with his children, and then decided to go out “party” with his friend Joel López, a presenter in the Dominican Republic.

The viable Cooperstown Hall of Fame candidate recalled what he felt when he was shot.

“When the bullet hits me, what I feel is like an itch, the first five seconds I thought I was having a nightmare, and when that event happens, a man named Eliezer (Salvador), who thank him very much and helped me . It was he who took me to the hospital. I never lost consciousness on my way to the hospital, ”he said.

Being without security in the casino bar, he said, was because he never felt threatened by someone.

"Never," he responded to an express question that if he had ever been threatened. "I was back to the street, I was sitting with my back to the street, without security and without anything, do you think that people who threaten or have problems do that?"

And to clarify it, he added, "the last time I argued with a people, it was with an umpire in a ballgame."

Until today, the question of who wanted to kill him is still being asked.

“That is a question that I still ask myself today, because as I repeat, in Santo Domingo – my land, which I love – they were making comments, talking about things that really are not, that if it was a problem of skirts, that if I was involved in drug trafficking, laundering, such things, and that hurt me a lot. Because I know that we Dominicans are a very good race, but we have a problem, we are very short of memory.

"During my career I made too much money, and I'm still earning a lot of money, I don't need to get involved in anything, I'm 43 years old and I'm not stupid," he said.

On speculation about who ordered the attack, he said that nothing is a reality.

“Nothing is a reality, the police there in the Dominican Republic – the authorities – drew a conclusion, which for many understand that it was something that did not give people much agreement, because you are talking, in the videos you see that a guy stops me and shoots me, but even if you don't believe it makes sense to me, I'm going to explain why, number one I don't have enemies, number two I don't do why a person wants to put me in that situation.

He also talked about his relationship with Sixto David Fernández and César Emilio “El Abusador” Peralta, after the interviewer asked him to talk about his relationship with the second – an alleged drug trafficker looking in the DR and for the DEA – and that even, the interviewer told him, he arrived at the hospital where he was transferred after the attack.

“I don't know if they were trying to shoot me or Sixto, I stayed at Sixto's feet.

“César is a person that everyone in the Dominican Republic knows, he knew … I had an apartment in a tower called Blue Tower, I sold it an itempo, while I had the apartment I met him a couple of times, and lived in the tower.

Ortiz said not knowing his discarded the theory that César will order to execute him.

“I don't know, I really don't know, I wouldn't see the reason why he would hurt me like that, I wouldn't see the reason, because I never had any kind of conflict with César. I for César was an idol ’’.

Ortiz ended the interview with tears in his eyes, when the reporter questioned him if the attack affected his family.

“Difficult process, man, I was to die, I was in a coma, people criticizing, people worried (wondering) why do you deserve to be killed?

“All I worry about is that my country moves forward. That affection that people have for you there is no lie. ”