Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, affectionately known as "Big Papi" by baseball fans worldwide, will retire after the 2016 season, Fox Sports reported Tuesday.
Ortiz turns 40 on Wednesday.
Only 10 position players in Red Sox history have played past their 40th birthday, and only three have played in as many as 100 games past that age: Carl Yastrzemski, who played 446 games; Ted Williams, 216; and Bing Miller, 109.
He guaranteed his base salary of $11 million for the 2016 season when he reached 425 plate appearances, on Aug. 9 against the Tigers, last season.
He finished last season with a .273 average, 37 home runs and 108 RBIs. He has hit 503 homers in his career, including 445 during his 13 seasons with the Red Sox, the third-most in franchise history behind Ted Williams (521) and Carl Yastrzemski (452).
He holds the Red Sox's single-season home run record, when he hit 54 homers in 2006.
