Former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz has a tradition of gifting a special T-shirt to players who perform well in October — it features a picture of Ortiz during his playing days and the words “My Dawg” beneath it.
Barger was the latest recipient, but there was a little problem.
He left it behind after completing his postgame interview with the FS1 crew, which also includes former Yankees Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.
It presented the perfect opportunity for Jeter to give his former nemesis a hard time.
“I’ve been watching all these ‘My Dawg’ shirts go out to everyone,” Jeter said. “Everyone fakes it like they really want it, and they really don’t want it.”
Jeter then pointed out that Barger declined to take the shirt with him.
Barger, of course, had his reasons.
“It has Red Sox on it,” Barger later said with a laugh. “I’m not wearing that. Are you kidding me? … I’m not wearing a [shirt of a] team that’s in our division. No way. It’s awesome, but no.”
Surely Big Papi will understand … right? Well, maybe after he comes to grips with what happened.
After Jeter produced the shirt long after Barger had left, Ortiz appeared to be in denial.
“That’s an extra,” Ortiz said. ” … He took it, that’s my boy! … That’s not the shirt — he took it. These guys are trying to make me look bad!”
