5 best quotes from Ortiz's farewell press conference

David Ortiz has played his final game in the majors.

The legendary Boston Red Sox slugger saw his Hall of Fame career come to an end Monday night at Fenway Park, after the home side was swept by the Cleveland Indians in the American League Division Series.

One of the greatest players in franchise history, Ortiz enjoyed one final moment with the capacity crowd, standing on the mound and saluting the Fenway Faithful as they chanted "Big Papi."

Moments after breaking down in tears on the field, the 40-year-old Ortiz took to the podium to talk about his final day with the Red Sox, a whirlwind year, and what the future holds.

One last look:

For the first time I drove around Fenway, I did a lap in Fenway with my car. Because, you know what, a couple of days ago somebody asked me if I ever thought about this could be my last game. And I wasn't thinking about it but it kind of stay in my head because it's reality. It's something that could happen and it happened.

So I kind of drove around, did a lap at Fenway today and I kind of like viewed things from a different perspective and I kind of realized that, when that person asked me the other day.

But like I said, man, like I can't ask God for no more than what he gave me. I'm a guy that come out of the Dominican one day when I was ... I just turned 17 years old, and all I want to do was have fun at what I do. Because you kind of walk into this career, there's a lot of expectation, but you don't know any of them when you are that age.

An early playoff exit:

The step that we took, from going from last place to win the division this year. Even if things didn't end up the way we were looking for, but I believe that in baseball, especially in the baseball game that we play in today's day it's a big step because it's like going from bad to good, from day to night. And I told my teammates about it, I want them to feel happy and proud about themselves. And do what I did back in the day. Reflect that in the following year and come back and fight.

I told them, 'Listen, we only played three games this playoff, but you guys saw the intensity. You guys saw the emotions. You guys saw the best of the best playing. You guys take a little bit of that. Make sure that carry over for the following year.'

Thank you to fans:

What made me happy and proud about walking home the way I am right now is that as long as I play in front of these fans I never take anything for granted. I give everything I have. Do something special while I play. And the fans respect that. The fans love that. The fans, they live through it. And that's all that matters to me.

And everywhere I go, everywhere I bump into our fans, it doesn't matter if you bump into two of them or you bump into a thousand of them, they show the same love.

Tears on the field:

That moment that hits you, you know you're never going to be able to be performing in the baseball world, in front of all this - no disrespect to anyone, but I think we have the best fans worldwide. It's something that - it kind of hit me a little bit. I'm not going to lie to you.

I've been trying to hold my emotions most I can, but that last second I couldn't hold it no more. And that's how we feel about what we do, because we love what we do. So I respect this game so much and I love this game so much that as long as I play I want to always be one of the best.

Papi's future:

We took a big step going from last place to winning the division. That's a good sign. That's a good sign. And I know this organization, Dave Dombrowski and the rest of the squad is going to get the pieces to be able to compete next year and do better at this stage. And we got that on David, he know how to figure things out at that level.

I want to come around and have fun next year, looking at it from the other side.