Yankees to honor Ortiz on Sept. 29

David Ortiz, the indelible 40-year-old slugger who spent much of his illustrious career terrorizing the New York Yankees, is going to get a hero's farewell in the Bronx.

On Thursday, the club announced they will honor the retiring Red Sox icon in a pre-game ceremony ahead of their Sept. 29 showdown with Boston at Yankee Stadium, reports Newsday's David Lennon.

Though the thought of celebrating Ortiz in New York was at one point inconceivable to Yankees fans, Ortiz said earlier this year that people in the Bronx have warmed up to him of late.

"You know how it is when you play for the Red Sox. It doesn't matter how much things have cooled off. If you don’t play for the Yankees, you don't matter," Ortiz told Sports Illustrated.

"But I have been lucky somehow, someway with the Yankees fan. Whenever I’m in New York and I decide to go to public places, they are all cool with me."

Still, most Yankees fans will be happy to see him go. Throughout his two decades in the big leagues, Ortiz cranked 52 homers with a .965 OPS in 236 regular-season games against New York, and almost single-handedly brought Boston back from a 3-0 deficit to sink the Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series.

It's only fair the Yankees reciprocate, though, after the Red Sox went all out to honor Derek Jeter at Fenway Park in 2014 when the longtime shortstop was wrapping up his illustrious career.