David Ortiz built a hall of fame career off by smacking dingers at Fenway Park and bringing World Series titles to the Boston Red Sox. Now Big Papi is ready to take on a different green monster.
Ortiz announced on Wednesday that he is launching his own line of cannabis products in partnership with Rev Brands, a marijuana wholesaler based in Massachusetts.
highlighted by pre-rolled blunts known as “Sweet Sluggers,” will be sold in various cannabis dispensaries throughout the state.“Once I embraced the flow of the flower everything changed,” Ortiz said in a statement,
. “Cannabis has helped me relax, sleep better, manage stress and heal physically after a lifetime of playing ball, and I look forward to sharing Papi Cannabis and my personal journey to help people understand its benefits.”The announcement comes after Ortiz was inducted in the
Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York over the weekend. Over a 20-year career, most of which was spent with the Red Sox, Ortiz racked up 541 home runs, 1,768 runs batted in and 2,472 hits. A 10-time all-star, Ortiz was an anchor for three World Series-winning Red Sox teams.Those accolades have made Ortiz a hero in Boston and throughout Massachusetts, a legacy he is looking to capitalize on as he enters the state’s regulated cannabis market.
Boston’s Hometown Hero David Ortiz
“Ever since David Ortiz started his 14-year career with the Red Sox, he’s been Boston’s hometown hero on and off the field. With a reputation for doing good in his community, Ortiz has become a role model for people everywhere,” the brand’s website
. “Now, David Ortiz is breaking new ground: he’s helping to erase the stigma of cannabis. Papi Cannabis is bringing David Ortiz’s new line of cannabis products to dispensaries across Massachusetts. With his new line of products, David is helping people to access the healing benefits of cannabis they might have overlooked.”The “Sweet Sluggers,” pre-rolled blunts featuring a variety of Ortiz’s preferred strains, are the first product in the Papi Cannabis line, but Boston.com reported that “the brand will launch other products, such as a vape cartridge, a chocolate edible made with fair trade Dominican chocolate, and a healing salve” later this summer.
According to the brand’s website, Papi Cannabis products are currently sold in more than 30 dispensaries throughout Massachusetts, where recreational pot for adults has been legal since 2016.
“I personally prefer pre-rolled blunts, and these ones are special to me because I was able to work with my daughter Alexandra on the colorful artwork for the packaging,” Ortiz said in the statement. “I love that we were able to incorporate her design.”
says that the Sweet Sluggers are rolled in Fitchburg, Massachusetts using “only the choicest flower from some of David’s favorite strains.” The packs come with three one-gram blunts “made with freshly-ground whole flower packed full of natural and flavorful terpenes.”Ortiz says he’s getting into the business not simply to make money, but to change attitudes toward weed. As the brand’s official website put it: “Cannabis can change lives for the better, and David Ortiz is helping to spread the word.”
“People have the wrong idea about cannabis,” Ortiz says on his website. “When I first tried it, that’s when I started sleeping deeper, and my body started resting.”
The website says that Ortiz “believes in cannabis as an integral part of a physically active life,” and that, for him, “cannabis isn’t just a way to relax at the end of the day — it helps with everything from managing a busy schedule, to getting restful sleep, and staying grounded during the day.”