Stop me if you've heard this before: The 2016 season will be the final one in David Ortiz's illustrious career.

OK, I'm stopped.

But seriously, it is the final hurrah of the big man who has anchored the Boston Red Sox lineup for more than a decade. He's been there for three World Series titles. He's come through for more iconic, clutch moments than we need to count and he's up to 516 career home runs.

With a resume like that, surely he's one of those players who is universally respected, even by fans of his biggest rivals, right?

Ummm ...

That's fun, which is fitting. Because when I asked David Ortiz how he wanted people to remember him, he closed with this:

"I think I'd want people to remember me as a person who wants things to be fun; who wants people to be happy."

Of course, how we got there was, as David himself would say, complicated.

"It's complicated," he said. "It's more complicated than it used to be. Everybody has their own opinion and you aren't gonna make everyone happy. It doesn't matter if you're a good guy, a bad guy, a nice guy, controversial, non-controversial, it doesn't matter. Everybody's got their own opinion. So I can't worry much about what people think about me. I don't really care. I try to do the right thing. I try to accomplish good things. A lot of people get caught up in the wrong things. I'm not a person who wishes bad things on anyone."

This is a guy who once fought a dugout phone.

"Sometimes people see things in the game and they start judging you as a person based upon that. I don't think that's fair."

True story. Someone losing his temper during a game most certainly doesn't define him. If you look at the body of work of David Ortiz as a human being, there's very little to not like. Yeah, yeah ... you hate how he acts on the field and want to scream about PEDs, but have you actually done anything for kids like he has? Go check out David Ortiz Children's Fund or do something for an ailing child like he did this year.

Still, the most impressive aspect of David Ortiz has to be his ability to hit a baseball. Through Saturday -- which included a clutch, go-ahead home run in the ninth before the Red Sox blew the game -- he has 2,360 career hits, 607 of which are doubles and 516 of which are home runs. He has 1,687 RBI with a career .285/.379/.550 line.

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David Ortiz might be having his best season at age 40. USATSI

Remarkably, in his age-40 season, Ortiz might be having his best season ever. He leads the majors in doubles (23), RBI (46), slugging (.720), OPS (1.140) and OPS+ (197). On a rate basis, he'd set career highs in average, slugging, OPS and OPS+. He attributes this to the rise of the youngsters: Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr.

"My kids are having a lot of fun watching the younger guys," he said. "Just watching them come into their own and do a lot of the things they're doing, it's very special.

"When you talk about the Red Sox offense, what you think about is myself. Opponents, the way they look at it, it's like, 'Let's take care of the big guy,' but right now, the hitting is contagious. I really believe that I'm doing well -- better than ever -- because everyone is doing well. You don't have to focus on David Ortiz, everyone is doing unbelievable. The way everyone is going, that makes my life easier."

It's paying off so far, that's for sure, with the Red Sox sitting atop the AL East and leading the majors in runs scored.

Circling back to the BW-3 commercial, Ortiz's love-hate relationship with the Bronx and Yankees fans goes both ways. When I asked him where -- outside Fenway, of course -- he'd most miss playing, he didn't even hesitate.

"I love playing in New York."

I got a similar answer to what player he'll most miss playing against. Because he already misses him.

"It's gotta be Derek Jeter. I miss playing against him. DJ brought a lot of good memories. When I go to Yankee Stadium now and I don't see him at shortstop it's just not the same."

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The Red Sox legend has plenty of respect for Derek Jeter. USATSI

When it comes to Ortiz and the Jeter Yankees, the most memorable season has to be 2004, when the Red Sox came back from a 3-0 deficit in the ALCS and ended up winning their first World Series since 1918, breaking a fake curse in the process. The MVP of that ALCS? Big Papi. Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez had a hand in it, of course. The two were teammates for 2003-04, but did you know the fellow Dominicans actually faced each other as opponents 18 times?

It didn't go well for Ortiz. He was 3 for 17 with one double, one homer and one walk, setting up for a paltry .176/.222/.412 line. Not that he should be ashamed; Pedro knotted everyone up. Still, the big man remembers it well. When asked to name the toughest pitcher he ever faced, he simply said, "I gotta say Pedro Martinez."

It seems like a dream matchup these days, no? So that got me thinking. What if we had Doc Brown's Delorean and could pit Papi against any pitcher in history?

"I will say Nolan Ryan."

I'm intrigued.

"I watched him and he used to throw a big-time heater like it was nothing, and I'm a great fastball hitter," Ortiz said. "When I watched him, I was like, 'You know, I think I could catch up on him.'"

True. He could. He wouldn't every time, though. Man, that would be fun.

And that's how Ortiz wants us to remember him. Having fun and wanting us to be happy, just like in that commercial.