Tom Brady and David Ortiz kicked off Fanatics Fest by meeting two of their biggest fans. The retired athletes partnered with Make-A-Wish and Fanatics, the official sports partner of the non-profit, to grant the wishes of 12-year-old Chris Sanchez and 10-year-old Chris Hohn on Friday. Hohn, who grew up in Boston, told Page Six that his love for the former Red Sox slugger was passed down from his dad.
“I love David Ortiz because he is very inspirational while simultaneously being like one of the best baseball players in the world,” Hohn, who has a genetic condition, told us. The Boston-born baseball fan noted that he loves Ortiz’s big “personality” and how he showed up for the community following the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. Hohn got to spend some one-on-one time with his idol and even presented the retired athlete with “a beautiful plaque with [his] number” on it, Ortiz told us.
Ortiz told us it was “great” to have the opportunity to meet Hohn, who wasn’t even alive for most of his career. “When you see kids this age that know a lot about what you have done, that means they have kept track of everything,” the MLB legend said. “And I don’t expect people to see me as a role model, but we know that there are kids like that watching us.
” Brady, for his part, met with 12-year-old Christopher Sanchez, an aspiring quarterback from Florida who was first diagnosed with leukemia when he was 6 years old. After chatting for a bit, the pair played a li.