Friday the music stopped for former Boston Red Sox outfielder Manny Ramirez when he abruptly retired from baseball after 19 seasons after being told their was an issue with his drug test.
Ramirez, who played for Boston from 2000 to 2008, was known as flake on and off the field as an aloof player who could turn it on when he needed too. It became known as Manny being Manny. As of Friday, Manny isn’t Manny any longer.
It came to attention of the drug program with Major League Baseball that according to a confidential source Ramirez tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug (PED). We all remember that after Ramirez ended up in Los Angeles with the Dodgers after worming his way out of Boston he got snagged for taking a women’s fertility drug that is a banned substance. For his little dalliance of supposedly trying to become the first pregnant major leaguer, he bought himself a 50-game suspension in 2009. After missing nearly two months of the season he came back and wasn’t nearly the same player the Dodgers got at the trade deadline on July 31, 2008 from the Red Sox and then committed $45 million over two seasons to that previous off season.
To continue reading, click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
After struggling through the rest of 2009 and most of 2010 with Los Angeles he was dealt again late in the season to the Chicago White Sox, who hoped he would help them down the pennant stretch as he did in LA in ’08. Manny hit just one HR for the Pale Hose down the stretch and went until nearly the start of spring training this year before the Tampa Bay Rays reached out and gave him a one-year deal for $2 million. Once again another team was hoping Manny was still Manny.
But in five games this season with the Rays, Manny had just one hit in 17 AB’s. Then came the news today during of all things the middle of the first Red Sox-Yankees tilt of the season, which just happened to be the Boston home opener. So now as a two-time offender of the MLB PED policy Ramirez was looking at being suspended for 100 games. Obviously knowing he had no excuse and no way of getting the penalty reduced or dropped the mop headed Ramirez decided he was better off walking away.
In addition to the Dodgers, White Sox, Rays and Red Sox he played from 1993 to 1999 with the Cleveland Indians helping take the team to two World Series both resulting in losses. The first was in 1995 to Atlanta and the other in 1997 to Florida. Upon becoming a free agent he signed in Boston where he went to two more World Series this time winning both in 2004 against St. Louis where he earned series MVP honors and in 2007 against Colorado. The next year he decided he had enough of Boston and forced his way out of town.
Ramirez, who would have been a surefire Hall of Famer had he stayed clean, is now an unlikely nominee to baseball’s shrine. He finishes his career having hit .312 with 555 HRs, 1831 RBI and 1122 extra base hits. The man was a hitting savant; it’s too bad he didn’t use that talent to make better decisions off the field.
Photo credit: Reuters Pictures
