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PERSONAL:
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- When Ramirez was a youth, he set his sites on getting signed by a Major League team someday. He would begin his workouts at 5:00 a.m., running up a steep hill with a tire tied around his waist. He would run every single day, usually with a different teammate, because only Manny would get up that early every day.
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By 1991, Manny was named the New York City Public Schools Player of the Year. He was picked by the Indians that June, in the first round. He signed, and culture shock followed.
"The toughest thing for me was when I signed with the Indians," Ramirez said. "That was the first time that I left home, for Burlington, North Carolina. I got really homesick. But like everyone in the world, I had to grow up and adapt."
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The first several years of his Major League career, Manny was almost painfully shy around strangers, and even around friends he would never be considered talkative. Manny really can't read or write very well. He is always polite, but he just doesn't talk much. He has always had a lack of self-esteem. You will see him laughing and joking with his teammates. He likes to have fun. He's just quiet by nature.
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Manny and his parents came to the United States in 1985 from the Dominican Republic. But the move didn't exactly expose him to mainstream America. His whole neighborhood (Washington Heights, known for its high crime and drug rates) was Latin.
At age 13, New York was a jolt for the shy young man. "It was a shock. Everything was different. I couldn't ever go out when I was young, like I could in the Dominican, because of the area," Manny says.
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He went from a warm, green island to a dark maze where drugs abounded. Admittedly not a good student, school was even more demanding because of his poor English. But New York had baseball. It became his connection with his former home, his anchor in a new and suddenly dangerous world, the tough Washington Heights area of northwest Manhattan. "You could see the dealers on every street corner on the way to school," Ramirez says. And there were the Zulus, the street gang which claimed his neighborhood as it's turf.
But he had a strong family base. His parents brought Manny and four older sisters to the United States because a job in the electronics industry awaited his Dad. But, Mr. Ramirez, Aristide, ended up as a cab driver with his wife, Onelcida working as a seamstress. She made dresses, piecework, in a factory and doted on Manny.
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"The way I am," Manny says, "that's my mom. She was never mad, always happy. I didn't hang out with the wrong people. All my friends were involved in sports."
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After baseball games, Manny hung out with his friends at Las Tres Marias, a small restaurant where they'd go to eat huge meals and guzzle orange juice. He would argue with his friends who were Yankee fans, because Manny was devoted to the Toronto Blue Jays of the 1980s, a team with several Latin stars, including SS Tony Fernandez and OF George Bell. (Charles P. Pierce-Sports Illustrated-7/5/04)
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The lights of the old Yankee Stadium could be seen from Ramirez's high school field. He only played baseball. No basketball. No football. Nothing but baseball.
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Ramirez hit over .600 in both his junior and senior years in the same high school that produced Rod Carew, George Washington High School. And he averaged a home run every 4.5 at-bats and an RBI every 1.5 at-bats!
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In 1991, he was third in batting in the Appy League and led all of pro baseball in slugging percentage at .679. He was Appalachian League MVP.He thinks baseball from the time he gets up until the instant he goes to sleep.
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Manny grew up in Washington Heights, one of the worst drug neighborhoods in the country. He said "No" to drugs and played ball all day. The Indians have carefully monitored Ramirez' growth off the field because of his past environment. They were concerned about his return to the negative influences of his old neighborhood after the 1991 season, so they sent him to the Dominican Winter League to play ball. There, he hit .174 in limited duty in this advanced league for one so young and inexperienced.
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Manny shaved his head early in 1992 minor league spring training.Ramirez still needs to learn how to handle the things that surround the game.Manny had a strange initiation before his second Major League game, with Cleveland, September 3, 1993. He was pinned to the clubhouse floor at Yankee Stadium and covered with eggs, ice cream and Gatorade. Then the Brooklyn native went out and hit two home runs in his home town.
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Manny was named Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year for 1993.
DRIVING PROBLEMSWith part of his bonus money, Manny bought a black BWM which he has used to collect traffic tickets. When he was promoted from Canton to Charlotte in 1993, his driver's license was suspended and the car stayed in Ohio.
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Manny was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol at 1:24 a.m. September 9, 1994. He was arrested a short distance from his Washington Heights, New York home. His blood alcohol level was tested at .13% at the scene, but just .07% once he arrived at police headquarters. The .07% level is equivalent to having two beers, which is what Ramirez claimed he had prior to being pulled over after having driving erratically.
The Indians had been trying to convince Ramirez to move out of Washington Heights, which has a high crime rate -- much of it drug-related. "Manny is young, and he's a follower," then-Tribe G.M. John Hart said.
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On March 27, 1996, Ramirez accidentally hit a 5-year-old boy as he was driving out of the Indians private parking lot in Chain O'Lakes Park in Winter Haven, Florida. Brent Simpson, from Garrettsville, Ohio, suffered a broken pelvis.
Manny was not cited at the scene, nor was he charged in the incident. With another car approaching from the opposite direction, Ramirez attempted to move his vehicle slightly to the right in order to allow the second vehicle to pass. Manny did not see Brent Simpson, who reportedly was playing with some barrier ropes that separated the grass from the roadway and was in a half-sitting, half-laying-down position.
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Following a game at Jacobs Field August 13, 1997. Manny pleaded innocent to a number of traffic charges, including driving without a license and having illegal plates. Ramirez had a previous record of driving with two Florida driver's licenses and two social security numbers.
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On November 3, 1997, he was found guilty of four minor traffic violations (having illegal plates, having tinted windows, failure to obey a police order and driving a noisy car) and fined $225 plus court costs in Cleveland.
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Lack of maturity was Ramirez' biggest drawback his first few years in the majors. He was not a bad kid, just an incredibly naive one.With the Indians and the Red Sox, Manny did not like talking to reporters. Routinely, he pushed them away with lines such as "I don't want to talk about anything."
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Ramirez has very few interests outside of baseball. He enjoys movies and music. He says "Bad Boys" is his favorite movie and his musical tastes are salsa. But it is mainly in the clubhouse where he feels most comfortable. Whether lifting weights or working in the batting cage, Manny can be found most often doing something that is baseball-related. He makes baseball look easy, but he has worked to make it so because it is basically all he knows. (1994)
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In 1994, Ramirez finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year award, to the Royals' Bob Hamelin.He showed up at 1996 spring training nearly 30 polunds above his 1995 playing weight of 195 pounds. So during camp, he was required to ride a bike for 40 minutes after practices and games every single day.
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On March 18, 1998, Ramirez slapped a clubhouse worker at the Indians' spring training base in Winter Haven, Florida. Ramirez slapped Tom Foster in the face after the two exchanged words about two hours after an exhibition game in which Tribe manager Mike Hargrove had taken Ramirez to task for loafing after two balls that were hit into the right field corner and scored triples.
Manny had taken two of his bats out of the equipment room, where players are forbidden to go. Foster reportedly berated Ramirez for ignoring the rules, questioning his intelligence. Ramirez was going to give the bats to Marcus Giles, younger brother of OF Brain Giles. The incident was handled internally.
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In May 1998, Manny first had his hair dyed with blond highlights, then had teammate Mark Whiten shave him bald a week or so later.Manny was nicknamed "Baby Bull" when he was with the Indians.In April 1999, Manny showed up with handwritten messages on the heels of his white shoes during pregame workouts. One day, his right shoe said: "There will be hell to pay!" and the left one said: "Justice will be served!" The next day, his right shoe said "Free me!" and "Live and let die!" was on the left. It turns out that a clubhouse boy wrote on the shoes.
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QUOTES FROM FORMER TEAMMATESFormer teammate Sandy Alomar says of Manny, "He's the most unassuming guy you'd ever want to meet. People don't realize how humble of a guy he is. He doesn't care about the All-Star Game or winning the MVP award. He just wants to play the game, win, and go home."
Alomar also said, "Manny never gets upset. The rest of us grind and fight ourselves. Manny never worries. If he doesn't get a hit, he thinks, 'No problem -- next at bat I'll get one.'"
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Fellow Dominican Pedro Martinez, the super pitcher for the Red Sox said of Ramirez, "Manny is a little kid. He's off in his own little world. He's in la-la land." Pedro calls him El Muchacho (the boy).Typically, Ramirez is one of the first to arrive each day in the clubhouse. He wears baggy jeans, a hip-hop, oversized shirt, a floppy hat, and tennis shoes. Nothing fancy, nothing flashy.
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During spring training, while his teammates stay in plush condos and rental homes, Manny chooses to stay in a small, cramped room at the Winter Haven Holiday Inn He didn't talk to the media very much at all while in Boston. But it was not so much because he was angry with them.
"I don't have a lot of things to say," he says, shrugging his shoulders. "That's all. That's why I don't talk. It's not that I'm shy. I'm maybe afraid to say the wrong thing. And, I don't want to make a mistake."
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Manny's crazy antics have become rather legendary. There was the time he left behind a pair of boots in the Texas Rangers clubhouse, and inside one of the boots was his last paycheck.
There was the day he sent a clubhouse attendant to wash his car, telling him there was money in the glove compartment to pay for it. There was money, all right -- nearly $10,000 in cash.
And who can forget the O.J. Simpson chase scene in Los Angeles? While his teammtes were glued to the TV screen, wondering what would happen next to O.J., Ramirez said: "What did Chad do?" He thought the cops were after then-teammate Chad Ogea (also nickmaned "O.J.").
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When Ramirez was honored with the Indians' 1998 Most Valuable Player award, instead of dusting off a place on the mantel for the trophy, he presented it ot Charles Maher, the team psychologist. "Charlie helps me a lot," Manny says. "He helps me concentrate. I wanted to do something for him, and thank him for that."
Maher began working with Ramirez a year before, working on his confidence, his concentration and his preparation.
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He is tougher to read than Sanskrit. He prefers not to speak to the media, mostly because of his shyness, but also because of his uncertainty when speaking English. Tribe hitting coach Ted Uhlaender said, "He usually doesn't say anything, but when he does say something, he's funny."
JUST A BIG KID Early in Manny's career, he spent three days in Detroit without the contents of his luggage. He didn't know he was supposed to claim his bags in the hotel lobby, where players' luggage routinely is brought on trips, and was too shy to aske anyone about it.
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A few years ago, he received a phone call from a concerned person in the Indians' accounting department because records showed he hadn't cashed five consecutive paychecks. Ramirez said he simply hadn't gotten around to it.For a multi-millionaire, it is amazing how modestly he spends. He drives a Chevy Impala. His favorite meal is "Rice and beans, with a nice, cold glass of orange juice," he says.
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In many ways, from his careless innocence to his shy humility, Ramirez remains that poor child who grew up in the Dominican Republic. The child who was breast-fed until he was almost four because milk in his neighborhood was either harmful or nonexistent. The child whose fatigued father thought about jumping to his death while delirious from fixing roofs in summer heat. The child whose mother, after moving to New York's Washington Heights, worked for $200 a week in a sewing factory.
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Manny vows never to buy a million dollar home because he doesn't want to throw his wealth in anybody's face.You know how Ramirez celebrated his monster contract? By vacationing in the Bahamas -- because the hotel-sponsored trip was free. He didn't gamble so much as a cent. "I'm a simple man," Manny says, "of simple tastes."Ramirez says, "I'm the invisible man. Not moody, just shy. If I go to a club, I hide in the corner. I don't want people to treat me a certain way for WHO I am. I want people to treat me a certain way for HOW I am."
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One of Manny's sisters handles his finances, everything from paying his bills to signing his checks, which allows him to remove the clutter from his life.He hit the longest home run in the history of the SkyDome, June 2, 2001. Mark McGwire hit a 488-foot blast in 1996, but Manny's tremendous shot was 491-feet.Manny was very self-conscious about his English while with the Indians. He was shy. But he now regularly chats with the Boston media and is a playful, if still a bit reserved presence in the Red Sox clubhouse. Joked one member of the Cleveland media: "For 6 years, all we got is, 'Hi, big guy.' He gets to Boston and it's like he's turned into Winston Churchill."
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At the 2001 All-Star Game, Manny missed the Monday workout to attend the funeral of his grandmother, Purasoto Ramirez, in Miami. She gave Manny his first baseball uniform when he was 6 years old in the Dominican Republic. "It was a Dodgers uniform, #30," Ramirez recalled. "She gave me #30 because my birthday is May 30."Manny got married in November 2001. He met his wife in Boston.Ramirez was really happy in 2002, hanging out with Carlos Baerga, Rey Sanchez and Rickey Henderson. ''We call ourselves the Three Musketeers and Rickey Henderson,'' he said.
Manny is especially close to Baerga, from their time together in Cleveland early in their careers. The Three Musketeers (plus Henderson) are exactly what Ramirez needed to keep him loose. He is shy and needs his friends.''Manny is one of the nicest, most humble guys I know,'' Baerga said. ''He's a kid. Do you know what kind of movies he watches? Karate flicks. Karate cartoons! I'm serious. He's a big kid. Look over there.'' Baerga pointed to an FAO Schwarz bag on top of Johnny Damon's locker. Ramirez had gone to the toy store and bought a gift for his teammate's child. He was in the store because he was buying things for himself, too.
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A song that included profanity and drug-themed lyrics was broadcast over the Fenway Park loudspeakers before Manny's first at-bat on September 8, 2002, forcing the Red Sox to alter their policy on allowing players to choose their own music. The song I Get High, by Styles, was requested during the game by a clubhouse attendant who was apparently relaying Ramirez's wishes. When the song was checked to make sure it was appropriate, it was not played all the way through. Ramirez declined comment after the game.
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In August 2003, Ramirez called in sick for the first game of a series with the Yankees with what a doctor diagnosed as pharyngitis. The next day, Manny went to Fenway Park to see the team's doctor.
But late Saturday night, Manny was seen in the lobby of a Boston hotel with Yankee INF Enrique Wilson, a former teammate when both were with Cleveland. Ramirez didn't drink, and was only there for a few minutes. But he did not make a doctor's appointment the next day at Fenway Park.
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For 48 hours at the end of October 2003, Ramirez was available to 29 teams. A simple waiver claim was all it would have taken to pry a hitter who is all but automatic to hit .300 with 35 homers and 100 RBIs every year. But in the end, the price tag -- close to $100 million dollars for five seasons -- was apparently too stiff.May 10, 2004: After the Red Sox game the day before, Manny flew down to Miami to become a United States citizen.
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After the 2005 World Series win by the Red Sox, Manny secured deals with four national companies and was paid $100 per autograph, according to his marketing representative, Gene Mato.Manny on Steroids: NO WAY! Former teammate Orlando Cabrera told Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe: "My brother played with Manny in Cleveland," Cabrera said. "And Manny hated needles. Every spring, when they took their physicals, Manny would take off, and four, five guys would chase him down. He just hated needles. There's no way he would have ever juiced himself. He just worked hard. When we go on the road, Manny would be out of his room at 8 o'clock, going to the gym. And he practiced hard. He went out to Fenway Park many times to learn how to play the Wall, and he never -- never -- skipped going to the cage."
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In 2005, worry over his mother's health (arthritis) was a big part of Manny's slow start at the plate. In mid-May, his batting average was only .241. But he did have a team-leading 29 RBIs.
Explaining his mother's discomfort, Manny said, She's getting a lot of massages, trying to get better. "She's in Fort Lauderdale [Fla.]. I haven't gone back to see her." (Chris Snow-Boston Globe-5/15/05)In 2005, Manny was having a house built in his wife's native Brazil.
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In December 2005, Johnny Damon gave Manny Ramírez his best sell. For $5.1 million, the Chestnut Hill house Damon bought for $4.75 million, and the pool house he added for $375,000, would be Ramírez's. Damon did not want actual value for the place, which he pegs at $6 million. He simply wanted the return on his investment. At cost, Damon told Ramírez, he could have an actual home and be done with the Ritz, a place, Damon said, ''where sometimes it all becomes too much for him.
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''There are people taking his picture when he gets into his car, people talking to him. It's a difficult ride to the park. But," Damon said, ''he didn't want it because he was convinced he was leaving Boston."In January 2006, Manny and his wife, Juliana, celebrated the birth of a son, Lucas.- March 1, 2006: Ramirez showed up at Red Sox spring training in, perhaps, the best shape of his life. He had great-looking dreadlocks (at least for dreadlocks) with an orange hue.
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Manny was born on May 30. He shares the birthday with Hall of Famer Amos Rusie, who won 245 games with the New York Giants. Other celebrities born on that date are musician Benny Goodman, football star Gayle Sayers and singer Wynonna Judd.Manny gets custom-made clothing at a chic Boston store. The tailor embroiders his monogram onto his shirts and jackets -- not Manny's initials, but "MBM" sewn into them: Manny Being Manny.Manny is a big kid. He watches cartoons and has some childlike traits that might drive some people crazy. But he is also a real joy to be around.
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During the offseason before 2008 spring training, Manny was a real workout warrior in Tempe, Arizona at the Athletes' Performance Institute. He got himself into phenomenal shape after renting a house in the Phoenix area and spending the winter there.In February 2008, Manny changed agents. He switched to Scott Boras, dropping Greg Genske.There will come a day when Manny Ramirez has a plaque that takes up permanent residence at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. But in the much nearer future, some Ramirez memorabilia to commemorate the star slugger's 500th home run will be on display.
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The Red Sox were in touch with the Hall of Fame to let them know that Ramirez offered up the batting helmet and lineup card used when he clubbed his milestone homer against the Baltimore Orioles. Ramirez let Red Sox fan Damon Woo—who caught the ball in the stands—hang onto his prize overnight. As Woo promised, he gave the ball back to Ramirez on Sunday. Boston's star slugger plans on auctioning the baseball for the benefit of a Boston-area charity. A day later, Sox designated hitter David Ortiz was still marveling at his teammate's accomplishment.
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"I was so happy for him," Ortiz said. "If you sit down and analyze it, this guy has played 2,000 games and he has 500 homers. That means every four games, he's hit a homer. You know how hard that is? It's crazy." Aside from Ramirez's lighthearted personality, one of the reasons his teammates were so excited to see the milestone is because they know how much work has gone into it. "It's great," said Red Sox infielder Alex Cora. "Great to be a part of it. Can't happen to a better guy. I always say, [people] get caught up in the whole freak show, the triple cutoff guy and the high-five stuff, but that guy, he prepares himself. He's always ready. To have 500 home runs and to be hitting .317 career-wise, that tells you a lot. He's awesome." (Ian Brown MLB.com)
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This time, it didn't happen in the dugout. And this time, it wasn't caught on camera. But for the second time during the 2008 season, Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez was involved in an altercation involving someone within the organization. "Ramirez pushed long-time team traveling secretary Jack McCormick to the floor in the visitors' clubhouse in Houston on Saturday following a spat over a ticket request. A contrite Ramirez apologized to McCormick, who is universally popular among the players, later that day..."
(6/30/08 Ian Browne, MLB.com)
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After a game in Seattle, a police officer stopped Manny when he was jay-walking across a street outside Safeco Field. The police officer, who evidently didn't know the identity of his collar, let Ramírez off with a few stern words instead of a fine. Manny's Mouthpiece: Manny began hitting with a mouthguard in spring training to cut down on his tobacco use.
Ramirez said he didn't consider his habit of chewing tobacco to be particularly hazardous to his health -- he doesn't chew in the offseason -- but that he preferred biting on his high-tech mouthpiece as a way to calm himself down in the batter's box. The mouthguard, which Ramirez said was recommended to him by his dentist, is designed to relax jaw, neck, and head muscles.
"Everybody does something," he said. "Some people chew on sunflower seeds."
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Few players work nearly as hard as Ramirez. On the road, he can often be found in the hotel fitness room while his teammates are still sleeping. Before home night games, he'll show up at Dodger Stadium at 10 a.m. to lift weights and run on a treadmill. Don Mattingly, hitting coach for the Dodgers, and known as "Donnie Baseball" during his days with the Yankees for his total respect for the game, reveals something surprising.
"The thing I love more than anything about Manny, and the thing I try to tell our players, is that he puts in the work, he gets himself ready to play, but once the game starts, he actually has fun. When he hits a home run, I swear, on the bench, it's like he's never hit one before in his life. But when he strikes out looking, he's still smiling, coming back to the bench saying, 'He throws me there again, he's asking the ump for a new ball.' Man, the game is hard, but to him, it's still a game. I wish everybody could be like that." (Jeff Bradley-ESPN the Magazine-4/06/09)
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May 7, 2009: Manny was suspended by MLB for use of performance enhancing drugs. He was eligible to return about July 3.
He didn't test positive for steroids. He tested positive for human chorionic gonadotropin, a female fertility drug commonly used by athletes to restore the body after steroid use. It is used by men using steroids to restart their bodies' testosterone production after ending a steroid cycle.
He tested positive in the spring, meaning, logically, the hCG could have been taken after a winter of steroid use.
Ramirez denied all of that, claiming he was given the drug by "a physician for a personal health issue."
Ramirez's downfall began with a urine sample he provided shortly after reporting to spring training in late March, a little more than a month after Alex Rodriguez had admitted to being a drug cheat in the wake of a SPORTS ILLUSTRATED report that the Yankees' third baseman had tested positive for two anabolic steroids in 2003. For Ramirez the drug-policy violation was caused not by a steroid or an illegal supplement (the performance enhancers more commonly at the root of ballplayers' positive tests), but by a female fertility drug that boosts the natural production of testosterone. Coincidentally, Ramirez was suspended the day before Rodriguez, returning from hip surgery, played the first game of the rest of his career as a tainted superstar.
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One by one, syringe by syringe, the greatest players of an entire generation have fallen. Of the 15 players who hit the most home runs from 1993 through 2004, Ramirez is the 10th to be connected to performance-enhancing drugs by positive tests, the Mitchell Report or news reports, joining Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Rodriguez, Mike Piazza, Mark McGwire, Gary Sheffield, Juan Gonzalez and Mo Vaughn in the rogues' gallery. (The five not associated as such are Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, Jim Thome, Jeff Bagwell and Carlos Delgado.) During the offseason before 2009 spring training, Manny and his wife visited Brazil, and loved Rio. His wife, Juliana, was born there.
Brazil is a soccer-mad country where Manny can walk the streets wearing shorts and sandals and is almost completely ignored by the locals, few of whom watch any kind of baseball. But he does occasionally get approached by strangers who think they recognize him.
"What makes me laugh is that people there think I'm a musician because of the hair," Ramirez said. "They ask me if I'm in a band. I respond in Spanish and they say, 'He's not from here.'"
TRANSACTION REPORT
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June 3, 1991: Drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the first round (13th pick) of the draft. The team gave Manny a $250,000 signing bonus. October 27, 2000: He was granted free agency. December 19, 2000: Signed a long-term contract with the Red Sox for $20 million a year. July 31, 2008: The Dodgers acquired Manny from the Red Sox in a 3-team trade. The Red Sox received OF Jason Bay from the Pirates, with Pittsburgh getting Boston reliever Craig Hansen, Boston outfielder Brandon Moss, Los Angeles third baseman Andy LaRoche and Los Angeles minor league pitcher Bryan Morris.
In Manny's mind, he had completed his obligation for the guaranteed $168 million the Red Sox paid him, and he was waiting to go on the market and collect the $100 million over the next four seasons he believes he will get, which would pay him through the age of 40.
Manny insulted Red Sox ownership and everyone in authority. And one player who really cares for Ramirez said he knew Manny could sit the last two months, collect his final $7 million and ride off into the $100 million sunset. The Red Sox knew that as well. They already had threated him with an unpaid suspension, but in a world in chich the union fights for those who don't work, the last two months were going to be a living hell of sit-down strikes, followed by suspensions. It would have been a half-season choke-hold on the team's baseball culture. So the Red Sox traded Manny. (Peter Gammons-ESPN.com/Baseball America)
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October 30, 2008: Manny filed for free agency. March, 2009: Ramirez signed with the Dodgers for $23.854 million for one year. November 6, 2009: Manny exercised his $20 option with the Dodgers for the 2010 season.August 30, 2010: The White Sox claimed Ramirez off waivers from the Dodgers, becoming responsible for the remaining $3 .825 million of Ramirez's contract for 2010.
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BATTING:
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- Manny is possibly the most dangerous righthanded hitter in the game. He is very hard to pitch to. He jumps over anything on the inside or middle of the plate and also will take a pitch on the outer half to right field. He hits all variety of pitches, though a hard slider can get him out more than any other offering.
- He is one of the smartest hitters in the game. He is a wondrously instinctive, front-foot hitter who can snap balls to the opposite field with power or jerk them to left. He is both a dangerous power hitter and a lethal high-average hitter.
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Manny makes consistent contact and generates great bat speed. The ball jumps off his live bat. When Ramirez makes contact, it sounds different than everyone else. He is a natural hitter.He has improved in his ability to hit breaking pitches, once a real problem.Ramirez hits off his front foot, just like Hank Aaron. Ted Williams would love Manny's hitting style. He throws his body at the pitch in a fluid weight shift. He doesn't give away that many at-bats. He has good discipline at the plate. He can hit the ball 430, even 450 feet. And he is not just a power hitter. He hits to all fields. But he is at his best when he hits the ball to right and right-center field. Manny can hit an inside pitch to right field and an outside pitch to left field. Tony Oliva was like that.
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He has no problem hitting breaking pitches on the outside part of the plate, or an inside fastball.He is a very stylish-looking hitter. He shifts his weight and every part of his body seems to be moving forward.His home runs are impressive, but what gets scouts excited is the way he fights off pitches and gets a good swing at the one he wants.He has a lot of torque in his swing which generates that tremendous bat speed. Manny is a lot stronger than he looks.He is such an intelligent hitter. He figures out exactly how the pitcher is trying to pitch him, and then he takes that away from the pitcher. His infrequent slumps come when he swings too hard. He sometimes can lose control of his incredibly quick bat, throwing his well-timed stroke out of whack.
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During the 1998 season, ESPN clocked several hitters' bat speed. Manny's was timed at 96 mph, behind only Ken Griffey Jr. (98 mph) and tied with Albert Belle. Late in the 2008 season, Brian Giles, Manny's former teammate on the Indians, recalled a very impressive feat by Ramirez.
"It was against the Blue Jays,” Giles said of a contest on Sept. 15, 1998. “He said he was going to hit a home run, and he did. Then he said he was going to use Kenny Lofton's bat and hit another homer, and he did. Then he said he was going to use Jim Thome's bat and hit another one, and he did. They went to left, center and right. It was unbelievable.”
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Manny might hit more balls hard to the opposite (right) field than anyone since Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente.
HITTING RECORDSIn 1995, Manny became the 25th player in history to have a 30 homer, 100 RBI season at or before the age of 23.In 1998, Manny shattered the Indians' club record for RBI in a season, with 145, breaking Rocky Colavito's mark of 113, set in 1958.The very next year, 1999, he broke his own record, knocking in 165 runs. He became the first Major Leaguer to top 160 RBI since Jimmie Foxx in 1938.
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Ramirez and Jimmy Foxx are the only two players in Major League history to have 9 career grand slams before the age of 27. Manny hit his 20th career grand slam on July 5, 2005, passing Eddie Murray for sole possession of 2nd place on the all-time list. Ramirez now trails only the legendary Lou Gehrig, who hit 23 in his career.In 2002, Manny won the American League batting championship, with a .349 average.Manny has matured as a player. You can now find him studying videotape of himself and opposing pitchers and arriving early every day for extra batting practice. He is known to fool pitchers by missing widely in one at-bat in order to get the same pitch next time up and hammer it.
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Some people complain about the deliberate way in which Ramirez treats every pitch of every at-bat. But his lengthy pause between pitches is not spent idly. He reflects on the pitches that he's seen, contemplating the mechanics of the opposing hurler to calibrate his own hitting metronome, which is set with a couple of practice cuts before he re-enters the box.Manny's hitting I.Q. is genius. Among his contemporaries, Ramirez's brilliance at the dish can only be comprehended by Barry Bonds and very few others.But Manny is a guess hitter. He will sometimes go an entire at-bat looking for a specific pitch. And if he gets it, he will really hammer it.
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Partly because of his use of ocular training, Manny has developed an almost unsurpassed knowledge of the strike zone and spin recognition. He can tell what the pitch is and also where it will end up.
Red Sox teammate Mike Lowell said of Ramirez late in the 2007 season: "People think he comes out 10 minutes before the game and starts hitting. He does a lot of visualization drills. He does a lot of things visually with small baseballs, and he does very specific stuff on the tee. Ther is an absolute method to how he wants to approach the game." For the 2003 season, Ramirez won his fifth Silver Slugger Award, presented by Hillerich & Bradsby Co., the maker of Louisville Slugger bats. It is given to the most productive player at each position in both leagues. Managers and players voted for the award's recipients.
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The lethal cleanup man put up a career-high 185 hits while scoring 117 runs, bashing 37 homers and driving in 104 runs. Ramirez was also durable, setting a career-high with 154 games. In a season in which the Red Sox stressed on-base percentage, Ramirez led the American League in that category with a .427 mark. And he led the loop with 28 intentional walks. In the final month of the season, as the Red Sox were making their last push for the Wild Card berth, Ramirez was at his best. He hit .375 in September with six homers and 14 RBIs. In 2004, Ramirez led the American League in home runs (43) and slugging percentage (.613). "If slumps are between a player's ears, which I think they are," says former Red Sox teammate Sean Casey, "then Manny is slump-proof, because mentally he's always the same."
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While watching Manny in the batter's box, even accomplished big league hitters are awed by the rhythm of his swing, the way he can load his body -- from his legs through his core muscles to his hands -- with power, then suspend everything until he recognizes the speed, location and movement of the pitch, before finally letting the bat fly through the zone.
BREAKDOWN VS. LEFTIES AND RIGHTIES
In 2000, he hit almost .400 (.396) off lefthanded pitching. And he punished righthanders at .339. (He also hit a home run every 11.6 at-bats, tops in the AL.)In 2001, Ramirez hit .342 against lefties and .296 off righties.In 2005, Manny hit .236 with 13 home runs in 165 at-bats vs. lefthanders, and .313 with 31 home runs in 387 at-bats vs. righthanded pitchers.
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In 2006, Ramirez hit .326 with 10 home runs in 132 at-bats against lefthanded pitching, and .319 with 25 home runs in 317 at-bats off righthanders.In 2007, Manny hit .344 with 9 home runs in 128 at-bats vs. lefties, and .279 with 11 home runs in 355 at-bats against righty pitchers.In 2009, Ramirez hit .270 with 4 home runs in 74 at-bats off lefthanders, and .295 with 15 homers in 278 at-bats vs. righthanded pitching.
Entering the 2010 season, Manny's lifetime batting average was .313 with 546 home runs and 1,788 RBI in 7,962 at-bats. His career on-base percentage is a marvelous .411 with a .591 slugging percentage.
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