The career numbers are staggering.
.312 batting average (87th all-time)
555 homeruns (14th all-time)
1,831 RBI (18th all-time)
2,574 hits (82nd all-time)
547 doubles (24th all-time)
1,544 runs (56th all-time)
1,329 walks (36th all-time)
4,826 total bases (26th all-time)
.411 on-base percentage (32nd all-time)
.585 slugging percentage (9th all-time)
2,302 games (102nd all-time)
1994 Rookie of the Year
12-time All-Star
2-time World Series champion
World Series MVP
2002 AL batting champion
2 Hank Aaron Awards
9 Silver Slugger Awards
Any baseball fan will tell you these are Hall of Fame stats.
Prior to the 2009 season, I would’ve said Manny Ramirez is a first ballot Hall of Famer. Then, in May of his first full year with the Los Angeles Dodgers, news came of the 50-game suspension following a positive test for a female fertility drug. While steroid use was unconfirmed, the banned substance present in his system is typically used as a steroid masking agent.
Clearly a blemish to his image, it probably wouldn’t have been enough to deter the baseball writers from voting him into the Hall. After all, Ramirez had spent just short of two decades making a mockery of pitchers on his way to becoming one of the most feared and revered hitters in baseball history.
After an injury-riddled 2010 season, Ramirez hoped to revive his career when he signed a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Rays. He showed flashes of his old self during spring training and seemed primed for a comeback.
Ramirez got off to a slow start in 2011, going just 1-for-17 with a single RBI over the first five games. According to Rays manager Joe Maddon, he was given the day off Thursday to tend to a “family matter.”
With all signs pointing to a Friday return against the White Sox, Ramirez instead stunned the sports world this afternoon with a retirement announcement resulting from a positive preseason drug test for performance enhancers. As a 100-game suspension loomed, Ramirez opted to inform Major League Baseball of his decision to hang it up rather than exacerbate a season in which he was already getting off on the wrong foot.
Although no punishment was served, a 2009 New York Times report pegged Ramirez to a list of notable superstars who had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in an anonymous test administered by the league in 2003.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s three strikes, and we all are aware that in baseball and in life, three strikes and you’re out.
Merely hours ago, Ramirez was still a shoe-in for an iconic spot in Cooperstown. Now, he joins a growing lineup shunned by the game they once did so much to enhance.
It may be just another case of Manny being Manny, but this time his antics cost him what every young player dreams of—baseball immortality.
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