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I saw him in spring training with the Indians when he was only about 23 or 24 years old, and got a pretty good indication of how he fit with his teammates (watched morning workouts for a full week). He would just stand by himself in the OF, jogging to retrieve balls along the RF line. Other players would stop by to chat, but Manny rarely seemed to be engaging, always ending up by himself again after a few minutes. Big difference watching him interact with the guys as opposed to watching other young players such as Jim Thome, Brian Giles, Sandy Alomar or Kenny Lofton.
Ramirez was a hard worker, running with a small parachute attached to his waist. But he was always on his own, very minimal interaction with his teammates.
This whole damned era of roid-ball is just sad as hell. My late uncles loved the game, played ball in the old industrial leagues in south Baltimore; they'd both be sick at this. There's enough money to be made without cheating, whether it's in baseball, auto mechanics, you name it. I'm not gloating in Manny's departure. Just sad; sad that OUR sport has been turned into a rigged, phony, and dirty thing, no longer a thing of joy.
I don't fully understand this. Cheating/getting an edge has always been a part of the game: ampetamines, cocaine, corked bats, sand paper, vasoline, fixing for gambling interests, people lying about their age, and segregation have all been part of this games history, and people manage to gloss over and romantacize it still. Yet steroids, after that checkered history sucks all the joy out of baseball?
I get why someone might say steroids are in poor sportsmanship but if you loved this game before, I really don't understand why this pushes you over the edge. Even if its about the numbers, a lot of the old #s stand today and baseball, moreso than any other sport has numbers cemented in its history that almost literally untouchable, because of the games evolution. 755 doesn't stand anymore, so what, hitch your wagon to 511, it ain't going anywhere
So when is someone going to step up and get the statistics of a cheating player removed?
Mark McGwire does not deserve to have his name on any HR list records of any kind when all those BETTER players such as Ruth, Mays, Aaron etc all worked and played hard to achieve what they did and then comes along an idiot cheater like McGwire.
McGwire and Bonds should be used as a reason to remove every single stat a cheater has on record.
Lets call it the McGwire/Bonds removal plan.
Really nice of Manny to just QUIT when he fails a drug test. What a real baseball player he was.
So when is someone going to step up and get the statistics of a cheating player removed?
Mark McGwire does not deserve to have his name on any HR list records of any kind when all those BETTER players such as Ruth, Mays, Aaron etc all worked and played hard to achieve what they did and then comes along an idiot cheater like McGwire.
McGwire and Bonds should be used as a reason to remove every single stat a cheater has on record.
Lets call it the McGwire/Bonds removal plan.
Really nice of Manny to just QUIT when he fails a drug test. What a real baseball player he was.
Hank Aaron and Willie Mays both admitted to using amphetamines while they were playing
Babe ruth injected sheep testicle extract in order to (assumedly) try and get an advantage.
^^^But at least he was able to suck another 100mil out of the league and their moron fans before finally getting bounced out for being a mediocre talent pre-juice.
I know and the idiot Tampa Bay Rays picked him up...I couldn't root for him-when I saw his sorry a*& on the field...ugh...
I think that a significant part of baseball is playing by the rules. esp the big ones. Manny seemed to be in another part of the universe when it came to that. Talented and hard hitting, he wasted it (imo) and chose the easy way out. Probably will play in Japan or somewhere else. Sign of the times hate to say....
So when is someone going to step up and get the statistics of a cheating player removed?
Mark McGwire does not deserve to have his name on any HR list records of any kind when all those BETTER players such as Ruth, Mays, Aaron etc all worked and played hard to achieve what they did and then comes along an idiot cheater like McGwire.
McGwire and Bonds should be used as a reason to remove every single stat a cheater has on record.
Lets call it the McGwire/Bonds removal plan.
Really nice of Manny to just QUIT when he fails a drug test. What a real baseball player he was.
I wish it were possible to erase the tainted records, but it is not. You cannot simply remove existing numbers. Baseball is an accounts balanced dynamic. Every hit made by a batter is also a hit yielded by a pitcher. Every stolen base by a runner is a stolen base yielded by a catcher. If you try and vanquish the tainted offensive accomplisments, will you also be adjusting the ERA's of the pitchers who were the victims? And how will you handle cases where both the pitcher and the hitter were using steroids? A Manny homerun hit off of Riger Clemens...what happens to that?
Further, how would you make it fair? Remove the records of everyone who has been caught, but not those who were merely suspected? Brady Anderson never tested positive, yet few beleive that he had his big homerun year without help. And how do we know whose feats are clean and whose are not? Are we certain that Ken Griffey Jr. never juiced because he was never caught?
There is no satisfactory way to do what you are suggesting without making things even worse.
That the numbers have been tainted, and that it is not a situation which may be repaired, that is perhaps my biggest beef with steroid use. It is an unfixable problem records wise.
Manny apparently got CAUGHT cheating again and instead of taking the 100 game suspension...he retired!!!! Let him deny using PEDS again! He shouldn't even be on the ballot when his time comes up!
Thanks to those who replied....the sadness and loss of joy comes every time someone hits a home run, doubts surface about whether it's an honest round-tripper or a roid-tripper. Those nagging doubts never go away, I always wonder if that productive player is the real deal or just a drug hoax.
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