Manny Ramirez Retires Rather Than Deal With Drug Suspension

[Zombo]

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/08/ramirez-retires-after-testing-positive/?src=me

 

April 8, 2011, 4:39 pm

Manny Ramirez Retires After Testing Positive

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT

Mike Carlson/Associated Press Manny Ramirez tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug during spring training and was recently informed of the positive result.Manny Ramirez retired from baseball Friday instead of facing a 100-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug, according to two people briefed on the matter.

 

Ramirez tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug during spring training and was recently informed of the positive result, according to the people.

 

In a news release, the commissioner’s office said it had recently notified Ramirez “of an issue under Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.”

 

The statement added, “Rather than continue with the process under the Program, Ramirez has informed M.L.B. that he is retiring as an active player.”

 

 

The commissioner’s office said that if Ramirez wanted to return to baseball, he would have to face discipline for his positive test.

 

The positive test in spring training was the third time Ramirez tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug.

 

In 2009, he was suspended after his urine sample from spring training had elevated levels of testosterone. The New York Times reported later in 2009 that Ramirez was among the roughly 100 players who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003, when testing was conducted on an anonymous survey basis.

 

Ramirez played 66 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2010 and 24 games for the Chicago White Sox, hitting .298 with 9 home runs and 42 runs batted in in 90 games.

 

He signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Rays in January and was 1 for 17 in five games this season.

 

The Rays said in a statement: “We are obviously surprised and disappointed by this news. We will have no further comment on this matter, and our fans and organization will carry on.”

[Canton Mike]

No, I DON'T think he's a Hall of Famer as his performance was enhanced with illegal substances. He was a great hitter, but WOULD he have been without the drugs? I have a large issue with a player the caliber of Pete Rose kept from the Hall even though his performance was NOT enhanced, yet the phony "steroid assisted" records are allowed to stand & Manny is considered a possible (most likely probable) Hall of Famer.

I have long said the integrity of baseball has been compromised by this stuff. For me, it has ruined the great American sport of baseball. Players entering baseball need to know that using illegal drugs will absolutely disqualify them from EVER entering the Hall of Fame, regardless what their on field performance was. Sure that's a stiff penalty, but IMHO it is the only way to return the game to respectability.

Mike

[Cowsrus]

IMO, NO, I don't think that lazy, cheating, snide man will be in the HOF nor does he deserve to be. I think he is "retiring" instead of taking his lumps for his actions. I hate this expression but this IS Manny being Manny, thinking he can do what he wants and act like he wants with no coniquences. Would he have been as good without the juice? I doubt it otherwise why use it? It is cheating plain and simple, unfair, unsportsmanlike, and just wrong. This time Manny being Manny isn't gonna work and he is taking his ball and going home (per sey) like a child because he got caught and is taking the cowards way out instead of facing up to what he has done. He has enough money, he's not gonna go hungry or anything. Good riddance (SP?).

 

He will be on the list with the other guys that did the same thing. And if they feel they should be allowed to be in the HOF, they should be ashamed. They have tainted Baseball. I have always like Baseball for the beauty of it and nowadays it's not so much as they play for the love of the game but for fame and the money.

 

Here is an article I read the other day: http://aol.sportingnews.com/mlb/feed/2011-03/bonds-trial/story/manny-wont-see-the-hof-as-with-many-of-the-needle-ball-era?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl4%7Csec1_lnk3%7C209503.

 

I like this part: "Within a few years of that, BBWAA voters will have these names to chew on, provided they don’t fall off the ballot for drawing fewer than 5 percent of votes in any given year: Mark McGwire. Rafael Palmeiro. Bonds. Clemens. Sammy Sosa. Gary Sheffield. Andy Pettitte. And, in 2017, Manny Ramirez.

 

There will also be players whose integrity on performance-enhancers has not been widely held up to scrutiny: Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling and John Smoltz. Remember, however, that it will be at least three more years before any of their names come onto the ballot – and, as we continue to learn the hard way, a lot can change in a lot fewer than three years."

 

 

 

 

Heidi

[Beanpot]

Eh, I don't really care if he makes it into Cooperstown or not. While it does take a special person to fail TWO tests after testing has been announced, I'm not at all comfortable digging a stake into the ground and saying one guy doesn't belong while another does, simply because it's impossible to know who used and who did not.

 

I mean, would anyone be at all surprised to learn that any player once used? Thome, Pujols, Vizquel or Maddux? No chance I'd take that bet on any one of those players. The use was rampant and didn't at all discriminate against body type or position. It also obviously wasn't limited to baseball. When someone mentions that PED use ruined the sport for them, I can only assume that they no longer follow any sport above the elementary school level. There was actually a terrific article/column about why a subset of people somehow manage to wag their finger at baseball while they blissfully continue to follow football, basketball and even hockey to a lesser extent. Can't find it now, but it had to do with the human condition and its ability to more easily associate itself with baseball players while considering football players to be caged warriors wearing body armor. It wasn't as simplistic as that, but that was the general point.

 

As for Manny himself, boy was he a terrific (every sense of that definition) character. A hitting savant who was clearly a child with a long streak of passive/aggressive behavior.

 

There are the memorable stories about him forgetting to cash paychecks for months at a time, mistaking O.J. Simpson for Chad Ogea, refusing to use toilet paper and backing up toilets with wash cloths and of course shoving Jack McCormick to the ground after a misunderstanding over tickets.

 

Curt Schilling has also talked about the time that Manny was due a day off on a Wednesday (followed by an off day on Thursday) and told Francona that he was going to follow that schedule even though Trot Nixon was injured that Tuesday evening. Peter Gammons also related the following story just recently:

 

Pedro Martinez laughs when he tells his Manny Ramirez story. People often laugh when they tell Manny stories.

 

"My sister cooked up a special batch of food," Martinez remembers. "It was a huge container of rice and beans and chicken and vegetables -- really healthy -- for the team to enjoy after the game that night. Manny didn't play, so he sent one of the clubhouse kids out to a local place (Papa Gino's) for a couple of spaghetti dinners.

 

"He cleaned out the chicken and rice and put the spaghetti in its place. So when the team got in after the game, the players are all asking, 'What happened to our food?' Manny took it home, invited some friends over to his condo and had a party."

 

So was he a good guy? Nah, probably not. Was he lazy? Depends on which part of his game you're talking about. The stories of him spending hours upon hours in the batting cages are legendary, as are the words of managers who openly wished that others would work as hard at their craft as Manny did. Snide? Nah, that involves desire and intent. I don't suspect that Manny had a calculating bone in his body. Here's a link to an old Outside The Lines piece that, I think, backs that up:

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/page2/tvlistings/show38transcript.html

 

In short, I loved watching the guy hit and especially loved when he was doing it for the Tribe. He was a complicated SOB to support and follow and he deserves whatever fate awaits him by the voting body in Cooperstown. What he doesn't deserve (not that it's happening here, but it is elsewhere) is people attributing all of his talent to drugs. That's the height of ignorance and simply shows that one didn't watch this kid hit in the early levels of his career.

 

Beanpot