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Looking at Boston Red Sox outfielder Manny Ramirez, one would never guess that he is a future hall of fame baseball player.
Over the past couple of seasons, various fans have expressed outrage over the fact his pants are about three times too big and he has long dread locks that stick out from underneath the hat. Some other fans believe that he is not a great fielder who often loafs on plays not only defensively but also on the base paths. While outsiders believe that this Dominican native may not give it his all at times, and disrespects the game by the way he wears his uniform, baseball die- hard fans in Boston just shake their collective heads while repeating that old familiar Beantown saying, “It’s Manny being Manny.”
Still, the one thing no one can take away from this happy go lucky 36 year-old is his tremendous god given ability to hit homeruns. On a magical Saturday night at Camden Yards, Ramirez hit a drive to right center to become only the 24th major leaguer to reach the magical 500 home run mark. “As soon as I hit it, I knew it was gone,” Ramirez who hit his first Major league homerun for the Cleveland Indians in 1993 said. “So I was happy to move on.”
Ramirez, who signed with the Boston Red Sox as a free agent in 2000, admitted to pressing a little after hitting his 496th on April 19. From that point up until Saturday, the slugging left fielder had only three in 34 games. “It was great, especially since I’ve been trying so hard the past three weeks just to get it done,” he said. “It finally came and I’m happy.” “I’m proud of myself, of all the things I’ve accomplished. Now I can go and have fun.”
Ramirez, who in the past has often been criticized for going into a pre mature homerun trot, once again stood and admired the seventh inning homer that traveled approximately 410 feet and at the time gave the Red Sox a 5-3 lead. Ramirez’s best friend David Ortiz came out of the dugout to give Manny a congratulatory hug along with his other fun loving teammates.
Reflecting on the homerun, Orioles manager Dave Trembley believed that perhaps his pitchers shouldn’t have thrown strikes. “You could see he was aggressive out there,” said the manager. “The worst thing we did was throw him a strike. It probably would have been better if we threw the ball outside of the strike zone every time he was up tonight because it seemed like he was in a hurry to get it over with.”
This first ballot hall of famer, is only the third player (Ted Williams, Jimmy Fox) to reach the magical mark of 500 in a Red Sox uniform. He is also the only the 7th player in major league history to have reached 500 homeruns, 1,500 RBI’S, 1,000 walks, 475 doubles, and a 300 lifetime average.
“Obviously he will go down as one of the greatest hitters of all time,” said Trembley.
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