What Flag Is Blue and White Famous Mlb Player Manny Ramirez

There are places where an athlete can go and have a slightly better shot at becoming a legend.  While the list might be debatable, Boston is almost certainly on the list.  Back in 2001, with that city 83 years removed from its last World Series Championship, the stage was set for Indian's slugger Manny Ramirez to become just that in Boston - a legend.  But seven years later, despite two victorious trips to the illusive fall classic, Ramirez has made a rather curt exit from Beantown, leaving behind a legacy that will prove as bitter as any other.

Ramirez was brought in to Boston as a free agent for a contract worth $200 million, if you include the now defunct 2009 and 2010 club options.  Starting off right, Ramirez hit .408 in the first April with the Red Sox, and wound up with a .306 average and 41 home runs for the season.  There was a preview of things to come, however, when Manny  skipped All-Star workouts to have drinks with his agent, but told the press his grandmother had died.

2002 proved to be even better, with Ramirez winning the AL batting title, despite missing more than a month with hamstring issues.  For fans and front office alike, the acquisition of Manny seemed to be working.  He was quiet with the media, which always raises eyebrows in Boston, and he began showing some of the quirkiness that led to the coining of the phrase "Manny Being Manny," but he was performing.  But as all involved were soon to learn, the "Manny" that Manny was being was at times, well...pretty lousy.

That August, the Red Sox found themselves 3.5 games in back of their arch rivals, the Yankees, for the top spot in the AL East. A sweep in their home series against the Bronx Bombers could have done much to remedy that, but instead it saw them lose a game, in part due to Ramirez's less than stellar work ethics.  Ramirez missed several games that summer complaining of a sore throat that was labeled pharyngitis.  However, with the Yankees in town, including Ramirez's pal, New York infielder Enrique Wilson, the two friends were spotted at the bar of Ramirez's hotel, a seemingly curious activity for Ramirez who had claimed he was too sick to play in the Yankee series.  Grady Little, then manager for the team, benched Ramirez for a game. Perhaps as a retaliation, Ramirez refused to go in when Grady Little asked him to pinch hit in a game in Philadelphia.  The Sox were losing at the time, though they did go on to rally with 6 runs in the ninth for a 13 - 9 win that day.

That season was Grady's last after he ignored logic and a front office request to limit Pedro Martinez to 6 innings and caused the ALCS game seven loss to those same Yankees.  It might have been Ramirez's last in Boston, too, had the front office gotten their wish.  Tired of his milking injuries, lying badly, and just plain being acting childish, the Red Sox first tried to make a deal to send Ramirez to Texas as part of a larger trade for Alex Rodriguez, only to have it thwarted by the players association because A-Rod was willing to lower his salary to play in Boston.  The Red Sox also placed Ramirez on irrevocable waivers, willing to let anyone who would take his salary and his nonsense to pick him up.  No one did.

Perhaps the season that was most indicative of the schizophrenic performances by Ramirez was 2004.  In a sport that is a wonderful marriage of statistics and sentiment, Ramirez shined on '04, seemingly trying to reassure Red Sox Nation that he was their friend.  In 2004, Ramirez led the American League with 43 home runs.  He also led in slugging percentage and OPS.  He ranked third in RBI, Sixth in on-base percentage, and had a .308 season batting average.  David Ortiz helped him with a few more stats.  The two were the first (in the AL) since Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth to both hit 40+ homers, 100+ RBI, and bat over .300 for a season.  Their six back-to-back homers also tied a Major league record.  In the 2004 All Star Game, Ramirez hit a two run homer off of former Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens (then with the Astros) and was part of a four man set (Ramirez, Derek Jeeter, Ichiro Suzuki, and Ivan Rodriguez) to be the first four players to combine for hitting the cycle in one inning of an All Star game.  Ramirez finished the season by helping Boston realize its dream by winning their first World Series in 86 years.  He helped so much, in fact, that he was named World Series MVP.  In terms of turn-arounds, this one appeared to be epic.  The question was, would it last?

2005 did not see the Red Sox repeat as champions, though they did make the play-offs.  That year did see Ramirez seemingly stay buckled down, tying a career high with 45 home runs for the season.  When the Red Sox were knocked out of the post season by that year's eventual champions, the Chicago White Sox, Ramirez began demanding a trade.  He made threats of boycotting Spring training, but in the end when no deal was made, he changed his mind.

While Ramirez's 2006 was strong, it was not as strong as his previous few seasons and the same could be said for his team.  The Red Sox failed to make the post season in 2006 for the first time since 2002.  2007 brought a second World Series championship in four years to Boston, but saw Manny have a very much average year.  Manny hit 20 homers that season, with 88 RBI and a .296 batting average.  He spent a portion of the summer out with an oblique strain, and injury that many felt he was exaggerating.  He was back in time for the playoffs and hit a game winning 3-run home run off of Francisco Rodriguez (K-Rod) in the ALDS against the Angels.

At the beginning of the 2008 season, much was made of Ramirez's statements about wanting to retire in a Red Sox uniform.  Althought he'd changed agents to the dispicable Scott Boras, he'd spend his off season working out and was coming back seemingly ready to revert back to his old form.  The sad part was, that is exactly what he did.

Ramirez hit his 500th career home run on May 31st.  Five days later, he took a swing at first baseman Kevin Youkilis during a game while the two were in the dugout.  The fight was reportedly over Youkilis's overreactions when he had bad at bats.  Ramirez was always nothing if not unemotional, so the excuse made sense.  Later in the month reports surfaced that Manny had knocked the Red Sox travelling secretary, Jack McCormick, to the ground.  The assault was evidently caused when the 64 year old McCormick told Ramirez that he might have trouble getting him 16 tickets for that days game because of the short notice.  Supposedly, Ramirez told McCormick to, "Do your [expletive] job!" and shoved McCormick.

Certain behaviors began to be noticed by the press and fans alike.  Ramirez was jogging to first on ground balls, ala Barry Bonds.  He came up against the Yankees in a very close game and struck out on three pitches, having done so badly that speculation arose that it was intentional.  He skipped a game against the Mariners, citing knee pain, then bowed out of a Yankee game minutes before line-ups were due, telling the bench coach to inform Manager Terry Francona.

Suddenly, the lovable Manny who three months earlier wanted to retire in Boston seemed to have changed his mind.  He began talking to ESPN Deportes reporters and giving quotes about how badly the Boston front office had treated him over the years and asserting that, "The Red Sox don't deserve a player like me..."  In the end, the front office agreed and Ramirez was unceremoniously traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, along with cash and two prospects.  The Red Sox received Jason Bay from the Pirates as part of a three team deal.

At first, fans were dubious in their feelings about the departed icon.  But when Ramirez showed up in L.A. and began to do all the things he was not doing in Boston, sentiment turned.  In his first 20 games in Dodger blue, Ramirez batted .496, garnishing 6 homers and 21 RBI.  He told the press that he'd like to retire a Dodger.  In direct contradiction to behavior before he left Boston, he was joking with reporters, giggling like a school girl.  One game even saw him stealing a base after sprinting down the to first to beat a close play.  It became clear that Ramirez's aches and pains, slumping average, extra strikeouts, and most importantly his nasty attitude were all part of a greater plan.  Whether we give the credit for this cerebral, if not ethical undertaking to Ramirez or Scot Boras, it became clear the the plan all along had been to get out of those two years of $10 million options that Boston held.  Ramirez, who was reportedly hoping for new contract (anywhere) for upwards of $25 million per year, played his cards beautifully.  Making himself a large enough distraction just before the August 31st non-wavier trade deadline could only have produced one of two outcomes:  Either he would be traded without the two year options, thus guaranteeing his free agency at the end of '08, or he would be kept, but having left such a bad taste in the mouths of the Red Sox, the option for '09 would not be exercised and he would still become a free agent.

Unfortunately, the saga of "Manny Being Manny" in Boston ended on the sourest of notes.  It's sad when any sports hero chooses money over integrity, but perhaps more so in this case because of the legacy that Ramirez could have left behind.  He was an integral part of reversing the "Curse of the Bambino" and bringing glory back to the Red Sox.  He played some of his best baseball in Boston, a city where no matter what Ramirez asserts, he was given more latitude than many, many others.  His quirkiness was tolerated because he was usually affable and usually performed.  At some point, however, Ramirez decided that being paid more was a greater accomplishment that going down as one of the most famous members of one of the most storied franchises in baseball.  Is Manny Ramirez one of the greatest players ever in the game? For sure.  Will he be a first ballot Hall-of-Famer?  Most likely.  Nonetheless, the Manny Ramirez legacy will always include many negative aspects, all associated with selfishness.  They say that legends never die, but that axiom has been proven wrong at the hands of a well calculated and very disheartening suicide of greatness.

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Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/50339-the-making-of-a-non-legend-manny-ramirez