On The Athletic: The Evolution of "Manny Being Manny"

The Gray Eagle

The Gray Eagle

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This came out a couple days ago, but I haven't seen it mentioned here anywhere-- it's kind of an "oral history" of Manny Ramirez's colorful stories in his days with Cleveland:
https://theathletic.com/2694013/2021/07/21/evolution-of-manny-being-manny-borrowed-underwear-uncashed-paychecks-carefree-confidence-for-a-hitting-savant/

He developed into a run-producing fixture in a perennially prolific Indians lineup, and an enigmatic character who stored uncashed paychecks in his locker, gave away his trophies to the team psychologist and treated Cleveland’s clubhouse like family-style dining, as he borrowed teammates’ bats and sported their underwear.
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Some of these tales are fairly well known around here, but fun to relive. Other I hadn't heard before. Good read if you are a Manny fan.

Manny ignored the customary, oft-unspoken protocols. To him, bats weren’t some sacred treasure. In one particular game, he wielded four different bats via four different teammates and recorded four base hits. In another, he socked a home run with a broken bat. Initially, reporters marveled at the might required to muscle a baseball beyond a fence after the heater splintered his bat. Manny clarified, however, that the bat was cracked before he even left the dugout.
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Manny the Underpants Gnome:
No layer was off-limits. If Manny suffered through a skid at the plate, he’d snatch an article of clothing — a T-shirt, socks, even underwear — from a teammate who was thriving.

“Guys would be looking for their underwear and Manny would be wearing it,” says pitching coach Mark Wiley.
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Ogea is pronounced OJ:
On June 17, 1994, in the thick of a 10-game winning streak, the Indians huddled around a TV in the clubhouse, captivated by the O.J. Simpson white Bronco chase. One player said, “Can you believe what O.J. is doing?” Manny walked into the room, having just showered, and nonchalantly replied: “What’s Chad up to now?” The rest of the team, convinced the rookie right fielder thought teammate Chad Ogea was fleeing police in a nationally televised pursuit, erupted with laughter.
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With Manny and loony Julian Tavarez on the same team, wacky ideas were probably everywhere:
Early in his career, Manny sat one afternoon with Julian Tavarez in the visitor’s clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Manny rarely engaged in noteworthy conversations with reporters, and he never initiated the dialogue. On this day, though, he summoned Ocker to their table and asked the early-50s newspaperman for a loan.

“How much?” Ocker asked.
“Sixty thousand dollars,” Manny said.
Ocker flipped his pants pockets inside out to reveal only a few clumps of lint.
“How about $30,000?” Manny relented.
Ocker inquired about the plans for this potential windfall. Manny said he and Tavarez each wanted to purchase a new Harley Davidson motorcycle.
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The advent of direct deposit was surely a game-changing breakthrough for Manny:

Neglected paychecks routinely fluttered out of Manny’s locker in the Indians’ clubhouse at Jacobs Field. He once left one in a pair of cowboy boots in the visitor’s clubhouse in Texas. The team’s controller required the PR director to talk to Manny about depositing the paychecks.

The PR director asked Manny: “How are you doing for money?”

“I’m doing great,” Manny said. “You need some?”

The PR director politely declined and instead suggested Manny hadn’t been cashing his paychecks. Manny rummaged through his cleats and batting gloves and teammates’ belongings at the bottom of his locker and unearthed three unopened, crumpled envelopes, each containing a check worth two weeks’ salary...

Of course, Manny had plenty of cash. He once left $25,000 in his locker over the offseason. A clubhouse attendant discovered the money while cleaning out Manny’s space. The Indians deposited it for him.
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Manny was a widely acknowledged hitting genius. On the bases, not so much.

Manny didn’t demonstrate as much dedication to the other facets of his game. He would occasionally forget the number of outs when roaming right field, so the team psychologist crafted a laminated sheet that reminded him to track the score, the number of outs and to which base he should throw the ball. Once, when he was running on the pitch, a middle infielder for the opposition told him the batter had hit a foul ball, so Manny returned to first base, where he was tagged out. There was no foul ball.
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Say what you want about him, Manny still loves hitting.
He has surfaced at any ballpark on any continent that will welcome him. When failed PED tests foiled his bid to play in the majors into his 40s, Manny bounced around the minors with several clubs, played in the Dominican Winter League and a Japanese independent league and even appeared in 49 games for the EDA Rhinos of the Chinese Professional Baseball League. Last winter, he struck an agreement to play in Australia, though that partnership fizzled before he ever stepped into the batter’s box. Even as he approaches 50, he’s in search of a bat and a cage or a field.
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Erik Hanson's Hook

Erik Hanson's Hook

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For me, he was Pedro at the plate. I'll never forget Theo speaking in awe about his ability to take the low inside fastball out the ballpark, to get the barrel out that fast. He was the one guy, even more so than Ortiz, that I would stop whatever I was doing and watch hit. A genius/savant in that arena.
 
Kenny F'ing Powers

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The same way people would get beer when the Sox were on offense and Pedro pitched, people would make sure to be in their seat when Manny hit. He was the best pure right handed hitter I ever saw, sorry Mike Trout.
 
lexrageorge

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Favorite Manny stat: 1.030 OPS against the Yankees.

Curious Manny stat: On teams against whom he played more than 35 games, his lowest production came against the Red Sox (0.833 OPS against in 81 games). He did worse against the Braves, Rockies, and Cubs, but small sample sizes prevail.
 
Kliq

Kliq

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Outside of Bonds, Manny is the best pure hitter I've ever seen. Just a complete hitters who owned the strike zone and could roll out of bed and hit .330 with 40 homers.
 
H

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Nobody will ever convince me that Manny Ramirez did not hit the furthest HR ever at Fenway. I respect Teddy Ballgame, but Manny got jobbed by somebody trying to protect the red seat.
 
reggiecleveland

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I only saw Manny play live once, in Seattle, the game the moose almost ran over Coco.
Pregame they had these slow pitch guys with juiced, bats, balls, bodies, hitting balls almost on the traintracks at the top of Safeco. For some reason Manny starts running sprints in the of. These guys are hitting rockets all over the place. Tito is going nuts, yelling at Manny to get in the dugout. He has Lugo, and a mariners grounds crew guy with a glove, a security guard all in a line, trying to protect Manny. Farrell runs out there jogging besides Manny pleading with him to come in. A ball goes screaming over their heads and Manny looks towards the plate and it was obvious for the first time he noticed what was going on. He just shrugged turned around ran one more sprint in mock terror to a big ovation. Of course he hit one out in the game.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SEA/SEA200708050.shtml
 
RG33

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Max Power said:
Definitely. Statcast would have killed the myth dead seconds after the second homer. It hit the top of the light tower over the Monster.

View: https://youtu.be/oTe_mpOmnpA
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The oddest thing for me in this highlight was seeing the net over the monster. It does not seem like Manny played long ago enough to have been around with the net still over the monster to me. This getting old stuff sucks.
 
jaytftwofive

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RG33 said:
The oddest thing for me in this highlight was seeing the net over the monster. It does not seem like Manny played long ago enough to have been around with the net still over the monster to me. This getting old stuff sucks.
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Yes only 2 seasons. 01 and 02. The seats were put in in 03.
 
bankshot1

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Manny's "501" HR probably was measured and signed off by Larry Luchino.

You don't screw easily with legends.

I once saw Killebrew hit a ball that got lost high up in the LF light tower. I had that at "500".

But the longest HR I ever saw at Fenway was a Rice mammoth shot similar to Manny's shot off the L-C Fleet sign.

Except Rice's ball (off KC's Steve Busby) was a line shot just to the left of the flag, inches from the top of the flag, and it exited Fenway in dead center, over the center field wall (where the scoreboard is now) in what looked to me (sitting in the CF bleachers watching the ball), was still on the rise.

An easy "503"
 
A

Amos Otis regrets

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bankshot1 said:
But the longest HR I ever saw at Fenway was a Rice mammoth shot similar to Manny's shot off the L-C Fleet sign.

Except Rice's ball (off KC's Steve Busby) was a line shot just to the left of the flag, inches from the top of the flag, and it exited Fenway in dead center, over the center field wall (where the scoreboard is now) in what looked to me (sitting in the CF bleachers watching the ball), was still on the rise.

An easy "503"
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Jim Woods' call of this (as it appears on the highlight album Super Sox of 75) is a cherished memory. "Man alive, did he get all of that one. Otis didn't even move. It disappeared somewhere in the folds of the American flag."

You can hear it here, beginning at c. 13:30: View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3hEj1HzSMA
 
jaytftwofive

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My Dad says Jimmy Foxx hit one that hit the top of the center field bleacher wall and would have gone out minus a foot or two. He says that was probably the longest one hit.
 
bankshot1

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Amos Otis regrets said:
Jim Woods' call of this (as it appears on the highlight album Super Sox of 75) is a cherished memory. "Man alive, did he get all of that one. Otis didn't even move. It disappeared somewhere in the folds of the American flag."

You can hear it here, beginning at c. 13:30: View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3hEj1HzSMA
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Thanks for posting that. I never heard Wood's call of the homer before (didn't know it existed). I wish there was video tape of the actual HR.
 
MuzzyField

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SumnerH

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grsharky7 said:
Dennis Drinkwater hates traffic…
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Yep, that was an ongoing topic in game threads for a while. Drinkwater gets up and sprints for the exit whenever he determines that it's over.

https://dirtywatermedia.com/where-has-drinkwater-gone/ has some other shots of him after big walkoffs, including the 2004 ALCS game 4. Papi hits a bomb. Joe Buck calls “Ortiz into deep right field...back goes Sheffield...we’ll see you later tonight!” Fenway is freaking out celebrating.

Meanwhile, Drinkwater's turned for the exit before “-tiz” comes out of Buck's mouth.
 
jaytftwofive

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boxosII said:
Manny was the Marlon Brando of MLB
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You mean......"I coulda had class, I coulda been a Hall of famah, I coulda been somebody instead of taking steroids which destroyed my chances, let's face it. No......I shoulda listened to you Cholly." That's Charlie Manuel. They were good buddies and he always credited him with making him a great hitter.
 
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jaytftwofive

jaytftwofive

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jaytftwofive said:
You mean......"I coulda had class, I coulda been a Hall of famah, I could have been somebody instead of taking steroids which destroyed my chances, let's face it. No......I shoulda listened to you Cholly" That's Charlie Manuel. They were good buddies and he always credited him with making him a great hitter.
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Don't get me wrong. I'll always love Manny, steroids or not.
 
M

Milktoast

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bankshot1 said:
Manny's "501" HR probably was measured and signed off by Larry Luchino.

You don't screw easily with legends.

I once saw Killebrew hit a ball that got lost high up in the LF light tower. I had that at "500".

But the longest HR I ever saw at Fenway was a Rice mammoth shot similar to Manny's shot off the L-C Fleet sign.

Except Rice's ball (off KC's Steve Busby) was a line shot just to the left of the flag, inches from the top of the flag, and it exited Fenway in dead center, over the center field wall (where the scoreboard is now) in what looked to me (sitting in the CF bleachers watching the ball), was still on the rise.

An easy "503"
Click to expand...
I believe "501" came from Dr Charles Steinberg.
 
Leskanic's Thread

Leskanic's Thread

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I had completely forgotten that the guy doubled-up at first on the Manny Baltimore hi-five play was Aubrey Huff. A chef's-kiss perfect grace note.
 
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