Manny Ramirez: Give Him a Shot and He'll Be a Role Model

The beginning of last season had barely gotten off to a start when Manny Ramirez decided that he would retire from Major League Baseball.

He made that decision based after failing baseball's performance-enhancing drug policy for the second time. He chose to retire, rather abruptly, instead of serving his 100-game suspension. But now that some time has passed, Ramirez has changed his tune.

According to a new report from ESPN.com, Ramirez is looking to change things up. He is currently filing for reinstatement back into baseball, and is hoping to land a tryout with a major league team in time for spring training.

At the same time, he is trying to have his 100-game suspension lessened significantly, down to only 50 games. He hopes that these things, coupled with the fact that a major league team picks him up, will shift his position to becoming more like a role model.

Manny Ramirez currently finds himself in Florida, where he is working out in pools and spending his time in batting cages. With this latest shift in his desire to play baseball again, Ramirez believes that if a team does indeed pick him up, that people will see him more like a role model, rather than someone who just up and quit.

Manny Ramirez is 39-years old, and he's played baseball for 18 years. Including time spent with the Boston Red Sox, Ramirez also played with the Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Cleveland Indians. Whether or not his change of thought will change the minds of any of the teams out there still remains to be seen.