Manny Ramirez Stock Watch: "Gas Is Up and So Am I"

One of the best things MLB could ever do would be to ban Manny Ramirez. Maybe just suspend him for a year to make a point.

Except for betting on baseball, Manny committed the worst sin a baseball player can do: he quit. So burn your Manny jerseys and let him sit.

Manny has been a great player worthy of the Hall of Fame. If Ty Cobb can be in the Hall, then the only moral standard that can be applied for entry is that you did not bet on baseball.

We have no reason to think he bet on anything, so Manny's path for the Hall is clear. However, that does not mean is is worthy of our respect or admiration...or your team's money.

Many fans just see Manny when he is hitting bombs on ESPN highlight shows. Or you saw him being goofy, which can be lovable.

However, many do not realize Manny had a long history of whining, quitting, abuse, and demanding special treatment. With help from SouthCoastToday, here's a short history of his less admirable antics in Boston.

"Sept. 28, 2001: Plays in his final game of the season, missing the last nine contests with what's termed a sore left wrist.

Dec. 10, 2001: The Boston Globe reports Ramirez told the Sox he was "uncomfortable" during his first Boston season, prompting the team to expand the clubhouse and create a separate media interview room. The Sox later create a separate space just for Manny.

May 11, 2002: Breaks finger on a head-first slide into home in Seattle, and ends up missing 36 games. During his Pawtucket rehab work, reportedly expresses desire to simply remain with PawSox.

Sept. 9, 2002: In Tampa, fails to leave batter's box on a ground-out.

Aug. 9, 2003: Tells ESPN he would like to play for the Yankees.

Aug. 30-31, 2003: Out of a series with the Yankees due to throat inflammation, sighted at the Ritz Carlton hotel bar with New York's Enrique Wilson.

Sept. 1, 2003: Refuses to pinch-hit during an interleague game in Philadelphia. Then-manager Grady Little benches him the next day.

Oct. 29, 2003: After Manny requests a trade, the Red Sox place him on irrevocable waivers, making him available to the entire league, but no team claims him in the 48-hour window.

July 27, 2005: Despite an injury to Trot Nixon that leaves Terry Francona shorthanded, Ramirez demands to keep his scheduled off day at the end of a road trip. Boston beats Tampa without him.

July 31, 2005: After a week of speculation about meeting his requests for a trade, Ramirez—who sat out the previous two games—hits a pinch-hit single to beat Minnesota an hour after the trading deadline.

Winter 2005: Expresses desire to be traded, and threatens to sit out spring training if he isn't.

March 1, 2006: Ramirez reports late to spring training.

July 11, 2006: Despite being the AL's top vote-getter, skips the All-Star Game in Pittsburgh, citing knee soreness.

Aug. 23, 2006: Ramirez leaves a win at Anaheim in the fourth inning with what's termed "a sore right knee." He appears in just eight of the year's final 36 games, and the Red Sox—beset by injuries—miss the playoffs.

June 5, 2008: Backhands Kevin Youkilis in the Red Sox dugout over the team's unhappiness with Youkilis's displays after strikeouts.

June 29, 2008: Ramirez reportedly shoves 64-year-old traveling secretary Jack McCormick after Manny gets upset that McCormick cannot meet a last-minute request for a large block of tickets.

July 15, 2008: Before the All-Star Game, tells the Boston Herald he wants a sit-down meeting with Red Sox brass. "I want no more (expletive) where they tell you one thing and behind your back they do another thing." Owner John Henry calls it "personally offensive."

July 23, 2008: Ramirez sits out of Boston's series finale in Seattle with a sore knee. When the Sox later request an MRI, Manny cannot remember which knee "hurt." So the Sox order MRIs on both of Manny's knees, which both come back clean.

July 29, 2008: With John Lackey throwing a no-hitter for the Angels, takes more than five seconds to reach first on a grounder just inside the third-base line. After he's thrown out, Ramirez is loudly booed by the Fenway crowd.

July 30, 2008: Ramirez tells ESPN Deportes "the Red Sox don't deserve a player like me. "I'm not talking about money. Mental peace has no price, and I don't have peace here."

July 31, 2008: The Red Sox trade Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers, paying the remaining $7 million of his 2008 salary, and sending reliever Craig Hansen and outfielder Brandon Moss to Pittsburgh for Pirates outfielder Jason Bay."

Manny was given preferential treatment and had the clubhouse modified for him. The Sox mollified many trade requests and at one point made him available to all of baseball if they would just take his contract.

These things happen, and can be done with respect and honor. Ramirez avoided any contact with honor and instead cried, sat, whined, and punched his way out of town.

It is Manny's other behaviors that are the real problem. From the second season with Boston, there were hints that he would play only when he wanted to. He missed the end of a few Boston seasons by claiming injury, or clearly dogging it on the field.

Then in 2008, it appeared Ramirez and his agent Scott Boras wanted to get out of Boston, where the Red Sox had two one-year team options.

Manny apparently told teammates he thought he could get $100 million over four years from another team. It seems unlikely that Ramirez thought up those numbers on his own.

In June 2008, Manny hit Kevin Youkilis in the dugout during a game after Ramirez decided he did not like the way Youkilis strikes out.

A few weeks later Ramirez shoved 60-year old Red Sox employee Jack McCormick to the ground after Manny made a last minute request for 16 tickets to that day's game.

As reported by the Providence Journal when McCormick cautioned Ramirez that he might not be able to fulfill his request, Ramirez responded by shouting: "Just do your job!" An argument ensued and Ramirez pushed McCormick, sending him to the ground.

A month later Ramirez said his knee hurt and he could not play. A few days later the Sox requested an MRI on his knee, but Manny could not remember which knee hurt. An MRI was ordered for each knee, and neither revealed any damage. This was just the latest and most obvious sign that Manny was willing to quit.

In between these events there were smaller, less obvious signs that Manny was not trying even when he was playing.

It's impossible to prove he was not trying in every case, but five second to first base, the MRIs, rolling around in the outfield on a ball in play and what your eyes told you all add up to him not trying.

If that was not enough to convince you, look at Manny's 2008 season to date batting averages in Boston and then after the red line in L.A..

After the Dodgers' season ended, Manny declared "Gas is up and so am I." Amusingly, just as he made this statement gas prices have dropped harder and faster than any time in history.


In the end, Manny's own Boston teammates unanimously voted to approve his trade. If Manny's own teammates don't think he is worthy, why should your team?

Manny quit on his team and baseball, and now its time for everyone else to quit on him. If Boras needs to spin this, he can say Manny joined BanBaseball.com's 2009 boycott of MLB for the good of the game.