Manny Ramirez: Come Baby Boy

When I played little league and Babe Ruth baseball, the coaches insisted on a lot of chatter when we were out in the field. A favorite refrain was, “Come baby, come baby boy.” Chatter by major league baseball players ended a long time ago, which is too bad. Even in the days of major league chatter, Manny Ramirez would’ve never participated. Manny is his own man. He doesn’t like to talk to anyone. He certainly wouldn’t engage in team chatter.

When Manny was negotiating with his current team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, I did an unflattering post about the enigmatic slugger, because he just couldn’t take the $40 million package offered by the Dodgers. He needed $45 million. As it turns out, he got it and has played a significant role in the Dodgers’ record-setting start this year.

Apparently, Manny not only doesn’t talk to other people, he doesn’t read the papers, listen to TV news, or surf the Web. Just when you thought no major league player would be stupid enough to use performance enhancing drugs this day and time, Manny got busted. He’ll be suspended for 50 games, and that will cost him $7.7 million. No joy or chatter in LA’s Mudville today.

Ramirez is a great baseball player. He doesn’t need drugs. Because of his recent indiscretion (which is just one more thing to add to a career of strange behavior as well as outstanding play), he places his team’s success in jeopardy. As employers learn every day, some great employees are just too much trouble.