Manny being Manny...no more.

Friday, April 8, 2011

I suppose I’ve been a part of the ‘Red Sox Nation’ since the day I was born almost 56 years ago. I started life in Bristol, Ct., home of one of the minor league teams for the Boston Red Sox. I can’t say it was fashionable for kids to root for the Sox in the early 60’s…they were a pretty pathetic team and kids do like winners (actually…so do adults), but I sucked it up and cheered for them mightily.

I continued living and breathing Red Sox baseball even after my family moved to Cleveland. It became more fashionable after the miracle finish to the ’67 season and a heart-breaking World Series loss in seven games to the Cardinals. Carl Yastrzemski, baseball’s last Triple Crown winner and American League MVP, was my hero.

The years went by and I came to love the Indians first and the Red Sox second, hoping that one of them would win a World Series in my lifetime. The Indians had won their last Series in 1948 and the Red Sox went back to 1918…the last season Babe Ruth wore a Sox uniform. Trading him to the Yankees had invoked ‘the curse of the Bambino’ which was supposed to prevent the Red Sox from ever winning the Series again. but then came 2004 and Manny Ramirez. Manny, the beloved Cleveland Indian, had helped us return to the World Series in 1995 and again in ’97. He moved to Boston in 2000 and had an incredible season in ’04, helping lead the Red Sox from a 3 games to nothing deficit to the defending World Champion New York Yankees to an improbable seven-game series victory and then to a sweep of the Cardinals in the World Series, where he was the MVP. I cried that night watching the Red Sox end the curse and called my childhood buddy in Connecticut, Mike Barry, to share the moment. The curse was broken. Manny had done it and the Red Sox were champions of the world. He would again lead them to a World Series victory in ’07, coming back from a 3 to 1 deficit in games to beat my beloved Indians in the process.

Yesterday, Manny failed a test for performance enhancing drugs for the second time in two years. He was suspended from playing baseball for 100 games, but decided instead that he should retire. Steroids has tainted the game and brought into question the accomplishments of so many of its biggest stars. Manny, like Barry Bonds, would have been a Hall of Fame player without the drugs. He may have been the best hitter in Major League Baseball over the last 20 years…he was that gifted. I know many players turned to steroids because they felt they needed them to keep up with all the other players using them, but once baseball banned their use…they needed to stop. Manny didn’t. I’m not sure why he thought he wouldn’t get caught…Manny being Manny is one explanation, and maybe he just didn’t care. I know I’ll miss seeing his sweet swing and watching him run the bases…you never knew what he was thinking after he hit the ball. Thanks for the wonderful moments you gave me on the field, Manny…you’ll be missed.

I climbed on the trainer to give the knee a try. I’d been sore all day, but wasn’t limping and decided I needed to know. I wanted to ride outside on the weekend, but figured it would be better to be home when things went wrong instead of twenty miles away on Pekin Road. It actually went pretty well…some pain, but nothing to serious. I wrapped it in ice a couple of times before bed to aid the healing process and will attempt a twenty miler tomorrow.

Bike duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 900.