Manny Ramirez

FULL NAME: Manuel Aristedes Ramirez
AGE (on Opening Day): 35
DOB: May 30, 1972
BIRTHPLACE: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
HEIGHT: 6’0”
WEIGHT: 200lbs
BATS: Right
THROWS: Right
HIGH SCHOOL: George Washington (Bronx, NY) ’91

MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUT: September 2, 1993
ACQUIRED: Signed as a free agent on December 13, 2000 from the Cleveland Indians
MAJOR LEAGUE EXPERIENCE: 14 years, 33 days

PERSONAL INFORMATION

The son of a seamstress and a cab drive, Manny Ramirez was born and grew up in one of the poorest countries in Latin America where he was a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays due to their Dominican ties. At the age of 11, his parents Aristides and Onelcida made the decision to move the parents to the United States to give Manny and his three sisters – Rosa, Evelyn and Clara – the better opportunity. Two years later, the Ramirez family finally accumulated enough funds to make the trip up the east coast to the Bronx, New York. Although, Ramirez had good work athlete as an athlete he did not excel quite the same in the classroom. Part of it was the culture differences and language barriers while part of it was the fact he did not care. It is simple as this: if it was not base baseball, Manny was not interested. Ramirez’s high school baseball coach recalls for Manny “it’s just that he really didn’t care about anything other than playing. Even team pictures – it wasn’t important to him. You had to drag him by the hair. But if you said we had a game at three o’clock he’d, like, want to sit out there at seven o’clock in the morning, waiting.” Because of Ramirez’s lackadaisical style to his academics, he was occasionally suspended for truancy and just barely attended enough classes to play three years of baseball. Although he did not graduate, Ramirez did obtain his G.E.D after high school. What a lot of people never knew about Manny is that the Sox left fielder is an extremely shy person and never asked family members to watch him play as a minor leaguer. In 2004, Ramirez missed a game with the Sox to become a citizen of the United States and when he returned to action, the next day, he ran out on the field carrying a small U.S. flag in his right hand. After the Sox won the 2007 World Series, Manny appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and proclaimed to be a big car lover and explained some of the intricacies behind “Manny Being Manny.” Ramirez met his wife, Juliana, when he worked out in Bally’s Gym in Boston, where she worked. Manny has three children – Manuelito “Manny” (1995), Manny Jr. (2003) and Lucas (2005). The latter two are with Juliana.

FUN MANNY FACTS:

Favorite Movies:

“The Matrix,” “Rocky II,” “The Village,” “Ice Age,” “Finding Nemo”

Favorite Baseball Movies:

“The Rookie,” “Field of Dreams,” “Major League”