Comments on: What price consistency?

By: SJH

SJH — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 16:30:33 +0000

So, no blog entry today now that Manny’s in camp (early, mind you), and not appearing at any car show or anything like that? And unlike Schilling, he appears to be in tremendous shape. As usual.

He ain’t changing. And he’s still worth it.

By: gittespi

gittespi — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 01:02:22 +0000

I do remember an interview with Ron Wolf where he told Bird to “think about it” (meaning retirement) before deciding and Bird responded that he knew about the bonus and would not accept it if he wasn’t playing. I think it’s on Larry Legend.

By: MattyT

MattyT — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 18:37:22 +0000

On what was a tough day for Boston sportsfans yesterday losing a consummate team player in Dennis Johnson, we address the anithesis of what DJ represented in Manny Ramirez. Manny is the only player in the history of public figures that draws such a controversial reaction from fans, media, and the like, and he does it without saying a single word.
The final straw for me was when he refused to even make the trip to Pittsburgh for the All Star Game and tip his cap to the fans for making him the top vote getter. Although he has Hall of Fame Numbers, he has no respect for his teammates, the organization, the fans, and the city. I wish we could have traded him for Tejada, but Peter Angelos is as difficult a personality as Manny. Worse, he wears the number of another All Time great Red Sox player who should be in the Hall of Fame. Maybe when Manny skips town in 2 years we can put DWIGHT EVANS’ number next Fisk, Yaz, Williams, Cronin, and Doerr.

By: ygbluig

ygbluig — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 01:36:44 +0000

“Shaughnessy made this observation: ‘His talent has allowed him to go through life without the rules that apply to the rest of us.’” -Comment by HFXBOB

Every time Shaughnessy writes something like this, I like to think that the poor schleps at the Globe who type in the school lunch menus, load the delivery trucks or wipe the piss off the floor in the Newsroom’s men’s room are probably saying the same thing about Shaughnessy.

Of course Manny gets away with things that Doug Mirabelli would even dream of trying, as long as he hits .300, 40, 120, that is. That’s the nature of sports. That’s the nature of the world.

And so what if Manny’s late for Spring Training. The commissioner’s office doesn’t hand out pennants for punctuality.

By: Shalomar

Shalomar — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:46:27 +0000

I mean it as a compliment when I say that Manny is an idiot savant. He is devoid of a standard sense of societal rules and accountabilty. He is also the greatest hitter of this generation. And he is incredibly entertaining, because of his foibles and ability to take an inside fastball and rip it into the right center bullpen. As fans, we are not paying his salary, so why do we care if he reports to camp two weeks late if he puts up the numbers and does not disrupt chemistry. The players seem to appreciate him for what he is and I would argue that his unique approach has a positive, calming influence on the clubhouse. Would you rather have a tightly wound, inconsistent, yet hard playing Trot Nixon, or a bizarre, hilarious, run producing, clutch woodsman like Manny? Sox fans should take the latter any day of the week, and I think even curmedgeons like Shaugnessy will miss Manny when he’s gone.

By: Ogie Oglethorpe

Ogie Oglethorpe — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 19:32:07 +0000

Clemens used to pull the late arrival to spring training when he was with the Sox too. So did Pedro. People seem to conveniently forget that. Sort of like remembering your old girlfriend and only focussing on the good times. My point being there are a lot of players pulling this type of preferential treatment stunts. Does that make it right? No. Does it make Manny the only one doing it? No. Does this only happen in Boston? No. Do other press corps make it front page news? No. Two more seasons of watching this guy hit. I wish the Fellowship of the Miserable would let us enjoy it.

By: HFXBOB

HFXBOB — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 16:55:41 +0000

Again we face the question that’s been posed about Manny so many times: why do we put up with it? In his column about Manny the other day, Shaughnessy made this observation: ‘His talent has allowed him to go through life without the rules that apply to the rest of us.’ That’s not an original thought, but it does nail the truth of the situation. On one of the Sox message boards a while back somebody expressed it with a bit more originality. With apologies for the political incorrectness, here goes: ‘This town loves Manny like a fat kid loves chocolate.’ It isn’t just that Manny puts up those huge numbers every year. It’s the sheer thrill of watching some of those hits. Like those opposite-field bombs, the ones where you’re not sure at first if he got it all , then you realize he’s just standing there watching it. It sails ten rows deep into the seats, and as Manny saunters around the bases you can’t help exulting in the fact that he still wears the Sox uniform. For those moments we and Theo and Terry and the rest have put up with a lot. If you want to complain about his antics, you also have to address the questions of a) whether you’d rather see him play for someone else, and b) what you would do personally to change his ways.