Former Boston Red Sox slugger and hero of many iconic occasions Manny Ramirez issued a pair of cases for the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
The two-time Red Sox World Series champion (2004, 2007) and ex-big leaguer of 19 seasons, spoke with Bally Sports’ Brandon Robinson — touching base on a series of subjects pertaining to both Ramirez and a few fellow ex-players.
“Yeah,” Ramirez told Robinson. “Why not? I will be myself in the Hall of Fame. I’m also going to see my number, 24 with the Red Sox in right field.”
Ramirez, who last stepped foot on a major league diamond as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2011, finished his nearly two-decade career with a total of 555 home runs. The 12-time All-Star finished a career .312/.411/.585 hitter with 2,574 hits and 1,831 RBIs in 2,032 games played.
Ramirez wasn’t done there, proceeding to vouch for controversial all-time home runs leader Barry Bonds.
Ramirez added: “He’s the best player ever. Why not? Everytime that we see players getting caught doing what they’re not supposed to be doing, it’s telling us that we are making a mistake in baseball for not having Barry Bonds a long time ago to be in there. That’s a shame. You don’t do that to him.”
Bonds, 15 years removed from his career, is an annual hot topic when Hall of Fame ballot discussions come around. Controversial due to his infamously failed drug test under Major League Baseball’s amphetamine policy in 2006, in which he blamed former Giants teammate Mark Sweeney.
By the end of his 22-year career, Bonds finished a .298/.444./.607 hitter with 762 home runs, 1,996 RBIs, 2,558 walks and 2,935 hits in 2,986 games played. Bonds also walked away from baseball with a plethora of records to his name — most home runs hit in a career and single season (73), most career base on balls and in a single season (232), highest slugging percentage (.863) in a single season, and the highest on-base percentage (.609) ever in a single season.
