Boston's Top 10 All-Star Game Moments #8: Manny Being Manny, For Eight Years

by Marc Normandin on Jul 5, 2011 9:44 AM EDT in Top 10 Moments

Yeah, yeah. This isn't an image from this specific home run. But it's still awesome, so there.

Manny Ramirez was signed to a $160 million contract heading into the 2001 season, one that would keep him in Boston through at least 2008. During that stretch, he made the All-Star team every single year with the Red Sox, This shouldn't be a huge surprise to anyone who remembers watching him, as he combined an incredible batting eye and swing with some of the top homer power of anyone in his generation, but if you're forgetting just how good he was, consider this a reminder: Ramirez hit .312/.411/.588 over the course of 4,682 plate appearances with Boston. That stretch included 274 homers, 256 doubles, and nearly 700 walks in addition to over 1,200 hits.

Sometimes we forget because of his antics, but it''s no wonder he was always in the mid-summer classic while he was in town thanks to play that spectacular. The 2004 season was one of of his best. That year, he hit .308/.397/.613, finished third in the MVP voting, won a Silver Slugger award, and eventually took home World Series MVP honors in addition to the series honors that had eluded Boston since 1918.

A little more than halfway through the year, he was part of another big game, in which the American League stomped all over National League starter Roger Clemens in the first inning. Following an Ivan Rodriguez RBI triple, Manny Ramirez hit a two-run homer off of Clemens that made the score 3-0. With a little help from Derek Jeter (single) and Ichiro Suzuki (double), those four batters hit for the cycle by themselves -- the first time All-Star team to do so -- in the inning and contributed to the AL's early 6-0 lead.

That would be his lone hit of the game, as his second at-bat ended with an out, but it was a historic and important one. The six runs scored by the AL in the first were enough to win them the game -- one they eventually took 9-4 -- an event that took on more meaning for Ramirez when Boston ended up in the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. The players influencing the All-Star game's final score don't always get to directly reap the benefits of home field advantage as Ramirez did, but this one time, in this specific year, Boston and its fans would take any help they could get for achieving the goal of a World Series victory.

Tweet Comment 4 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

I was there

I was standing when he hit it. I knew. I will never forget that moment that it (could be) was. Flash back 3 years give or take a couple of weeks and me sitting there unabashed. 3rd out, 9th inning, WS. Doug dancing, foulk foulkin. Me waiting for the other shoe to drop. My girlfriend looked at me and said “they won”. I couldn’t understand, this is where the wheels come off. This is where the curse takes it from us. This is something neither my father or his ever got to see. Winning, duh. During the next run in 07 when this picture may or may not have been taken. It was old hat, nothing new, just beating the snot out of the opponent. There was less of “Roberts steals 2nd” and more of the Soxs win by 5. The stress was gone, the wait was over and now on the way to the mountain top again you could enjoy the ride. A week or so after this picture was or was not taken, the air got thin and the mountain top was under foot. Without Manny we never make it. For that reason alone Manny Ramirez, I will always remember his swing and his smile. I will never forget that warm early October night when everyone raised their arms in triumphant glory.

Jeffrey M Melhorn

by 18-1 damn on Jul 5, 2011 12:39 PM EDT reply actions