Manny Ramirez
By Tim Peterson
“That was more Hollywood than Hollywood. Oh that’s right, it’s Mannywood.” – Vin Scully after Manny Ramirez’ pinch hit grand slam.
When fans go to a baseball game they want to be entertained. They want to escape from reality for a few hours. They don’t want to think about problems at work or home. They want their team to win and they want to have fun. They don’t care what the players have done off the field. If they perform on it then they’re happy.
It’s like going to the movies or to the theater for a play. Like the opera fan watches the concert the baseball fan watches the game. The opera fan couldn’t care less about the performer’s personal life as long as he can sing. You think the guy that plopped down his ten bucks for a movie cares what the actor has done?
It was never more evident than last Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. It was entertainment at its finest. A better movie script couldn’t have been written as Vin Scully so eloquently pointed out.
Manny Ramirez wasn’t supposed to play. He had been hit on the hand by a pitch the night before and was not in the starting lineup. Three weeks before he had just returned from a 50 game suspension for testing positive for a performance enhancing drug- or at least one that was on the banned list. And to top it off it was Manny Ramirez bobble head night and I had a ticket.
All that led to a moment that will go down as one of the most memorable in Dodger history. Manager Joe Torre had said he would use Ramirez if the moment was right. With the score tied at two in the sixth inning, the bases loaded and the pitcher due up, the time was perfect.
The rumble in the crowd started when a walk loaded the bases and the realization set in that this could be that moment. It reached a crescendo when his name was announced and he strolled to the plate. It died down a little when the Reds’ manager Dusty Baker decided to change pitchers.
But when reliever Nick Masset finished his warm up tosses, the roar resumed. Chants of “Manny! Manny! Manny!” resounded through out Chavez Ravine and from my vantage point in the top deck on the first base side I could see every fan in the house standing.
I didn’t see anybody sitting down in protest of Ramirez’ suspension; I didn’t hear any boos or grumblings from the 55,000 plus fans in attendance. None. They wanted entertainment and this was it.
Ramirez didn’t allow the drama to build. Instead he hit the first pitch on a line into the seats just inside the foul pole in left field. The ball landed right in the heart of …you guessed it – “Mannywood”. Grand Slam! Man Slam!
The place erupted. Ramirez received not one but two curtain calls and could have come out for a third as long as the crowd continued to cheer. He received another standing ovation when he ran out to his position in left field the next inning.
A guy that was sitting in front of me, who probably forgot why Manny was suspended in the first place, turned around and gave me a high five that nearly dislocated my shoulder.
The lady sitting behind me screamed so loud that at that point I don’t think it would have mattered if Manny was popping steroids while rounding the bases. She didn’t care and neither did the rest of the sold out crowd.
They wanted a good show and Manny provided it.
It wasn’t the greatest Dodger home run ever- nothing will ever top Kirk Gibson’s game winning shot in the first game of the 1988 World Series. But it was memorable.
And when it comes to Manny Ramirez that’s what fans will remember. In fact I think the suspension has already been forgotten.
Tim can be reached at tspeterson32@yahoo.com.
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