Manny Ramirez’s retirement is welcome sign to true baseball enthusiast

I take some exception to the article written by Jeff Passan for Yahoo! Sports titled Ramirez was a huge talent, colossal waste.  I do not see him as a colossal waste but yet another source of evidence that when a natural player can no longer play naturally, they should step aside.  The true test of any man is knowing when to make room for another.

There were a few items mentioned in the above article which made me think that the writer were not seeing things as I saw them but really what two normally do see things identically.  The first was “The fun-loving nincompoop morphed into a calculating saboteur.”  Saboteur to whom, one man does not a team make and if any star struggles there should always be someone waiting for an opportunity to shine.  If the Boston Red Sox did not prepare for the eventual reality that Manny would need a replacement, then it was not Manny who sabotaged them.  The second was “He was Manny. Bulletproof as long as he hit.”  No one including Manny is bulletproof and we all have to answer for our transgressions regardless of the situation. 

Manuel Aristides Ramirez Onelcida will be remembered by some as having the sweetest swing since Billy Williams and a pure hitter like Joe DiMaggio while others will only remember the incidents of going afoul of Major League Baseball and the antics toward the end.  To me Manny Ramirez will be remembered for making the tough decision to step aside and retire instead of trying to live up to the reputation that was imposed upon him by the fans with any and all kinds of drugs to keep his star high.  I applaud the man for knowing when to hold them and when to fold hem but the most important and only real person that matters in this is how Manny Ramirez will remember himself.