You Can’t Fire Me — I Quit
Posted by The Triumphant Red Sox Fan on April 8, 2011
Just in from WEEI sports radio via text alert is the news that former Red Sox and current Tampa Bay Ray Manny Ramirez has announced his retirement after MLB notified him of what the station desscribes as “an issue under MLBs [sic] drug prevention & treatment program.” Talk about things that make you go hmmmmm…
Ramirez served a 50-game suspension in 2009 after testing positive for an undisclosed banned substance. Details of the latest issue have yet to emerge. Because the mean and nasty people in my employer’s IT department have blocked access to the WEEI web site, the best I can give you on the story is a link to this short USA Today article.
My guess, uneducated though it is until additional details emerge, is that Ramirez’ Rays contract has something in it pertaining to drug use, perhaps a termination clause if he gets suspended for violating the league’s policy. That would explain why he is just picking up his marbles and going home.
It’s a sad end to a strange career. Ramirez was a natural talent who blew a lot of the goodwill that automatically comes with such innate ability, but he blew it with his antics: refusing to hustle down the line, sitting out key games, fighting with teammates. The performance-enhancing substance issue was the cherry on the crap sundae. And now, apparently, it has brought to an end what should have been a Hall of Fame career.
