Tampa Bay Rays’ Designated Hitter Manny Ramirez Retires

By Ryan Kelley | April 8, 2011 at 4:48 pm | One comment | Breaking News, News, Opinion | Tags: Boston Red Sox, Breaking News, Los Angeles Dodgers, Manny Ramirez, News, Steroids, Tampa Bay Rays

On Friday, Major League Baseball announced (through a released statement) that former Red Sox All-Star outfielder and current Tampa Bay Rays designated hitter, Manny Ramirez, will retire.

Ramirez, who was suspended for 50 games in 2009 after violating the MLB’s drug policy by testing positive for a female fertility drug commonly used by steroid users, was recently notified that he had once again failed a drug test. The MLB’s statement read:

“Major League Baseball recently notified Manny Ramirez of an issue under Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program…Rather than continue with the process under the Program, Ramirez has informed MLB that he is retiring as an active player. If Ramirez seeks reinstatement in the future, the process under the Drug Program will be completed. MLB will not have any further comment on this matter.”

Ranking 14th on the all-time among career leaders in homeruns, Ramirez will hang up his spikes after twelve All-Star appearances, a batting title (2002), a World Series MVP award (2004) and numerous other accolades. Possibly the highlight of Ramirez’s long and storied career was the World Series ring he took home in ’04, leading the Red Sox to the franchises’ first championship win since 1918.

Tampa Bay Rays’ Designated Hitter Manny Ramirez Retires / Baseball News Hound by Ryan Kelley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives CC BY-NC-ND

Written by: Ryan Kelley on April 8, 2011.

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Ryan Kelley

Founder and Executive Editor of BaseballNewsHound.com. Ryan is a graduate of the George Washington University, with a degree in economics. His acclaimed thesis on Major League Baseball's Labor Market is in the running for an excellence award in economics. A young economist working in Washington D.C., Ryan has extensive experience working in professional baseball. In the past, he's worked in player development, for the United States Olympic Committee and in scouting. Ryan's resume also includes jobs in journalism, social media marketing, government as well in non-profit legal services. However, sports and sportswriting are his two passions, and he strives to incorporate his unconventional career experience and academic expertise in his work at BaseballNewsHound.com. Born and raised in Connecticut, Ryan currently resides in Arlington Virginia, just outside of DC. A former amateur baseball and football player, Ryan loves both sports.