Manny Ramirez abruptly retires

[HiEnd]

Major League Baseball announced Friday afternoon that Manny Ramirez has retired.
Shocking news. Ramirez was recently notified of an issue under MLB's Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. He ultimately decided to retire "rather than continue with the process." Ramirez, a 12-time All-Star, owns a stellar .312/.411/.585 batting line to go along with 555 career home runs and 1,831 RBI. The PED suspension will certainly cloud his legacy, but he will be remembered as one of the most feared right-handed hitters of all-time.


Michael Schmidt of the New York Times adds more information, saying Ramirez tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in spring training and the test recently returned positive to baseball's offices. That jives with MLB's statement, and Ramirez would be facing a 100-game suspension if he chose to return to the game. Ramirez previously served a 50-game suspension for testing positive for HCG, a women's fertility drug that can be used to restart a body's testosterone production after a steroid cycle. He is also thought to be on the sealed list of players who tested positive in 2003; the same list Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz are believed to be on.

[Baseball Nut]

Bye Bye Manny. Ramirez retires after being notified about an MLB drug policy issue.

Six games into his 19th season in the Major Leagues, Manny Ramirez has announced he is retiring. This is on the heels of his notification of an issue under the MLB's drug policy.


The commissioner's office issued a statement Friday stating that rather than go through MLB's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, Ramirez decided to retire. There was no announcement whether or not Ramirez tested positive for a banned substance, but Manny has previously served a 50-game suspension for violating the drug policy while he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers.


So Manny will end his career as a 12 time All-Star selection, 9 time Silver Slugger Award winner, 2 time Hank Aaron Award winner, 2 time World Series champion wining the World Series Most Valuable Player Award in 2004, and having led the AL in batting average in 2002, home runs in 2004 and RBI’s in 1999.

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[key2win]

This hurt 3 of my fantasy teams. I thought he would have a breakout season this year and prove everyone wrong. He had a great career.

[JesRey]

Awesome career, too bad he won't make the HOF

[The Question]

Manny retires after second positive test (AP)



Manny Ramirez walked away from baseball on Friday after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug, abruptly ending the mercurial career of one of the most talented -- and tainted -- hitters to ever play the game. The slumping Tampa Bay slugger informed Major League Baseball that he would retire rather than face a 100-game suspension.




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[bakemeister52]

Good time for Manny to retire and get one of baseball's feared right handed hitters of the last 15 years to watch the game.

[Pfinder]

He was going to have to quit one or the Other at some point.