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May 31, 2008: MLB History At Camden Yards In Red Sox Victory
By Administrator | June 1, 2008
Manny Being Manny. The phrase is synonymous with only one athlete on the planet… and over the years it has come to describe a lot of deeds and cover a lot of sins.
One of the idiocyncracies that ‘Manny Being Manny’ describes is the swing… the drop of the bat… the stare… the first few, slow, deliberate steps… the slow jog… the point to heaven… the warm hug… and that warm, mischievious smile.
Home Run #500. The classic Ramirez swing was followed by the classic Ramirez home run routine… why should #500 have been any different from the previous 499?
Last night at Orioles Park at Camden Yards, Manny Ramirez became only the third player in history to hit HR #500 while wearing a Boston Red Sox uniform… and, true to form, the world saw the swing, the drop of the bat, the stare, and then the typical Ramirez home run journey around the bases.
In 1940, Jimmy Foxx became the second player in MLB history to reach the 500-HR-plateau… in 1960, Ted Williams became the fourth player to do so… and in 2008, #24 became the twenty-fourth player to reach the milestone. There is symmetry there — 2, 4, 24.
He is the seventh player in baseball history with 500 homers, 1,500 RBIs, 1,000 walks, 475 doubles and a .300 batting average. The others are Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Mel Ott, Babe Ruth, Frank Thomas and Ted Williams… it is assumed both Thomas and Ramirez will join the other five in Cooperstown when their playing days are concluded.
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A day after his 36th birthday, the enigmatic slugger hit the historic home run in the seventh inning off reliever Chad Bradford… the solo home run gave the Red Sox a 5-3 lead and helped propel his team to a 6-3 win over the Orioles.
In a post-game interview, the self-described “bad man” — with a bat — said he knew he had hit a home run as soon as the bat made contact with the ball. His immediate reaction? Typical Manny: “I’m just proud to do it and move on. Now I can be myself and have fun”.
Asked if he was now looking forward to home run #600, Manny replied he was looking forward to HR #501 — he said he will take them as they come (and they come one at a time).
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As for the baseball game itself, Jon Lester faced off against Garrett Olson. Baltimore jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning courtesy of rbi-singles by former Red Sox OF Jay Payton and OF Adam Jones. The Sox tied the score in the next half-inning when, with two outs, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz hit back-to-back home runs.
The O’s re-took the lead in the fifth inning on a home run by 2B Brian Roberts (the long-ball ended Lester’s streak of four starts). As they had earlier in the game, the Sox responded immediately — tying the game on Jason Varitek’s rbi-single (one of three hits by the Sox captain on the day).
Jacoby Ellsbury tripled to lead off the seventh inning and later scored on David Ortiz’ sac fly to give the Sox a 4-3 lead. And then ManRam stepped up to the plate…
The Sox added an insurance run in the eighth inning when Coco Crisp grounded into a double play with runners at the corners and no one out.
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Ramirez’ 500th home run ball was collared by Damon Woo, a 40-year-old Red Sox fan originally from Nahant, MA, who now lives in Manhattan. After being escorted by an official from MLB who was on-hand to authenticate the baseball, Woo agreed to exchange the ball with Ramírez for autographed balls and bats — an uncommon act of unselfishness at a time when the baseball memorabilia market has set the price for such souvenirs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Woo would only say: “The ball is Manny’s, not mine. It is his achievement. It is his accomplishment. So it is his ball”.
Ramírez says he intends to auction off the ball on behalf of a Boston-area children’s charity.
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David Ortiz was removed from the game in the ninth inning with a wrist injury. An MRI was negative and he is listed as day-to-day with a sprain.
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Ellsbury had three steals in the game and took over the AL lead with 26 steals (in 28 tries).
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Not to be lost in the excitement of last night’s landmark: the Sox activated Clay Buchholz from the 15-day disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Pawtucket.
Topics: MLB History, Sox Games, Sox History, Sox Players |
