Pedro Martinez writes about 'Manny being Manny' with Red Sox
In his upcoming book Pedro, Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez discussed his relationship with his Boston Red Sox teammate Manny Ramirez.
Martinez and Ramirez played together with the Red Sox from 2001-04, and Martinez said he often took care of the outfielder. Occasionally, Martinez would share a hotel roomwith Ramirez because sometimes the outfielder was afraid to go to sleep alone, Martinez writes.
"He’d come up to my room, where Ortiz and some teammates and I would be hanging out," Martinez writes. "After a while we’d look over and there would be Manny, under my covers, fully dressed, snoring. I always had a suite with an extra bed, so I didn’t mind if he had a sleepover. That was just Manny being Manny."
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From an excerpt in Martinez's book:
Manny confounded everyone on the club. That was a big part of his appeal. Everything seemed out of place unless Manny was in la-la land, keeping us guessing what he would do next. How would he wear his hair? Why did he spray me with half a bottle of his cologne? Why did he ask me, “Hey, did you know there are men on their way to the moon right now?”
Once, he came up to my locker and put on my socks and my underwear and then went over to David Ortiz’s locker and put on his undershirt. “Why are you doing that, Manny?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Do you?”
“No, I really don’t.”
“Did you know I’ve got three little midgets working on me all the time in my head? Today they needed different clothes to wear.”
In the book, Martinez also talks about the 2003 season and the famous Red Sox-Yankees rivalry.
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A longer excerpt from Pedro appears in this week's issue of Sports Illustrated.
