Manny Ramirez on Hall of Fame Chances: 'Everybody Makes Mistakes'
Former Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez remains hopeful that he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame one day.
Ramirez spoke to reporters at Fenway Park on Tuesday while attending the club's pregame ceremony to present the team with their 2018 World Series championship rings. When asked if he thinks he'll get a call from Cooperstown, Ramirez acknowledged that he's holding out for the good news.
"I hope so. We've been praying," he said. "Everybody makes mistakes. Nobody's perfect. I think with time, if it's God will, you're going to be there. If not, hey, we're just happy we got the opportunity to play the game that we love."
Ramirez, 46, spent seven of his 19 major-league seasons with the Red Sox, winning two World Series with Boston in 2004 and 2007. The outfielder served a 50-game suspension for steroid use in 2009 while playing with the Dodgers. He was later handed a 100-game ban in 2011 for testing positive for using performance-enhancing drugs in spring training, which led to his decision to not accept the suspension but retire after playing in only five games with the Rays that season.
The 12-time All-Star became eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2017 and received 23.8% of votes in his first year. Since then, he's had 22.0% and 22.8% of votes from writers in the past two years. While controversy clouded the later years of Ramirez's career and lessened his chances of being inducted into Cooperstown, he put up Hall of Fame-worthy numbers.
Ramirez finished his career with a .312/.411/.585 slash line and 555 home runs, which ranks 15th all-time in Major League Baseball. His career slugging percentage and OPS (.996) rank eighth all-time.
