Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
November 16, 2008
Suspension Threat

It appears the Red Sox came very close to suspending Manny Ramirez late in July.

According to multiple sources, Boston management had drafted an official letter of suspension for Ramirez, and delivered it to him at Fenway Park at around 11 p.m. on Friday night, July 25. For the second straight game, Ramirez had refused to play that evening, and the Red Sox lost 1-0 to the rival New York Yankees in front of a boisterous and sold-out home crowd. The letter informed Ramirez that the suspension was to go into effect the next day, Saturday, July 26. It said Ramirez was being suspended without pay for being unwilling to play. Copies of the letter were also sent to Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association and Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras.

Suspensions in baseball are not unusual for players who test positive for performance-enhancing drugs or who are involved in fights during a game. It is extremely rare for a player to be suspended, or threatened with such a suspension, for refusing to play.
Within two hours after Ramirez received the letter of suspension, the Red Sox received two calls, according to sources. The first call was from one of Ramirez's teammates. He told a member of Boston's front office that Ramirez would play in Saturday afternoon's game against the Yankees. Within minutes, the second call came in from Ramirez himself, who confirmed that he would be available for Saturday's game.

If the story is correct, the threat appeared to work.


Posted by David Pinto at 12:27 PM | Players | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I wouldn't be terribly sad if this kept him out of the HOF. IMO this is a worse crime against baseball than what Pete Rose did, and probably worse than what Bonds and McGwire did.

Posted by: SleepyCA at November 16, 2008 11:59 PM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?