Manny happy, returns

The Guru
Contributing Writer

He's baaaaack! Manny Ramirez grabbed a bat, stepped to the plate, saw one pitch and got a hit. Manny is not wasting any time as he begins his comeback to Major League Baseball.

The 41-year-old slugger with 555 career home runs made his debut for the Triple-A Round Rock Express on Sunday, three days after signing a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers.

Ramirez was the DH and went 1-3 with a walk.

The 9000 fans in attendance serenaded Ramirez with chants of "Manny, Manny" throughout the game.

The 12-time All-Star, two-time World Series champion with the Red Sox and twice suspended Ramirez said, "I'm so happy to get a chance to play the game I love."

Though not asked directly about his PED suspensions, Ramirez did say, "We all do a lot of things when we are young, but if you can make it through the fire, you are changed, made better and ready for anything else."

The Rangers have been told that Ramirez has completed all the suspension time that was needed to return to big league baseball. Ramirez was suspended 100 games in 2011 for a positive drug test, but retired.

Ramirez was playing in Taiwan the last few months and the Rangers saw enough to give him another shot. Ramirez told ESPN Dallas he will play for the league minimum, a prorated amount of $500,000, and will donate the money to a charity and his church.

"I don't have anything to lose and everything to gain," Ramirez said, "I'm happy."

Manny was certainly a lot of things, but he also had his moments.



Thoughts on Manny's comeback? Favorite Manny moment? Comment below.

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