Most of us are prepared to love the new guy. Whatever the sport.
We focus on his positive accomplishments. We think of what he can add to the team. (Some Clippers fans may even believe barking dog Ricky Davis will help their team.)
And a few years or even a few months later … we’re glad when the bum is gone.
Manny Ramirez is perhaps an extreme example of this phenomenon. Right now, Dodgers fans love him. Because they don’t know him for anything but the big dreads and the home runs.
Meanwhile, Boston fans seem pleased as punch that Manny has left the building. The Red Sox Nation, even as we speak, is celebrating the skill, class and productivity of Jason Bay, the guy they got to replace Manny in trade.
For now, the Manny honeymoon is out of control. Big crowds since he joined the club. Big ovations. Big production, including a couple of home runs in three games.
But as soon as, say, November, when Manny’s claim to want to “finish his career in Los Angeles” is found to mean something like $100 million over four years, and Dodgers owner Frank McCourt gags on his Boston baked beans … we’ll be talking about how selfish Senor Dreadlocks is. How all that matters to him is money. How he should have taken less than he got wherever to stay with the team he alleged gave him a “sense of peace.”
By then, too, we may well have been exposed to the sides of Manny that Boston is happy to see gone. The half-hearted efforts. (Do Dodgers fans think Manny actually runs hard on every ball???) The wretched defense. The refusal to take part in club activities. The difficulties with media. The enormous contract demands.
At this moment, all Dodgers fans know is that the 2008 team finally has a hitter who resembles a big-league star. As opposed to Andruw Jones, who was supposed to be that guy.
It seems a bit cold-hearted to suggest, “Just wait and see” … but that’s the reality of this. The Manny that won over Los Angeles in the span of three days could lose it in three weeks. A few strikeouts, a half-effort on a ground ball, a botched play in right, a few boos … Manny sulking …
Boston fans aren’t idiots. There was a reason many of them came to detest their left fielder. Even when he helped the Red Sox win two World Series.
And they will have their own falling out of love, too. But with Jason Bay. It won’t be as dramatic as the Manny Episode, but it will happen. Gee, the guy seems kinda slow. His power is spotty. He doesn’t hit ’em as far as Manny did.
The better we know a player, almost all players, the less impressed we are. It’s a sort of grass-is-greener-on-the-other-side-of-the-outfield-fence thing.
4 responses so far ↓
1 DPope // Aug 4, 2008 at 10:40 AM
His prowess with the bat aside, Manny is a bum. I can’t wait for Kent-Ramirez fued to get underway and out of control. Maybe they’ll bond over their matching black eyes and bloody noses and the Dogs will win it all. Or maybe they’ll kill each other and Chavez Ravine will implode. I’m thinking the latter is more plausible.
2 Eugene Fields // Aug 4, 2008 at 2:04 PM
I know it was just Day 1 – but I was freelancing Manny’s first game with the Dodgers.
With all of the things I’ve heard about him, I wasn’t prepared for what I got – articulate, funny and giving of his time.
His first post-game interview took place in a corner of the dugout literally enclosed by the media. A couple of us followed him back to the clubhouse, where he stopped and gave us 5-10 more minutes before cutting it off.
I also happened to be on the same elevator going up with Manny and I saw something that other people wouldn’t notice – or care about.
The elevator operator held fans out until Manny, his 2-person entourage and 2 cop escort got on – Manny refused to get on until a guy in a wheelchair and his family got on the elevator – In fact, Manny pushed the guy’s wheelchair in because he wanted to let Manny get in ahead of him.
Inside the elevator, he posed for pictures and was great with the fans.
I hate the Red Sox and never was a big Manny fan and like I said, it was just Day 1 – But doing the nice, decent stuff like that out of the eye of the media went a long way for me.
3 Alex // Aug 6, 2008 at 3:01 PM
Daryl Strawberry… Gary Shefield… Milton Bradley… Manny Ramirez. Notice a pattern. Just like the Angels recent trade for Max Teixeira I can’t help but think you’ve traded away good young talent for a very very short term answer.
Just think about this: Even if Manny does the unprecedented and is on good behavior for the extent of this deal, when it comes to signing he’s gonna want an ungodly amount of money to resign. If its not a behavioral problem it’ll be a money problem. Dodgers, pick your poison.
4 Eugene Fields // Aug 7, 2008 at 11:29 AM
A couple of things –
1. Sheffield was in his prime – and acquired in a trade when the Dodgers dumped Piazza. Don’t blame Sheff because the Dodgers didn’t want to pay to keep him.
Bradley – other than his behavior (which is a huge thing to overlook) – was a pretty good player, entering his prime. Credit the Dodgers for not wanting to pay to keep him.
MARK Teixeira – Hello, the guy is 2 years older than Kotchman – with many more HR, RBI and two more Gold Gloves. Since the Angels are stockpiled with players at every level of the minors who can play 1B or be converted and do exactly what Kotchman does/did, giving him up for a multiple-time All-Star was a STEAL, even if the Angels don’t (not can’t) sign him.
Manny – The Dodgers got Manny for less than what the Jets had to give up to get Brett Favre. And the RED SOX are playing his salary. Since Manny will be a free agent in 3 months, he’s on a mission to show prospective suitors what he can do on the field and how much of a great teammate he is off it.
BTW – he hit yet another HR today (Aug. 7). How many more is than Andruw Jones, the guy they’re play $19 million to? Even if Manny doesn’t sign with the Dodgers or sinks the ship: A) he did it on the Red Sox’s dollar; B) It’s not like the Dodgers were going to the win the World Series without him.
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