Nothing wrong with being Manny

About 30 reporters were jammed into the visiting manager’s office at Safeco Field in Seattle to listen to Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona discuss the status of starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, who had left that night’s game with a shoulder problem.

The Japanese reporters especially were focused on every word. That’s when Manny Ramirez stuck his dreadlock-crowned head inside the door and offered in a sing-songy voice: “The Devil Rays won.”

Boston reporters rolled their eyes. The legendary free spirit was at it again. Ramirez’s antics over the years have coined his own personal cliche – “Manny being Manny” goes the refrain to describe the flaky Dominican slugger.

Ramirez’s goofy reputation obscures the full story about him. He doesn’t help his own cause because he rarely speaks to reporters. As Francona says, how can you write about a guy who doesn’t even talk to you?

You can watch Ramirez, however, and learn about a full-grown star who plays the game with the unbridled enthusiasm of a boy.

Over 16 seasons, Ramirez has performed at a level few can match. The 11-time All-Star won a batting title in 2002 and has led the American League in on-base and slugging percentage three times each.

After his sixth-inning, game-tying home run Tuesday night (No. 499), Ramirez is poised to become the 24th player in major league history to reach 500 home runs.

He turns 36 today but appears to have lost nothing in his game.

“He is getting better, that is what it looks like to me,” Seattle manager John McLaren said. “He has been very consistent for a long, long time. You can call it ‘Manny being Manny,’ but Manny being Manny is a terror with the bat.”

What many fans might not know is that Ramirez is perhaps the hardest-working player on the Red Sox.

“He is a guy who loves going into the gym in the morning,” shortstop Julio Lugo said. “I don’t think there’s a lot of baseball players who get up at 9 o’clock in the morning to go to the gym three times a week.”

But the most-admirable quality about Manny Ramirez is the joy he brings to the game. He plays with a rare enthusiasm, the kind so many of us had long ago as children playing ball in a schoolyard.

Major league baseball is a big business, but Ramirez is mindful that for him, success hinges on keeping fun in the game. And boy does Manny do that.