Just say the name among a group of baseball fans and you will elicit all kinds of reactions.
The right-handed slugger, who hit more home runs (555) and produced more RBIs (1,831) than Mickey Mantle, is both one of the greatest acquisitions in Dodgers history and one of the most disappointing stories in baseball for his use of performance enhancing drugs and inconsistent attitude.
Let’s take a look back at the trade that brought him to Los Angeles.
- Dodgers Acquire: Manny Ramirez (from Boston)
- Red Sox Acquire: Jason Bay (from Pittsburgh)
- Pirates Acquire: Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris (from Los Angeles); Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen (from Boston)
When the Red Sox decided enough was enough in trading superstar Manny Ramirez, they were in the middle of a pennant race that had them in the wild card lead and only three games back of the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays.