Boston teammates know how hard Ramirez works to produce stellar results


They know the real Manny Ramirez. They travel with him and share
clubhouses and dugouts, meals and the two World Series triumphs in the
past four years. His teammates see him at batting cages at 8 a.m.

"He's probably already out there (at the cages) or already has been,"
Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek said at about 8:10 a.m. Tuesday
at City of Palms Park.

Ramirez may appear to be an enigmatic figure to some, perhaps
something of a comical figure. Most baseball fans, from barrooms to
churches to the White House, know Ramirez as, well, a bit different.
When the Red Sox visited the White House last week, Ramirez didn't
make the trip.

President Bush joked that Ramirez's grandmother had died again.

Varitek and the other Red Sox, though, know the real Ramirez, the
hitter and hard worker.

"Nothing amazes me with him," Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis said
before the Red Sox beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3 on Tuesday at City
of Palms Park. "He's going to be a Hall-of-Famer. People don't realize
how special he is. I think people don't also realize the fact that
he's pretty much a lock to get into the Hall of Fame. There's no doubt
about it."

Just consider the statistical company that Ramirez is keeping.

• His nine-year string of 100-RBI seasons that ended with 2006 has
been exceeded by only four players: Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Al
Simmons and Alex Rodriguez.

• His streak of 20-homer seasons is at 13, a total exceeded by only by
seven players.

• His 24 postseason homers are unsurpassed.

At 35, Ramirez should continue burnishing his resume. He has 490
career homers, 26th all time. He's only three behind Gehrig on the
all-time list and only 31 behind the greatest of all Red Sox, Ted
Williams.

Sometimes, that may get lost on some people. Not Ramirez's teammates.
They're convinced that Ramirez isn't bothered by any talk, not even
good-natured jabs by the president or not-so-good-natured hecklers in
the stands.

"I don't think Manny hears anything," Youkilis said. "He's calm, cool,
collected. If he hears some stuff, he'll laugh about it. Some people
say some stuff that is hilarious."

Ramirez has great powers of concentration, according to Youkilis.

"He blocks out a lot," Youkilis said. "People don't realize, when
people are screaming, you don't hear anything. Manny is probably the
best at concentrating."

The results are apparent. It's right there in black and white.

Look him up at baseball- reference.com. The Web site offers something
called Similarity Scores to compare players. Through age 35, Ramirez's
list of most similar players includes the following: Ken Griffey Jr.,
Frank Robinson, Barry Bonds, Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle.

"When he came up, the best right-handed pure hitter at the time was
Edgar Martinez," Varitek said.

"And if anybody resembles that and adds even more power to it, it's
Manny."

Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia has only one full season in the
majors, but he's learned about Ramirez.

"He's a Hall-of-Famer," Pedroia said. "That's pretty much the only
thing I can say. He's one of the greatest right-handed hitters of all
time. Just being around him every day, we learn a lot from him."

Source: GLENN MILLER / news-press.com