PEDs or not, Manny Ramirez was one of the greatest hitters in Cleveland baseball history

Mike Hargrove still remembers the first time he saw Manny Ramirez swing a bat. "Oh God, yes," Hargrove told me, for a book I did on him. "A real beautiful, fluid, powerful swing. I don't think I ever saw him overswing. And the ball jumped off his bat, even when he was a skinny 20-year-old kid." In the Major League Baseball Draft in the summer of 1991, Cleveland had the 13th pick in the first round. Scouting director Mickey White spent much of that summer sitting in the bleachers at George Washington High School in the Washington Heights section of New York City, not far from Yankee Stadium. The star of the school's baseball team was a skinny third baseman with the sweetest swing White had seen in this, or maybe any draft. On draft day, White had to sweat out the first 12 picks, but it was worth it. At 13, Ramirez's name was still on the board. At 14, it wasn't. White selected Ramirez with the 13th pick. Manny agreed to a signing bonus of $257,000 and the career of one of the greatest hitters in Cleveland's baseball history was underway. Saturday night at Progressive Field, Ramirez, whose name is all over the Guardians' record books, and who, along with Albert Belle and Kenny Lofton in the mid-1990s, comprised the greatest outfield in franchise history, and one of the greatest in major league history, will be inducted into the Cleveland Guardians' Hall of Fame. But with Manny, as was so often the case, there is more there than meets the eye. In this case, it was his decision to dabble in performance enhancing drugs, which will likely keep him, as well as some of the other greatest sluggers in the game's history, out of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Guardians officials have decided to give Manny a pass on his ill-advised decision to basically cheat the game, and will induct him into the franchise Hall of Fame anyway. That debate, like the one surrounding some of the other greatest stars in the history of the game, who pharmaceutically propelled themselves into the game's statistical stratosphere, will go on forever. The irony, of course, is that most of them would have made it to the Hall of Fame on their sheer talent, but chose to skirt the rules anyway. Why? Only they know. Probably just because. But, all these years later, most of that is now muddy water under a battered bridge. Manny, almost certainly, could have cruised into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on talent alone. How much talent? This much: Charlie Manuel was Cleveland's hitting coach at the time Cleveland drafted Ramirez. After getting his first look at Manny's swing, Charlie told all of Cleveland's minor league managers and coaches to leave Manny alone. Don't mess with his swing. Don't change a thing. No tinkering allowed. From Day 1, Manny was a hitting machine. A hitting savant. In 1993, which he split between Double-A and Triple-A, Manny had maybe the greatest minor league season in Cleveland history. In a combined 489 at bats he hit .333, with a .417 on-base percentage, .614 slugging percentage, 31 home runs, 115 RBIs, 44 doubles and 105 runs. Keep in mind that minor league seasons are considerably shorter than major league seasons. Ramirez that year did all of it in just 129 games. Wayne Kirby, one of Hargrove's favorites, was Cleveland's right fielder at the time. Following Manny's monster 1993 season, Hargrove and General Manager John Hart debated over whether they should replace the popular Kirby with Manny. It was a no-brainer. "We would take flyers on certain guys like Manny and Jim Thome, guys we felt were going to be really good and didn't think we were pushing them too fast," Hargrove said. In Manny's case, they weren't. In 1995, Manny's first full season in the big leagues, he hit .308 with 31 home runs and 107 RBIs. That was the year the floodgates opened and the year Cleveland's minor league coaches were glad they heeded Charlie Manuel's directive not to tinker with Manny's swing. In his last six years with Cleveland (1995-2000), Manny hit 31, 33, 26, 45, 44 and 38 home runs. Over that same span he had 107, 112, 88, 145, 165 (in 1999, a franchise record) and 122 RBIs. Manny's .592 career slugging percentage and .998 OPS are franchise records. Only Thome (337) and Belle (242) hit more home runs for Cleveland than Manny's 236. His 1.154 OPS in 2000 is a franchise record. Following the 2000 season, Manny, after eight years with Cleveland, became a free agent and signed an eight-year, $160 million contract with the Red Sox. Somewhere along the way steroids entered the picture, and a potential plaque in Cooperstown exited. His 555 career homers rank 15th all-time. Tainted or not, they were all Manny being Manny. Contact Jim Ingraham at (440) 329-7135 or jingraham4@gmail.com.