Manny Ramirez Returns to Baseball; Will Play in Australia

Manny Ramirez is 48 years old, but apparently still has enough left in the tank to play baseball on a professional level. Ramirez has signed a contract with the Sydney Blue Sox of the Australian Baseball League.

Ramirez put up jaw dropping numbers during his career, including driving in 165 runs with the Cleveland Indians in 1999. He drove in over 100 runs 12 times in his career. Ramirez hit for both power and average, leading the American League in hitting with a.349 batting average as a member of the Boston Red Sox. Ramirez played in two World Series each with Cleveland and Boston, and was the Series MVP in the Red Sox’ 2004 win over St. Louis, hitting .412 in the four game sweep of the Cardinals.

Ramirez has Hall of Fame caliber career stats–555 home runs, 1831 RBIs, and a .312 batting average–but he was also received suspensions for using performance enhancing drugs, something that has limited his support with the Hall of Fame voters. Ramirez last played in the majors in 2011 with Tampa Bay, but retired after just five games after testing positive for a PED. Since then, he’s played in the minor leagues, in the Dominican Republic, in Taiwan, and in his most recent pro gig, in Japan in 2017.

Some career highlights: