110 Greatest Baseball Players

109.  OF Manny Ramirez, Boston Red Sox

Ramirez first came to prominence in 1991 when he was a first-round draft pick by Cleveland.  Over the next three seasons he remained on the baseball radar as one of Cleveland's top prospects.  In 1993 he cemented his reputation as a great Minor Leaguer by being named the Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year.  He finally broke into the Majors in 1994, winning a Player-of-the-Week Award and being named to the Topps All-Rookie Team.  In 1995, he participated in the Home Run Derby, won a Player-of-the-Month Award, and finished the season by winning a Silver Slugger Award.  He won a Player-of-the-Week Award in 1997.  In 1998, he hit three home runs in a game, played in the All-Star game, won a Player-of-the-Week Award, and finished the season with 45 homers.  In 1999, he hit three homers in a game, played in the All-Star game, won a Player-of-the-Month Award, won a Player-of-the-Week Award, finished the season with 44 homers, and won a Silver Slugger Award.  In 2000, he played in the All-Star game, won two Player-of-the-Week Awards, and won a Silver Slugger Award.  In 2001 he signed with the Red Sox where cemented himself in baseball history.  He started off his Red Sox career by playing in the All-Star game, winning a Player-of-the-Month Award, two Player-of-the-Week Awards, finishing the season with 41 homers and winning a Silver Slugger Award.  In 2002, he played in the All-Star Game, won a Player-of-the-Month Award, two Player-of-the-Week Awards, won the AL batting title, and won a Silver Slugger Award.  In 2003, he played in the All-Star game, won a Player-of-the-Week Award, and won a Silver Slugger Award.  In 2004, he started out the season with the dubious distinction of being the highest paid player in the Majors before playing in the All-Star Game, finishing the season with 43 homers, winning the World Series with the Red Sox, being named the World Series MVP, and winning a Silver Slugger Award.  In 2005, he played in the All-Star Game, won three Player-of-the-Week Awards, finished the season with 45 homers and won a Silver Slugger Award.  In 2006, he played in the All-Star Game and won a Silver Slugger Award.  In 2007, he played in the All-Star Game, won a Player-of-the-Week Award, and won the World Series with the Red Sox.  In 2008, he won a Player-of-the-Week Award, played in the All-Star Game and hit his 500th career home run with the Red Sox before being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers.  He won a Player-of-the-Month Award in LA after the trade.  He was suspended for 50 games with the Dodgers for failing a performance-enhancing drug test in 2009.  It was later revealed that his name had been leaked to the New York Times as one of the 104 players who failed a drug test in 2001 before those results were sealed by a federal judge.  He split a season between the Dodgers and Chicago White Sox before moving onto Tampa Bay, where he retired after a handful of games due to what was believed to be another failed drug test.  Later on that summer he was arrested on domestic violence charges.  When you look at Manny's career numbers you probably see a Hall of Famer, but with the way his career ended his chances of getting into the Hall are pretty limited.  And what about those PEDs?  Well his status on this list is determined by his on-field performance and empirical data.  Without the drugs?  He still would have had an excellent career and finished with borderline Hall of Fame numbers, and he certainly would have been looked at for inclusion on this list, but he probably wouldn't have made the cut, instead landing an honorable mention somewhere.

Honorable Mention:

1B Cecil Fielder, Detroit Tigers

Fielder started off his career with the Toronto Blue Jays.  After four seasons of lackluster performance where he never truly conquered the Minor Leagues he had his contract sold to a team in Nippon Professional Baseball.  He returned to the show the next season with the Tigers with a vengeance, participating in the Home Run Derby, playing in the All-Star Game, winning a Player-of-the-Month Award, two Player-of-the-Week Awards, finishing the season with 51 homers and winning a Silver Slugger Award.  In 1991, he participated in the Home Run Derby, played in the All-Star Game, finished the season with 44 homers and won a Silver Slugger Award.  In 1993 he participated in the Home Run Derby, played in the All-Star Game and won a Player-of-the-Week Award.  He was the highest-paid player in the Majors in 1995.  He started the 1996 season as the highest-paid player in the game again with the Tigers before being traded mid-season to the Yankees, where he won a World Series.  He played another season in the Bronx and split a year between Anaheim and Cleveland before he retired.  He hit three homers in a game three times.  His son Prince is a Major League first baseman who is currently a free agent.  Cecil finished his career with 319 homers, but that won't make the cut on this list.

LF Adam Dunn, Cincinnati Reds

Dunn first came to prominence as a top prospect in the Reds organization, a distinction he held in 2000 and 2001.  In 2001 he split the season between AAA and the Majors, participating in the Futures Game on the USA Squad while in the Minors and being named to the Topps All-Rookie Team after being promoted to the Majors.  In 2002, he played in the All-Star Game and won a Player-of-the-Week Award.  He was suspended for two games in 2003 due to his participation in a brawl.  He hit 46 homers in 2004.  In 2005, he won a Player-of-the-Month Award and finished the season with 40 homers.  He hit 40 homers in 2006.  He hit 40 homers in 2007.  In 2008, he was traded to Arizona mid-season and finished the year with 40 homers.  He went to Washington in 2009, representing the USA in the World Baseball Classic during Spring Training.  He hit three homers in a game in 2010.  He spent last season with the Chicago White Sox.  He has the dubious distinction o having struck out in over 30 percent of his at-bats as a professional throughout his career.  Dunn isn't good enough to make our list yet and if he retired today he probably wouldn't profile as a Hall of Famer, but he's already hit 365 homers and he's only turning 32 next season.

3B Troy Glaus, Anaheim Angels

Glaus is a rare player who first became famous in high school after being named a High School All-American as an infielder in 1994.  He represented the USA at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996.  In 1997, he was named as a First-Team College All-American at UCLA and was drafted in the first round by the Angels.  He emerged as a top prospect with the Angels in 1998.  He won a Player-of-the-Week Award in 1999.  In 2000, he played in the All-Star Game, finished the season with 47 home runs and won a Silver Slugger Award.  In 2001, he participated in the Home Run Derby, won a Player-of-the-Week Award, finished the season with 41 homers and won a Silver Slugger Award.  In 2002, he hit three homers in a game, was suspended for two games for participating in a brawl in Spring Training, won the World Series with the Angels, and was named the World Series MVP.  In 2003, he played in the All-Star Game and won a Player-of-the-Week Award.  He played a season in Arizona before moving onto Toronto in 2006, where he participated in the Home Run Derby and played in the All-Star Game.  In 2007, he was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame for his career at UCLA and won a Player-of-the-Week Award.  He went to St. Louis in 2008, and in that same season it was revealed that he'd taken performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career.  After another season in St. Louis, he moved onto Atlanta in 2010 where he won a Player-of-the-Month Award and finished his career.  Glaus hit 320 home runs, but he doesn't profile as a Hall of Famer and doesn't make this list.  Again the PED question arises.  Without the drugs he probably wouldn't have been looked at for this list and wouldn't have gotten an honorable mention.