Manny Ramirez Eyes Baseball Return in Taiwan at Age 47

Ramirez batted .352 with eight home runs and 43 RBIs when he played there in 2013

Red Sox's Manny Ramirez singles for the Boston Red Sox. (Jim Rogash/WireImage)
Red Sox's Manny Ramirez singles for the Boston Red Sox. (Jim Rogash/WireImage)
WireImage

Manny, at age 47, is still being Manny.

Former MLB superstar Manny Ramirez, who will turn 48 in May, is eyeing a return to baseball and says he wants to get back on the diamond by playing in Taiwan. Ramirez, who made 11 straight All-Star teams from 1998-2008 and last appeared in a Major League game in 2011 for the Tampa Bay Rays at age 39, told the Taiwan Times he wants to lock up a roster spot this year in the Chinese Professional Baseball League, where he briefly played in 2013.

He told the paper he had offers to play in the independent Atlantic League but would prefer to play in Taiwan and is confident he will get the opportunity to join the CPBL. During his brief stint in the CPBL, the first major professional baseball league to start its 2020 season amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Ramirez batted .352 with eight home runs and 43 RBIs.

He attempted to latch on in the majors later in the year with the Texas Rangers after playing in Taiwan but never made it out of the minor leagues.

A two-time champion with the Boston Red Sox who played 19 seasons in the major leagues and was named MVP of the 2004 World Series, Ramirez is a .312 career hitter and ranks 15th on the all-time career home runs list with 555. One of the most dominant right-handed hitters of his era, Ramirez would be a surefire Hall of Famer but tested positive for a banned drug multiple times during his career and has been kept out of Cooperstown up to this point.

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