Manny Ramirez Suspended For Failed Drug Test
 Thursday, May 7th, 2009  by Connie T.

This pains us to report. When I was kid, I played baseball, and my MLB hero was Manny Ramirez, who used to play for the Cleveland Indians. I still have the baseball with his signature that I stood in line for hours for, along with Herbert Perry's, Sandy Alomar's, Jose Mesa's and Omar Vizquel's.

I have plaques of Manny, and baseball cards galore. I wore t-shirt's, jerseys, hats with his name and player number. His talent was straight from God, I was sure of it.

Today the MLB confirmed that Manny Ramirez, recently signed from the Boston Red Sox to the LA Dodgers, has been suspended for 50 games for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. It will cost Manny $7.7 million. Ramirez said that the reasoning is honest: he received medication from a doctor.

Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was okay to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing: I've taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons.

The suspension is effective immediately. He also issued an apology. He will be the biggest baseball star to be suspended for the MLB's drug testing program.

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