Major League Baseball

Manny Ramirez is making a comeback in Japan

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 10:05 p.m. ET

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Fansided, Joshua Sadlock/Fansided

Disgraced MLB superstar Manny Ramirez is reportedly making a comeback with a low-level Japanese team.

Manny Ramirez is 44 years old and is making his first appearance on the Hall of Fame ballot this year. He has not played organized baseball since 2014 when he batted .283 as a player-coach for the Chicago Cubs Triple-A team, but Ramirez is getting ready for another comeback attempt in an independent Japanese league.

Ramirez’s wife, Juliana, posted a picture earlier in the day of her husband cryptically signing a contract before later posting him posing with members of the Kochi Fighting Dogs. The Fighting Dogs play in the Shikoku Island League. The Nippon Professional Baseball League is the biggest league in the country. Kochi confirmed the signing of Ramirez in a press release posted on their website.

Even as a 42-year-old in his last attempt at professional baseball, Ramirez hit nine home runs in 65 games. He should be able to put up gaudy numbers in a low-level Japanese league. The only real explanation for his latest comeback attempt is that Manny just can’t give up being Manny.

Ramirez retired from Major League Baseball in disgrace, with two positive PED tests. In his 19 years in the big leagues, he slashed .312/.411/.585 with 555 home runs while generally amusing the baseball world with his antics. With or without the juice, Ramirez had one of the purest right-handed swings in baseball history, and was incredibly dedicated to the craft of hitting. The same thing cannot always be said of his defense.

Ryan Thibodaux has been tracking the Hall of Fame votes as writers around the country release their choices. Ramirez is polling at 25.1% with 178 total ballots to date. He will not reach Cooperstown this year, but if the stance on PEDs continues to soften, he may continue to gain each year. For now, do your best to find a live stream of obscure Japanese baseball so that you can watch “Manny being Manny” at least one more time.

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