By The Numbers

*Using Games Played and RBI totals from mlb.com

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Manny Ramírez is a member of the .300/.400/.500 club, a coterie containing 20 players (min. 5,000 plate appearances).  He’s one of eight to do this batting righty.

By Decade of Debut Season: .300/.400/.500 Club (RH batters in bold)

1870s:  Dan Brouthers

1880s:  Ed Delahanty

1900s:  Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Joe Jackson

1910s:  Harry Heilmann, Babe Ruth, Rogers Hornsby

1920s:  Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott

1930s:  Hank Greenberg, Ted Williams

1940s:  Stan Musial

1980s:  Edgar Martínez, Larry Walker

1990s:  Frank Thomas, Chipper Jones, Manny Ramírez, Todd Helton

Among these 20, Ramírez’s .585 slugging percent stands as the sixth highest, behind marks from Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx and Hank Greenberg.

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Among the 81 players since 1973 who accumulated at least 2,500 plate appearances with runners in scoring position, Manny Ramírez’s .594 slugging percentage in that split is tied with Barry Bonds’ mark for the highest.

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Among the 75 players since 1901 to collect at least 4,000 plate appearances as a cleanup hitter, Manny Ramírez’s 1.020 OPS out of that slot comes in as the third best, behind figures from Lou Gehrig and Hank Greenberg.  

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With a career OPS+ of 154, Manny Ramírez is tied with Frank Robinson for the 12th highest mark ever (min, 5,000 PA) for a right-handed hitter.  Those two are right behind Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron (all at 155).

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Manny Ramírez is one of nine players ever with at least a dozen seasons of 100-or-more RBI.  He’s tied with Al Simmons, Barry Bonds and Miguel Cabrera, behind Álex Rodríguez and 

Albert Pujols (both with 14), Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx (all with 13).  

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Manny Ramírez had nine qualifying seasons in which he posted a .300/.400/.500 line.  In AL-NL history, 11 others had at least that many, including fellow right-handed hitters Jimmie Foxx, Rogers Hornsby, Harry Heilmann and Albert Pujols.

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Manny Ramírez is one of 26 position players with at least 75 postseason games on his résumé.  Ordering from highest to lowest OPS, he comes in third, with his .937 behind Albert Pujols’ .995 and David Ortiz’s .947.  After Ramírez, Reggie Jackson owns the next highest mark, at .885.

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Manny Ramírez is one of 14 members of the 500-doubles, 500-homers club, and owns the 18th most extra-base hits, standing between Tris Speaker and George Brett.

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Manny Ramírez ranks 30th all-time in career total bases (4,826) and 41st all-time in career walks (1,329).  The others ahead of him on both lists:  Albert Pujols, Álex Rodríguez, Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Carl Yastrzemski, Eddie Murray, Frank Robinson,  Hank Aaron, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Mel Ott, Pete Rose, Rafael Palmeiro, Reggie Jackson, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Tris Speaker and Willie Mays.  

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Manny Ramírez was a crucial member of the 1999 Cleveland club which became the first team since 1950 to plate at least 1,000 runs in a season – it hasn’t happened again.  He drove in 165 runs that year, the most for any player since Jimmie Foxx posted 175 RBI in 1938 and an unmatched tally in the seasons after.  He was a guiding force on the 2003 Red Sox team that produced more extra-base hits in a season than any club before or since.

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Manny Ramírez is on the Hall of Fame ballot for the ninth time; his last two appearances have yielded his two highest percentages of votes – 33.2% in 2023 and 32.5% the last time around.  These balloting numbers and all the ones that came from Ramírez’s work from the batter’s box are at odds and reflect mostly on what Ramírez did off the diamond.  Some may dismiss the numbers, discard the links to the immortal names. That’s fine.  

Alternatively,  Ramírez’s connections can be ridden through the past, where his company speaks of times in the game’s history when batters scripted splashy and brilliant numbers, astonishing for their reflective statements of superiority over pitching.  Once upon a time, a 165-RBI season was not so uncommon (Sam Thompson had two in the 19th century; there were 14 of them in 1920s and 1930s).  When Ramírez did it, it was both an extraordinary achievement and a nod to the long ago, a chance to regale again in the numbers of the past.  That’s just the thing with Ramírez:  his offensive breadth and longevity puts him in explosive company, gives him a seat at the table for the inner circle offensive weapons from all decades.  

Manny Ramírez was an experience, an attraction like few others have been.  Forget about the eccentricities or the hijinks in the outfield and instead focus on the hitting.  The vitality of “Manny Being Manny” in the batter’s box was palpable, for there was an undeniable recognition of watching a master.  The set-up in the box, the coiled anticipation belonging almost entirely to the viewer, for the batter seemed as calm as one settling down with a good book in a quiet library.  The simplicity of the swing, looking equally adept whether turning on a bold inside fastball or lacing a more cautious offering to the opposite field.  The alluring follow-through, especially when everyone – including the batter – knew he had just connected on a home run, so that there was a little rock back on the heels and a little extra flourish in the appreciation for what he had just done.  Entertainer, artist, brilliant technician – like the company he keeps, Ramírez was all these in one.  

Ramírez painted a masterpiece, wrote a tour de force, composed a classic – his art of punishing pitchers is among the greatest works the game has seen.  By the numbers, Manny’s associates should make space for one more in the room. 

Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.