No one knew what to expect from the Fenway faithful when Manny Ramirez returned to his old stomping grounds on Friday night for the first time since forcing his way out of town. Personally, I thought there would be many more cheers than boos when Manny strolled to the plate. From my experience, fans usually prefer to be a part of that special, heart-warming moment over being someone who boos a player when he returns to face his old team. Regardless of the category you’d put yourself in, that seems to be the case. Johnny Damon left the Boston Red Sox to sign with the Yankees because of a few million dollars, and even he got a mixed response when he returned to Fenway as a member of their most hated rival. If you didn’t get a chance to see it, here’s the video of the reception Boston fans gave Manny Ramirez in his return to Fenway Park, courtesy of Twitter user Jose3030:
Manny’s reception was a bit more mixed than I thought it would be. Although there were a lot of people who expected the fans to let him know how they felt about the terms he left on or his involvement with PEDs, I thought they’d put all that behind them and applaud Ramirez for the seven-and-a-half years and two championships he gave them — years in which he was one of the top sluggers in the AL. Meanwhile, I wonder if Manny even realized he’s played for the Red Sox before and that’s what all the fuss was about.
Video Credit: Twitter user Jose3030
