Retired Major League Baseball outfielder Manny Ramirez says he found God and enrolled in seminary five years ago and it changed him from selfishness to becoming a man of God. “What I’m doing now, I preach,” he explains according to a report on FOX News. “That’s what I do. Go into hospitals just to preach and teach people the Bible.”
Retired Major League Baseball outfielder Manny Ramirez says he found God and enrolled in seminary five years ago.
The Dominican-born slugger produced 19 seasons in the league. He played with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox and Tampa Bay Rays. He’s known for his bat at the plate and as the megastar of the 2004 Red Sox team that broke the “Curse of the Bambino” by winning the World Series. Former teammate David Ortiz and Ramirez will highlight the Red Sox Hall of Fame class for 2020. However, Ramirez’s career was also filled with controversies. He was suspended twice for failing PED tests with the Red Sox and caused problems off the diamond, forcing Boston to trade him.
Ramirez shares in a recent interview he found something greater than himself and apologized to fans for the antics of the past. “One day I woke up and looked at myself in the mirror and I said I needed a change. I started going to Bible studies, I saw it was good. God helped me to change my life. … Now I realize I behaved bad in Boston,” he tells ESPN in 2014.
Five years later, Ramirez indicates he’s still developing as a person and in his walk with God.
Admittedly, growing spiritually does take a lot of time, much like mastering baseball.
“I’m growing. It takes time,” the reformed Baptist, Ramirez tells the Boston Globe. “It’s like playing baseball. If you want to be the best, you got to hit it every day. If you want to get to know God, you have to have a relationship with Him.
Ramirez is 15th on the all-time home runs list with 555 but does not see the stats page as the biggest accomplishment to date.
“When God calls, you should humble yourself and you can see. Like, I hit all those home runs and it doesn’t mean anything. It’s something that I really cannot explain. If you read the Bible, the Bible says that your name is going to be written in the Book of Life. So it’s going to be more impressive than this. Remember, when you die, you can’t take this with you.”
About the Author
Corine Gatti-Santillo has spent two decades as an editor, investigative reporter and web content strategist; her work has appeared in The Christian Post, LifeZette and CBN, among other outlets. She is host of the program “Mom on the Right” on The Liberty Beacon TV. She and her husband, Rocky, live in Virginia with their infant daughter and yellow lab Maggie.