Manuel "Manny" Aristides RamÃrez Onelcida (born May 30, 1972 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Dominican-American Major League Baseball left fielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers. A nine-time Silver Slugger, and one of twenty-five people to have hit over 500 career home runs, he is well recognized for his strong offensive abilities. His 21 career grand slams are the most by any active player, and the second most all-time, behind Lou Gehrig's 23. For the past eleven years, Ramirez has been a fixture in the All-Star Game, and is a twelve-time All-Star.
Ramirez was allegedly among a group of 104 major league players to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs during 2003 survey testing.[1] In 2009, Ramirez was suspended 50 games for violating Major League Baseball's Performance Enhancing Drug policy for taking human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a women's fertility drug typically used by steroid users to restart their body's natural testosterone production as they come off a steroid cycle.
Growing up in Washington Heights, New York City, New York, Ramirez attended George Washington High School, New York. He was a 3-time All-City selection in baseball and was named New York City Public School Player of the Year in 1991, while batting .615 with 14 home runs in 22 games. He was inducted into the New York City Public School Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.
