Manny Ramirez Likes Los Angeles Because It's Like Cleveland

For Manny Ramirez, Cleveland will always hold a special place in his heart. In a recent interview with the USA Today, the all-star slugger mentioned how he'd love to return to Cleveland to end his baseball career. In a new interview with Playboy magazine, Ramirez's agent, Scott Boras, said that Manny wanted out of Boston because it wasn't like Cleveland. Presumably, Los Angeles is a lot more Cleveland-like, and so the outfielder was happy to make the move there.

PLAYBOY: Manny Ramirez made himself such a distraction for the Red Sox last year that they traded him to L.A., where he led the Dodgers to the playoffs. Why did he want out of Boston?

BORAS: Manny enjoyed his Red Sox teammates and loved the organization, but he did not enjoy living in Boston. It wore him out. He wasn't comfortable. It wasn't like Cleveland.

PLAYBOY: He wanted out because Boston isn't like Cleveland? 


BORAS: [Nodding] For Manny, environment is important. He had liked living in the Cleveland suburbs. I said, "Manny, I want you to play in L.A. They've got some really good young hitters, but they need a slugger, and Pasadena's a lot like those Cleveland suburbs." He had been to L.A. only three times in his life, but once we got him there he said, "This is the spot for me."