Manny Ramirez's 40-Homer Seasons: Cleveland Started It, Boston Finished It

I'm always a sucker for symmetry, and Manny Ramirez supplied some here.

Manny Ramirez has a complicated legacy when it comes to his MLB career.

Between the “Manny being Manny” moniker and the PED suspensions in 2009 and 2011, there’s quite a bit of material for people to criticize. Yet, he also found a way to consistently be one of baseball’s best hitters. And he did it while having one of the sweetest right-handed swings of his era.

ManRam’s career statistics are quite gaudy because of his consistent above-average performances. He hit .312/.411/.585 with 555 home runs, 1,831 RBI, and 1,544 runs scored across 19 seasons. Ramirez was a 12-time All-Star, a nine-time Silver Slugger Award winner, and a two-time World Series champion.

Both of those titles came with the Boston Red Sox, which is probably the first team many associate Manny with. But he began his career by spending eight seasons in Cleveland.

Ramirez’s power prime included five seasons of 40-plus homers. He reached that total in two straight years twice — once with Cleveland and once with Boston. And today, I’ll dive into those monster seasons a little more.

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The True Start of Ramirez’s Power Prime in Cleveland

By the time Ramirez took the field for Cleveland in 1998, he had established himself as one of baseball’s promising young hitters. He had already appeared in his first All-Star Game, won his first Silver Slugger Award, and produced a pair of 30-homer, 100-RBI campaigns.

But 1998 was when Manny took things into overdrive at the dish. The then-26-year-old went to his second Midsummer Classic and finished sixth in the American League MVP Award voting. Across 633 plate appearances, he slashed .294/.377/.599 with 45 homers, 35 doubles, 145 RBI, and 108 runs scored.

What kind of encore did he have in store for 1999? Well, he won another Silver Slugger and finished third in the AL MVP Award voting after slashing .333/.443/.663 with 44 homers, 34 doubles, 165 RBI, and 131 runs scored in 640 plate appearances. Ramirez’s slugging percentage, OPS (1.105), and RBI total all led the league.

What’s interesting about these two seasons is that Ramirez finished one with a flourish and started another one fast… and they all came consecutively.

Manny’s best months for homers and RBI in 1998 came in August (10 homers, 30 RBI) and September/October (11 homers, 27 RBI). After posting an OPS above 1.000 just once through the regular season’s first four months, he surpassed that plateau in each of the final two months.

Then, he turned right around and went nuts in the RBI department in 1999. Ramirez didn’t post a double-digit homer month during this campaign, but he drove in at least 30 runs three (!) times. This included each of the first two months. Upon waking up on June 1, Ramirez had already accumulated 14 homers and 63 RBI for Cleveland. He had 96 RBI by the All-Star break, too.

This marked the start of Manny’s power peak, as he posted nine straight years with at least 30 homers and 100 RBI between 1998 and 2006. He slugged 41 homers in 2001 — his first in Boston — but the next time he surpassed 40 in consecutive years came a little later down the road.

A Look at Manny’s Final 40-Homer Campaigns

The 2004 season is significant in Red Sox history for all the obvious reasons. Ramirez helped Boston erase its 86-year title curse by bringing home a World Series title. The right-handed hitter was also named World Series MVP during the club’s four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals.

But before Manny earned that honor, he put together a huge regular season that placed him third in AL MVP Award voting. The outfielder hit .308/.397/.613 with 43 homers (which led the league), 44 doubles, 130 RBI, and 108 runs scored.

And while his triple-slash numbers weren’t as good in 2005, Ramirez found a way to be more productive with his power numbers. He slashed .292/.388/.594 with 45 homers, 30 doubles, 144 RBI, and 112 runs scored in 650 plate appearances.

As one might imagine, there appeared to be a direct correlation between Ramirez’s offensive production and Boston’s win-loss record. Manny hit 33 of his 43 homers, with 97 of his 130 RBI in Red Sox wins during the 2004 season. Those numbers increased in 2005, with 36 of his 45 dingers and 112 of his 144 RBI taking place in victories.

There are so many seasons, and even individual moments, that we can point at and marvel at how good of a hitter Manny Ramirez was. But in a sea of extraordinary numbers, these four seasons in particular stand out the most.

Single-Season HR Performances | Career HR Performances | Postseason HR Leaders | HR Derby Performances

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