Glenn Dickey: Ramirez’s return tonight will be greeted with forgiveness by Dodger faithful

Manny ramirez was greeted by cheers during his minor league assignment, a trend that should continue in Los Angeles tonight. (Reed Saxon/AP)

Manny Ramirez will return to the Dodgers tonight and be warmly welcomed by both his teammates and the Dodger fan base. In a perfect world, that might make baseball writers change their minds about steroids. In the real world, most will retain their hypocritical stance.

Ramirez has just concluded a minor league rehab where he was greeted by hyper-enthusiastic crowds. No surprise. Fans loved him, as they do in Los Angeles, as they did in Boston before the outrageous behavior that prompted his midseason trade last season.

Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke went apoplectic when Dodgers fans greeted the news of Manny’s suspension with pledges of support, accusing them of the worst kind of treachery — acting like the Giants fans who supported Barry Bonds.

Plaschke went to some of Ramirez’s minor league games and was no doubt just as revolted by the fans’ actions there.

There’s a serious disconnect between fans at games and most baseball writers, as well as mostly older fans who watch on TV and revile the “cheaters.” The stay-at-home fans revere the records, which I don’t because they’re affected by the vast changes in the game. Pitching records were mostly set in the early part of the 20th century, the “dead ball” era. The hitting records are mostly being set in this era because of steroids, overexpansion, a livelier ball and more hitter-friendly parks, not necessarily in that order.

Writers prattle on about the “purity” of the games, an oxymoron for a game that has always had a culture of cheating. Many of them refuse to vote for a player for the Hall of Fame if they know or suspect him of steroid use. If they don’t change their minds, there’s going to be a huge void in the Hall because the top players of this era will be missing. Instead of being judgmental, writers should assume, not unreasonably, that most players have been on steroids and evaluate them against their contemporaries, not by a historical standard.

The fans going to the games have a much healthier attitude: They just want to enjoy the action. Baseball attendance has risen dramatically in the last dozen years because of the power displays. That’s why commissioner Bud Selig and team owners ignored the steroids issue for so long — and why teams build new parks in which balls fly out. Check the new Yankee Stadium.

His teammates will greet Manny with enthusiasm because they know what he means to the team even though they did fine without him; they lost the first two games of his suspension, but overall, they won 29 of the 50, a .580 winning percentage. No other National League team is close to that winning percentage for the season.

The Giants seemed to have a window of opportunity when Ramirez was suspended, but that window has closed. In fact, the Giants are now faced with a challenge from the Colorado Rockies to even stay in second place in the NL West.

The Dodgers got a huge boost last year when they traded for Ramirez and they’ll get another boost now with a well-rested Ramirez returning to the lineup.

Baseball is better off with his return, too, because Ramirez is an exciting, eccentric character, as well as a great clutch hitter.
Welcome back, Manny. Enjoy your fans and ignore the chatter from hypocritical writers.

Glenn Dickey has been covering Bay Area sports since 1963 and also writes on www.GlennDickey.com. E-mail him at glenndickey@hotmail.com.