The Other Fifteen

I know that most people are vilifying Manny Ramirez.  They say he is a cheater.  But I have to ask, which one of us wouldn’t do the same thing if we were in his position?  Manny Ramirez simply did the same thing that many others have done when faced with the same choice.  Manny Ramirez took hCG, a women’s fertility drug that boosts testosterone production.  He’s not the first to take this drug and he won’t be the last.

Honestly, I think we’re all being judgmental and hypocritical.  I mean, if you were having trouble ovulating, wouldn’t you do whatever it takes to get your ovaries working again?  I know I would.  And I don’t think that Manny should be penalized just because the “Therapeutic Use” clause in baseball’s PED rulebook doesn’t include “I needed fertility drugs so I can get pregnant” as one of it’s categories.  I think we need to change this immediately.  Who are we to tell Manny that he can’t be ovulating while playing baseball?  I thought this was America, the land of the free.  But I don’t want to live in a country in which our major sports bodies are telling a man that he can’t maintain a healthy menstrual cycle while playing baseball.  I think this story has been talked about in the wrong light.  Yes, Manny Ramirez took a drug banned by baseball.  But he only took it because he was trying to get pregnant.  If he and his wife Juliana want to bring a little Ramirez into the world, who are we to tell them that they have to put a bun in her oven instead of having Manny carry the baby in his belly.  If Manny Ramirez wants to go and get pregnant, I think we should celebrate his choice, not denounce him as a cheater for having to use fertility drugs to make it happen.