Is Manny Ramirez Baseball's Dennis Rodman?

I began thinking of this when Manny switched his number to 99 upon being traded to the Dodgers and as my mind wandered, I began to see further parallels between the two. Here they are in no particular order:

The Numbers:

Rodman donned the number 91 jersey when he joined the Bulls prior to the 1994-1995 season (Sidenote: He was acquired in a trade for WILL PERDUE! What a bargain.) He switched to 91 because his number, 10, had been previously retired by the Bulls, and also, he pointed out at the time, they are the first two numbers you dial in case of an emergency. In my mind, I remember this as a very strange thing... the only other person I can remember wearing a 90s number in basketball is George Mikan (Also, the great PJ Brown's #93 this year, and yes I just said "The Great PJ Brown"). I thought it was crazy at the time, but then again I also think I was wearing bright red Roos sneakers during those days. I have yet to hear why Manny chose 99, my initial reaction was "what a crazy asshole."

The One Dimensional Game:

Both of these players have hall of fame worthy numbers and careers, but neither one could be said to be a "complete" player. In defense of Manny, I have never felt he was as bad defensively as people made him out to be. In defense of people, Dennis Rodman was as bad offensively as people made him out to be. But the fact is both guys are known for doing two things as well or better than any one else in their respective sports: Manny can hit for power and average, and Rodman could play defense and rebound. They know this too. Manny can roll around on the grass with the ball nestled in his grundel and Rodman could kick out an easy, uncontested layup to an unshaven Tony Kukoc and yet they know that the fans will laugh it off after the next clutch rebound or towering homerun. You can think of specific critical situations in both baseball and basketball where you would not want either of these guys on the field/court if you could help it, which is strange to say about HOF caliber athletes.

Outbursts of Violence, Distractions to the Team:

Rodman famously headbutted a referee and attacked a sideline cameraman, Manny slapped Kevin Youkilis and threw down a 60 something year old travelling secretary. There's no such thing as an edge in this category, because it is all relative, but I cant picture Manny wearing a wedding dress to a book signing, but, like I said he is making a late career surge towards the ridiculous and he is now residing in LA so lets wait and see.

The Hair:

Both Rodman and Manny entered their respective professional leagues as relatively clean shaven young gentleman. Over time this morphed into something much more. Rodman was really the first to take the tattoos and piercings to the next level in the NBA, and the hair completed his ensemble. I can remember looking forward to Bulls games just to see what kind of hair style Rodman would sport on a given day. Manny has also continued to adapt his hair style; his dreadlocks growing in length and color combinations each season.

Coachable?

Both of these players seem, on the surface to be nightmares for a coach. They are so good at what they do that they can get away with certain things (on the field antics, quirkiness with the media, etc...) that lesser talented players simply cannot. Coaching such "free spirits" certainly seems like a trying endeavour. And yet, both of these players consistently produced for their teams. I have to think, ultimately this made these guys bearable to work with, but it must be a strange to see your power forward naked on a book cover or your left fielder taking phonecalls in the Green Monster and then counting on them to produce in crunch time.

Women:

It is obvious that both of these guys can pull some serious tail. Manny's wife is smoking hot, and we all know that Rodman's ex-wife Carmen Electra, is a fairly attractive woman as well. Rodman now seems to subsist on a steady diet of prostitutes and bi-sexual strippers, while Manny plays the role of family man. But, in Manny's case we can't be so bold as to rule out a future divorce and subsequent bachelorhood that might make Scott Baio jealous, and would make for some far more compelling Reality TV than the latters' miserable attempts under the wing of that dude who played the older brother in The Wonder Years. Either way, Rodman BROKE HIS PENIS having sex with Carmen Electra, I just wanted to point that out. I'm not sure if that's awesome or not.


I be interested to see if we could come up with more, or expand on the ones above...let me know.



fucking badass.