The first person in professional baseball to believe in Manny Ramirez was Cleveland Indians scout Joe Delucca, who first saw Ramirez as a 10th grader at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park playing in the Youth Service League.
Nearly 20 years later, Delucca, 79, said he still believes Manny has what it takes and that he would be a tremendous addition to the Yankees lineup if the Yankees decide to go down that road with the free agent.
“The first thing I noticed about Manny was his bat speed,” Delucca says from his Long Island home. “He had it as a 10th grader, and he still has it. As a scout, you don’t come across that kind of bat speed much in your lifetime. When you do, your heart goes pitter-patter.”
Delucca is quick to credit his scouting mentor, Tom Giordano, with any success he has had through the years. Giordano was his boss with the Indians and went to lunch with Delucca, Ramirez and Youth Service coach Mel Zitter when the Indians were thinking of taking Manny with their first pick of the 1991 draft, No. 13 overall. Twins area scout Herb Stein wanted his club to pick Ramirez with the third pick, but his bosses opted to select first baseman David McCarty.
Delucca remembers Ramirez eating two lunches that day. Manny, Delucca says, always has treated him with respect. When he saw Ramirez in 1994 at Yankee Stadium and told the slugger he was leaving the Indians because there had been a change in the scouting department, Manny said he would do something special for him that night.
“I’m going to hit a home run for you,” Ramirez told him. Delucca responded: “Don’t even try, it’ll mess up your swing.” Recalls Delucca, “His first at-bat he hits a line drive that nearly knocks over the third baseman. The second time up, he whacks it out of the park.”
Manny is always Manny.
“He would really help the Yankees,” Delucca said. “You would have to keep him focused, and the Yankees have a great way of doing that. I think he’d be terrific for A-Rod, too. Look how much he helped David Ortiz. There’s only one Manny.”
And Delucca was lucky and skilled enough to find him.