Fansided

Pedro Martinez says Manny Ramirez spiked drinks with Viagra in Red Sox clubhouse

By Stanford Crissey

Oct 15, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; A Boston Red Sox hat and glove on the field prior to game three of the American League Championship Series baseball game against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 15, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; A Boston Red Sox hat and glove on the field prior to game three of the American League Championship Series baseball game against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports /
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Red Sox outfielder Manny Ramirez prepared drinks spiked with Viagra for his Boston teammates in 2004

After years of reports of steroid use in baseball in the ’90s and early 2000s, you may believe now that baseball players would have put just about anything in their bodies if they thought it would give them some kind of advantage.

But you probably never imagined what Manny Ramirez put in drinks for his Red Sox teammates. (Well, you probably have if you read the headline, but come on, bear with me here! I’m increasing the suspense!)

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Ramirez, a star outfielder on Boston’s 2004 World Series team, gave teammates a mixture of alcohol and Viagra, a drug used to assist with erectile dysfunction, before games.

How this could possibly improve baseball performance remains an open question.

Pedro Martinez revealed the strange concoction in an interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Tuesday.

Martinez said the Red Sox began a tradition of taking a shot of alcohol prior to playoff games in 2004 in order to calm their nerves. Players would take turns concocting increasingly strange shots as the year went on. But a player would have to be exceptionally nervous to even consider drinking Ramirez’s shot, which he called mamajuana – a mixture of gin, honey, wine and medicine root. Oh, and Viagra.

"“(Ramirez) put three 100mg Viagras in it. So here we go, somebody needs to taste this to see if it works,” Martinez said. “So we decided to let [outfielder] Ellis Burks try to taste it and I say, ‘You know, this mamajuana, if you drink it, you might get turned on.’ He said, ‘Oh, I’ll try it. I’ll try it. I’m not playing anyway.’ So he took it, it seemed like it worked. So everybody was coming up to him for a little shot.”"

Remember those grade school classes where they teach kids how to avoid peer pressure? Ellis Burks clearly never took those classes.

The Red Sox did win the World Series that year, but it would be a surprise if Ramirez’s Viagra shots had anything to do with that.

Or maybe they did? Maybe that was the secret to their success. Ramirez is now a Cubs minor league instructor, and the Cubs should be praying he isn’t introducing this cocktail to their valuable prospects. This could derail some careers. Or save them.

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