Daily Freeman (Kingston, NY)

Ramirez highlights ballot

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Steroidsta­inted stars Manny Ramirez and Ivan Rodriguez are on baseball’s Hall of Fame ballot for the first time along with Vladimir Guerrero.

Jeff Bagwell is the top holdover on the 2017 Baseball Writers’ Associatio­n of America 34-player ballot announced Monday. He fell 15 votes short of the required 75 percent in 2016 voting.

Ramirez was suspended for 50 games in 2009 while with the Los Angeles Dodgers for using a banned female fertility drug. He retired in 2011 rather than face a 100-game suspension after testing positive for a performanc­e-enhancing substance. He applied for reinstatem­ent that December, and his suspension for the second failed test was cut from 100 games to 50 because he sat out nearly all of the 2011 season.

Ramirez did not play in the majors again, although he did appear at Triple-A from 2012-14.

Results will be announced Jan. 18.

Rodriguez was never discipline­d for PEDs but former Texas teammate Jose Canseco alleged in a 2005 book that he injected the catcher with steroids. Asked whether he was on the list of players who allegedly tested positive for steroids during baseball’s 2003 survey, Rodriguez said in 2009: “Only God knows.”

A 12-time All-Star, Ramirez helped the Boston Red Sox win World Series titles in 2004 and ‘07, the first for the franchise since 1918. He hit .312 with 555 home runs and 1,831 RBIs in 19 big league seasons, and he was voted MVP of the 2004 Series.

Rodriguez was a 14-time All-Star and 13-time Gold Glove catcher, and he was voted AL MVP in 1999 with Texas, his team for the first 12 of his 21 big league seasons. He batted .296 with 311 homers and 1,332 RBIs, winning a World Series with the Florida Marlins in 2003 after earning MVP of the NL Championsh­ip Series.

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