Diagnosing Manny

by
March 10, 2009

I hadn’t heard about this, but there’s a new Manny Ramirez biography coming out today. It’s called “Becoming Manny,” and its co-author is a clinical psychologist named Jean Rhodes. Rhodes is interviewed today in the Boston Globe:

Q. If you had to diagnose him, what would you say?

A. Well, he has an incredible ability to focus and get into a flow state, which transcends the known world. He’s fundamentally a very shy person and experiences a high level of social anxiety. It’s like the whole world is conspiring to take him out of his flow state. Also, there’s a degree of narcissism. That can’t be denied.

I think I like “Manny’s flow state transcends the known world” better than “Manny being Manny.”


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MooseinOhio
15 years ago

But it’s so much harder to say and remember and will never fit on a t-shirt.

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Luke
15 years ago

Umm…“a degree of narcissim”?  Isn’t that kinda underscoring it?  I mean, to a degree, I’m narcissistic…Manny is off the charts compared to me…

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Melody
15 years ago

Wow—so cool to see this linked!  Jean Rhodes is a professor in my doctoral program, and she paid me to help her write a book about Manny that was finished over the summer.  It was interesting to read so much about Manny’s early life and the beginning of his career, the kind of kid he was at tha time and the way he was described by the people that knew him.  People are always more complicated than they first appear…

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TLA
15 years ago

When I read the last line in the block quote, I wondered whether the likely-recorded interview was translated to text properly.

Did the psychologist say:

Also, there’s a degree of narcissism. That can’t be denied.

OR

Also, there’s a degree of narcissism that can’t be denied.

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Paul
15 years ago

No histrionic in there at all?

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