Manny Ramirez, English Speaker, Pretends Not to Speak English

Manny Ramirez, the All-Star slugger and famed prankster, had his first press conference as a player for the Chicago White Sox earlier this week. There was, however, a twist: Though he grew up in New York City and speaks English, Ramirez spoke via a translator throughout the question-and-answer session:

In an interview with NPR, ESPN's Pedro Gomez chalked up Ramirez's antics to a good, old-fashioned need for attention:

I spoke to somebody who said Manny enjoys getting attention. And really, when you think about it for a 24-hour news cycle, he was able to get attention because people were talking about him conducting a press conference solely in Spanish. So he was able to get the light on himself for that news cycle. And it—you have to admit that it did work to perfection in that sense.

Read the full story at NPR.