Like father, like son: Lucas Ramirez hits 2 homers for Brazil in WBC with dad Manny Ramirez watching

HOUSTON (AP) — Manny Ramirez hit plenty of home runs in his 19-year major league career — 555, to be exact.

On Friday night at Daikin Park, the 12-time All-Star relished watching someone else go yard when his son Lucas Ramirez hit two homers for Brazil against the United States in the World Baseball Classic.

Lucas Ramirez hit a leadoff homer, then added another solo shot in the eighth inning.

Like father, like son.

The 20-year-old sent Logan Webb’s second pitch into the seats in right field to cut the Americans' lead to 2-1 after Aaron Judge hit a two-run shot in the top of the inning. Ramirez's blast in the eighth off Gabe Speier got Brazil within 8-5.

“I was looking forward for him to do something special,” Manny Ramirez told The Associated Press after his son's first homer. “So, he’s been working so hard all year round and I’m proud of him.”

Lucas Ramirez is playing for Brazil because his mother, Juliana Ramirez, was born and raised in Sao Paulo. She was at the ballpark Friday night and beamed after the leadoff homer.

“This is the best day ever of my life, to be honest,” Lucas Ramirez said. “My mom doesn’t really make it to all of the games because she is back home with my brother. My dad is at most of the games. I’m just really thankful that my family is here was to watch me play.”

The younger Ramirez was a 17th-round pick of the Los Angeles Angels in the 2024 amateur draft and he spent last season playing in class A, batting .266 with three homers, 30 RBIs and six stolen bases.

He also played for Brazil in the 2026 WBC qualifiers and went 5 for 13.

He said he'd been visualizing hitting a home run on his first at-bat in the WBC since the qualifiers.

“It is crazy it actually happened,” he said. “For five months, every time before I go to bed, after I pray, I visualized it. And it happened. That’s why, I don’t know if you saw me running the bases, I said: ‘I told you,’ because I visualized it and it happened.”

Lucas Ramirez said he uses visualization a lot to deal with the pressure of having a famous father.

“Having Manny Ramirez as my father, it's obviously a good thing and a bad thing,” he said. “It’s a little harder, everybody expects so much. That’s why maybe I visualize and ... say things because I've got to paint my own picture. I've got to be Lucas Ramirez and I've got my own path.”

Manny Ramirez, a two-time World Series champion and the 2004 World Series MVP, would have been thrilled to see his son homer against any team, but it made it more special for him to do it against one of the top teams in the tournament.

“Oh yeah, they’re No. 1,” he said.

And he thinks the big night will give his son a boost for the upcoming season.

“It’s going to be more special for him because that’s going to give him — he’s going to be ready for the season,” Ramirez said. “I hope he’s going to do good.”

Lucas Ramirez is wearing the No. 24 his father donned for most of his career. And Manny Ramirez was thrilled to see his son succeed.

“I’m proud of him,” he said. “Thank God for this opportunity that he has.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Former professional baseball player Manny Ramirez, second from right, greets a fan during the fifth inning of a World Baseball Classic game between the United States and Brazil, Friday, March 6, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Brazil's Lucas Ramirez, right, celebrates with Osvaldo Carvalho after hitting a solo home run during the first inning of a World Baseball Classic game against the United States, Friday, March 6, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Brazil's Lucas Ramirez, right, celebrates with Osvaldo Carvalho after hitting a solo home run during the first inning of a World Baseball Classic game against the United States, Friday, March 6, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Brazil's Lucas Ramirez runs the bases after hitting a solo home run during the first inning of a World Baseball Classic game, Friday, March 6, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

It’s delicate for any president to watch flag-draped transfer cases return home from overseas, a solemn tradition that honors the dead and shines a spotlight on the human costs of conflict.

Donald Trump’s visit Saturday to Dover Air Force Base, honoring the six American service members killed in the war in the Middle East, could be an especially fraught moment for a president whose White House has done little to build public support for the conflict. He also has a record of controversy when it comes to talking about military service and sacrifice

Trump can be reverential, such as when he recently awarded the Medal of Honor to troops for bravery during previous conflicts.

But he can also be terse or even dismissive. After launching attacks on Iran in coordination with Israel a week ago, Trump warned that there could be American casualties. When it comes to war, he said in a video message, “that's the way it is.”

The president frequently emphasizes the strength of U.S. armed services and stories of individual heroism.

“Today you entered the ranks of the bravest warriors ever to stride the face of the earth,” Trump told retired Command Sgt. Maj. Terry P. Richardson last week before presenting the Medal of Honor for actions during the Vietnam War that were credited with saving the lives of 85 other service members.

During his State of the Union address last month, Trump presented the same medal to Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover, a helicopter pilot who in Venezuela was shot four times but maintained control of the aircraft, saving the men on board.

“The success of the entire mission and the lives of his fellow warriors hinged on Eric’s ability to take searing pain," Trump said.

But when honoring injured service members, he sometimes interjects partisanship or other asides.

“Their valor gave us the freest, greatest and most noble republic ever to exist on the face of the earth," Trump said during a Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery last year.

Then he added a dig at his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, describing the country as "a republic that I am fixing after a long and hard four years.”

One of Trump's first controversies after entering politics involved criticism of Sen. John McCain's military service.

“He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured,” he said in 2015.

McCain was tortured during more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, refusing an offer to be released ahead of other Americans because his father was a high-ranking Navy admiral.

Some former officials who served during Trump's first term have claimed the president disparaged fallen service members as “suckers” and “losers” when, they said, he did not want to travel in 2018 to a cemetery for American war dead in France. Trump denied the allegation, saying, “What animal would say such a thing?”

Former Trump aides also alleged that he did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees, saying, "it doesn’t look good for me."

In 2017, he told the widow of a slain soldier that he “knew what he signed up for,” according to a Florida congresswoman who heard the call. The father of another slain soldier accused the president of going back on a promise to send a check for $25,000. The White House said the money was sent after controversy erupted.

And in 2020, Trump downplayed the severity of traumatic brain injuries service members suffered when Iran fired missiles at a U.S. base in Iraq in retaliation for a U.S. strike that killed Iran’s most powerful general, Qassem Soleimani.

“I heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things, but I would say and I can report it is not very serious,” Trump said.

Trump, who received deferments to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War, has remarked several times about wanting to receive military medals.

“I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier,” Trump told a veteran who presented his medal to Trump during his 2016 campaign. The Purple Heart is awarded to service members wounded or killed from enemy action.

And at his Medal of Honor ceremony Monday, Trump again joked getting a medal for himself, calling it “a great honor.”

“I’ve tried numerous times to get one by myself,” Trump said. “I keep getting shut down. They say: ‘You can’t do it, sir. Bad protocol.’”

“Very bad, I would say the worst,” he added. “But I’m only kidding.”

Chris Edmonds, left, son of Master Sergeant Roderick Edmonds, with President Donald Trump, is presented the Medal of Honor on behalf of his father, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A Marine Corps carry team moves the transfer case containing the remains of U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kevin Melendez of Fort Worth, Texas, Wednesday March 4, 2026, at Dover Air Force Base, Del. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)