Ramirez still ‘the man’ to many fans

Sad, but true. What else explains the Manny Ramírez Freedom Tour, which soon will be coming to a ballpark near you?

Manny crushed a homer to left in his first trip to the plate at Petco Park in yesterday’s 7-4 Dodgers loss to the Padres. Now a bigger star than he was before his 50-game suspension for violating baseball’s drug policy, Manny was showered with love even though he was playing on the road. Fans wearing Manny shirts bowed and chanted, “We’re not worthy,’’ when he ran to his position in the bottom of the first.

Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty he is free at last.

Manny heard a few boos at Petco and he’ll get hooted this week at Citi Field because he is a Dodger in New York, but just wait until the Dodgers return to Chavez Ravine July 16 after the All-Star break. On that night, Manny will be the biggest thing to hit SoCal since Jacko. Two sections of “Mannywood’’ will be re-opened in Dodger Stadium, Manny wigs will be back on sale, and I think there’s a quickie book planned with T.J. Simers: “Letter From Albuquerque Holiday Inn.’’

Out here, Manny the rules breaker is honored as Manny the victim. Major league heroes returning from World War II and Korea didn’t get this kind of treatment. Taking the old Red Sox enabling to a new level, the Dodgers have assigned a former Secret Service agent to stand by Manny’s side. It’s as if Manny’s returned from 50 days as a political prisoner in a Turkish jail.

Performance-enhancing cheater? More like Manny Mandela. Set free on Independence Day weekend.

Here are some of the questions Manny was asked at his comeback news conference: “How emotional has this all been for you? . . . How tough was it for you to sit out 50 games? . . . How bad was this for you?’’

The theme is obvious. Manny didn’t do anything bad. Something bad was done to him and now he is overcoming the obstacles and returning to his craft.

Fans simply love their ballplayer heroes and don’t care about steroids.

Pre-Mitchell, post-Mitchell, Andrea Mitchell, it doesn’t matter. The longer this goes on, the more it seems that the only people who care about steroids are Hall of Fame voters, a handful of baseball purists, and perhaps those players who have not cheated and now feel like suckers.

I called the commissioner to ask him about Manny getting the Charles Lindbergh treatment in San Diego.

“The only comment I have on that score is that fans everywhere will have to make their own value judgment,’’ said a disgusted Bud Selig. “That certainly is out of our control. That’s all I’ll say on that.’’

I tried Dodgers manager Joe Torre. He’s been all around this. He played in 18 big league seasons. He played with Hank Aaron, who looks clean. He played in St. Louis, where Mark McGwire looks very dirty. He’s managed Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Jason Giambi, and Manny, all card-carrying members of Club PED.

What do you say, Joe? Think fans care about steroids?

“I think people care, but they come to the park to be entertained,’’ said Torre. “I hate to think they don’t care, I really do. It’s not a good message to send.’’

Do the clean players care?

“There’s a lot of resentment there, I would think.’’

Then why do Manny’s teammates say only great things about him?

“You can like somebody without liking everything they do . . . the exposure and questioning is punishment enough. Your ability is going to be questioned. That’s punishment for me. This is a great career [Manny’s] and now there’s always going to be an argument or division about it. Baseball records mean something. We have not changed our rules. The only thing that changed is now, ‘Does he or doesn’t he?’ And how much difference does it make?

“This is a frightening time . . . part of our job is to get fans to trust us again.’’

Yesterday’s Dodgers-Padres game was moved to 1:05 local time for national television - for fans across the land who wanted to watch Manny. Friday night and yesterday the Padres had their third and fourth sellouts of a sorry season. Because of Manny.

Manny’s home run was his 534th career blast, tying him with Jimmie Foxx for 16th on the all-time list. Sox general manager Dan Duquette said Manny was the modern Jimmie Foxx when Ramírez was brought to Boston. Now Manny is tied with Foxx, chasing Mickey Mantle. And we can only pray that there is a Dodgers-Red Sox World Series in October. Manny won’t be feeling the love at Fenway.

Before leaving yesterday’s game in the bottom of the sixth for the second straight day, Manny batted two more times and grounded out twice. Both of his smoked grounders could have been base hits, but close calls did not go Manny’s way. In one instance, he removed his helmet and argued with umpire Sam Holbrook. It was a rare demonstration by Manny. In Boston, we never knew he cared.

And now we know that fans don’t care.

About steroids.

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com.