Manny Ramirez shakes baseball with 50-game suspension

From NBA courts to the court of public opinion, from major league clubhouses to the White House, reaction came swiftly Thursday after Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games for failing a drug test.

The commissioner's office did not identify the substance; the Los Angeles Dodgers slugger said it was not steroids but a medication containing a banned substance that a doctor had given him.

Houston star Lance Berkman echoed a familiar refrain: In the Steroids Era, nothing is too shocking.

"I wasn't surprised. I think that anybody that makes the game look clownish is under suspicion because it's just not that easy," he said. "It's unfortunate that here we go again with another round of steroid questions."

Ramirez ranks 17th on the career home run list with 533. He said he was sorry for "this whole situation."