11.17.04 ? Electronic Arts announced that Boston Red Sox All-Star and 2004 World Series Most Valuable Player Manny Ramirez has been selected as the spokesman and cover athlete for MVP Baseball™ 2005, scheduled for release next spring.

?This has been an unbelievable year for me and being selected as the cover athlete for MVP Baseball 2005 is a huge honor,? said Ramirez. ?I?m very excited about working with EA and helping to make MVP Baseball 2005 a huge success.?

Ramirez was named MVP of the 2004 World Series after batting .412 with a home run and seven RBI, leading the Boston Red Sox to their first championship since 1918. One of the best all-around hitters in the game, Ramirez led the American League in home runs (43) and slugging percentage (.613) while ranking 3rd in RBI (130). This season, Ramirez was also selected to his 8th All-Star Game (1995, 1998-2004), received his 7th Silver Slugger Award (1995, 1999-2004) and was named the American League recipient of the 2004 Hank Aaron Award which recognizes the outstanding offensive player in each league.

Ramirez?s image will appear on all packaging and merchandising for MVP Baseball 2005, which is due out this spring for the PC, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, the Xbox® video game system from Microsoft, and the Nintendo GameCube™