FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – He wore a headband with the flag of Brazil, sported dreadlocks with beads at the ends and smacked liners up the middle.

Manny Ramirez was back in town after spending about a month in Brazil where he enjoyed the raucous Carnival holiday. His World Series MVP award is a thing of the past and the fun-loving personality he let the fans see last year is part of his future.

Baseball “is fun. We get called the idiots. That’s what it’s all about,” Ramirez said Tuesday, the first day the entire Boston Red Sox team was together since it completed a four-game sweep of the World Series in St. Louis last Oct. 27.

A year ago, Ramirez returned from a less pleasant offseason. The Red Sox had lost Game 7 of the AL championship series to the New York Yankees then management tried to trade him and his salary which averages $20 million a year.

But he stayed with the team, led the AL with 43 homers and smiled a lot among teammates who Johnny Damon had good-naturedly branded a bunch of “idiots.”

Manager Terry Francona noticed the change in the greeting he got from Ramirez on Tuesday.

“I got a big hug from Manny,” Francona said. “That was a little different than last year.”

Francona was among the speakers at a half-hour team meeting before the first official workout.

A big cheer went up when Jason Varitek was introduced as captain, an honor that already had been announced.

Ramirez rarely talked to reporters when he played for Cleveland from 1993-00. That didn’t change much in his first three years in Boston. But, spurred on by chatterbox Kevin Millar, he began opening up in spring training last year.

That openness lasted throughout the season.

“You know he was very happy in Cleveland,” Damon said. “He comes over here and, bam, the media attention, the things he’s doing wrong, surfaced. But without Manny we wouldn’t be as cheery as we are today.

“He’s definitely a lot friendlier, he’s definitely a lot more comfortable, and I’d much rather him that way.”

After not hitting the entire offseason, he took batting practice Tuesday in a group with Millar, David Ortiz and Jay Payton. Unlike Millar and Ortiz, the powerful Ramirez rarely swung for the fences. He was getting his timing down and directing the ball where he wanted it to go.

“Same old Manny,” hitting coach Ron Jackson said. “He’s hitting back up the middle, not trying to do too much. That’s why he’s such a great hitter. His game plan right now is not to get fooled, just stay up the middle and let everything else take care of itself.”

Ramirez hit .308 with 130 RBIs and led the AL with a .613 slugging percentage.

His goals this year?

“Average, .275; home runs, 25; 100 RBIs,” he said with a wide smile.

When one disbelieving reporter questioned that and wondered whether Ramirez expected to exceed that, he said, “I hope so.”

His main goals are to have fun and win another World Series while the fans see the real Ramirez.

“Before they saw him perhaps as almost a sullen figure or someone who was unfriendly,” principal owner John Henry said, “but that’s not the Manny that his teammates know. So it’s great to see the real Manny Ramirez come out publicly the last year and he has a winning personality.”

He still has the confidence he’s had for most of his career.

“I told my mom before the season, “Listen, I’m going to win an MVP. I don’t care if it’s the (regular) season or the playoffs. I’m going to win one.’ And I did and I left it at home,” he said.

Ramirez said he hasn’t watched any of the DVDs of the Red Sox season. He’s definitely aware that the New England Patriots won the last two Super Bowls. He even wore a Tom Brady jersey into the clubhouse Tuesday.

Ramirez watched the Super Bowl in Brazil, where he acquired his new hairstyle which he just might keep. The big sport there is soccer, so Ramirez enjoyed himself with his Brazilian wife without getting noticed.

“That was a good thing. I just wanted to go and have fun and be myself down there,” Ramirez said. “I was with my wife over there trying to keep me out of trouble.”