Sammy Sosa is arguably one of the greatest Chicago Cubs players in the history of the franchise. Relax, old school fan, I said “one” of the greatest.
At the height of Sammy Sosa’s Chicago Cubs career, it wouldn’t have been out of line for people to think he could wind up replacing Ernie Banks as “Mr. Cub”. He was beloved. Worshipped. He was Slammin’ Sammy, OUR GUY, and we loved him. The blowing kisses in the dugout, the “hop” after a home run where his arms raised high towards the sky, him sprinting out to his position in right field before every game; WE ATE IT UP.
But somewhere along that glorious ride, the “magic” ended. Sosa had a bat explode in a game in 2003, and surprise, it was corked. Not unheard of, but STRIKE ONE with the fans and media, and certainly BUSH LEAGUE at best from someone who shouldn’t need the extra help of a corked stick. Sosa was suspended 7 games for the incident.
According to the New York Times, Sammy Sosa was one of 104 players that tested positive for performance enhancing drugs during Major League Baseball’s 2003 survey testing. Sosa was first implicated in Michael Schmidt’s article, Sosa Is Said to Test Positive in 2003. Once Sosa was linked to the “list” of major leaguers who tested positive for PED’s, his credibility was crumbling. STRIKE TWO.
The last straw for Sammy was when he chose to exit stage left on his teammates, coaches, and fans on the final day of the 2004 season. Sosa arrived late for the game that day, never even put his uniform on, and reportedly left not long after the game started. After all the love and admiration, Sosa had quit on his city, his team, and their fans. Unacceptable. What followed was the baseball bat execution of Sosa’s “salsa-blaring” boom box, which was bashed into oblivion by a few pissed off teammates; and the beginning of the end for Sammy and his reputation with the Cubs and their fans. STRIKE THREE, YOU’RE OUT!
Fast forward almost a decade and Sosa is nowhere to be seen during the Wrigley 100th Anniversary celebration. Where you will see Sosa is plastered all over social media, posting thousands, yes, thousands of pictures of guess what? Himself. So much for humility. It was looking like the Cubs might actually extend an olive branch to Sosa and retire his number recently, but he snapped that in half when he did an interview on a live webcast and stated that his number 21 “should have been retired a long time ago.” Stay classy, San Pedro de Marcoris?
Would Cubs fans ever welcome back Sosa? I think so. If he was sincere, and honest, and apologetic, they would absolutely welcome him back. That’s the American Way. That’s the Cub Way. But I doubt he will ever be humble, or apologetic, or regretful. Sosa will stay angry, resentful, and continue to blame anyone but himself. The Cubs simply don’t need that kind of player around when they already have three of the classiest Hall of Famers to ever play the game in Banks, Jenkins, and B. Williams representing the organization.
So it seems ironic that the only way for Sammy Sosa to be invited back and be part of the Cubs family again is to be something he never was and never will be; HUMBLE.
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