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It’s Time to Make Peace With Sammy Sosa

From where I sit, as a 24-year-old lifelong fan of the Cubs, there is relatively little to complain about regarding the Ricketts family’s ownership of the team. After arriving in 2009, they hired one of the best minds in baseball (Theo Epstein), then stood back as he masterfully executed a plan to stockpile young talent and build a foundation for the future. The team has also moved forward on the upgrades Wrigley Field so desperately needed, particularly to a home clubhouse that’s been out of date for decades. What’s more, the family actually ponied up for the entire cost of the renovations after the city scoffed at their initial funding requests. All that, good.

I do find myself frustrated, though, with one minor aspect of the family’s ownership to date: their reluctance to make peace with Sammy Sosa.

I suspect I’m not the only 20-something Cubs fan who was drawn to the franchise because of Slammin’ Sammy. My father is a die-hard White Sox fan who dressed me in a Sox onesie on the day I was born (yes, there is photographic proof), but my Cubs fan uncles started recruiting me early on, and the home run chase of 1998 pretty much guaranteed that I wouldn’t be cheering on the South Siders.

Sammy Sosa is the common thread between my early baseball memories. In true ‘90s fashion, I’d use my Talkgirl recorder to read the standings in the home run chase. In backyard Wiffleball games, I’d puncuate any solid contact with a huge hop as I ran to first. When I was a terrified 9-year-old in the wake of 9/11, I remember being touched when Sammy grabbed an American flag to wave during his first trip around the bases. Two years later, I somehow begged my parents into taking me to the bleachers so I could watch Sosa sprint out up close.

He racked up 1,800 games, 545 home runs and a 139 OPS+ during his Cubs years, but more important than those numbers were the thousands of kids he cemented as lifelong fans. The man just exuded such joy in playing the game, and nothing—not the corked bat, not the alleged steroid use, not the bitter breakup in 2004—can erase what those memories mean to me as a baseball fan.

Yet Sosa was not invited to the celebrations for the 100-year anniversary of Wrigley Field in 2014, despite being the best thing about the team for many of the 13 years he called Wrigley home. Cubs spokesman Julian Green told Jesse Rogers at the time: “There are some things Sammy needs to look at and consider prior to having an engagement with the team.” Rogers’ sources suggested he was referring to the debacle at the end of the 2004 season, in which Sammy arrived late and left 15 minutes into the Cubs’ last game of the season and later ripped manager Dusty Baker, damaging his relationship with the team beyond repair.

Sosa has made it clear he wants back in at Wrigley, telling the Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan he’d love to throw out the first pitch when the Cubs make it to the World Series.

In the same article, former teammate Kerry Wood and current Cubs superstar Anthony Rizzo said they want the team to make amends with Sosa. I suspect most fans around my age feel the same. Of course we don’t like the fact that Sosa’s accomplishments, and those of other power hitters of that era, are tainted by steroids, but it still seems disingenuous to erase an entire chapter of the game’s history.

For comparison’s sake, here’s how Sosa’s contemporaries who have been connected to performance-enhancing drugs have handled the potentially awkward relationships with their former franchises:

Of course there are still the Jose Cansecos in the world, but the point stands: It’s possible for franchise to have good relationships with their former superstars of the steroid era.

I’m certainly not suggesting the Cubs put Sosa on their staff or anything like that. (John Mallee and Eric Hinske seem to be holding the fort down pretty well.) I just think the next time the Cubs trot out their legends for a ceremony, No. 21 should be lining up with the rest of them.

I know he played under different ownership, but Sammy Sosa made a ton of money for this franchise. He played at a time when the Bears stunk, the city had just lost Michael Jordan and the Cubs hadn’t been to the playoffs in nearly a decade. The Ricketts may not have owned the team at the time, but they are Cubs fans, and they know what Sosa meant to the fanbase.

Sosa should probably apologize to his old teammates for his selfish 2004 actions. Perhaps, with some discussion, he could be convinced that acknowledging his mistakes in that situation make sense. On the other hand, given how few players accused of steroids have apologized for their transgressions, I won’t hold my breath for an apology there.

This shouldn’t be a matter of good vs. evil. It’s a matter of thanking Sosa for the great memories he brought us, particularly those of us who became rabid Cubs fans because of those moments. It’s been more than a decade. It’s time to bring Sammy back.

Lead photo courtesy Jerry Lai—USA Today Sports.

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7 comments on “It’s Time to Make Peace With Sammy Sosa”

PolitiJim (@politiJim)

You miss a key factor in listing those who have been brought back into other organizations. in EVERY case, each player accepted responsibility for their actions, showed remorse and apologized to their teammates, the organization and the fans.

There is NO discussion until Sammy puts aside his pride and self-deception. No father (like myself) wants his kids to see their club to exalt a player who exemplifies the WORST of sportsmanship and character.

No Sammy detractor doesn’t acknowledge that he was important to the Cubs and gave a lot to them. But he was paid extremely well and also crippled the reputation of the team nationally. Where do the Cubs go to get back their reputation from those years as cheaters? Where do Sammy’s teammates go to get back the wasted opportunities not just because of his willingness to put his own selfish needs above that of his team, but because other free agents no longer sought Wrigley as home?

And unlike the game of baseball itself, players like Maddux and Manny continue to work as hard at

And it does such a great disservice to the players like Griffey, Jr., Jeter, Gwynn who competed honorably without breaking the rules and tempting hoards of young kids into damaging their bodies to take shortcuts to success.

Americans are a very generous people. More so Cubs fans. But he has not earned that right as yet.

What you are proposing is for Sosa to receive honor. The price for honor is character. And as Manny Ramirez has shown, that game can be played long after you are no longer competitive on the field.

Unfortunately for Manny, he will need to compete for that goal without the assistance of character enhancing substances like guilt to the rest of us who are still waiting for an apology.

joj

It really doesn’t matter that much, this isn’t serious business. Sosa doesn’t have to apologize to anyone. If he did, it would be to his ex-teammates. Would it be nice if he admitted guilt? Sure, maybe. But really…who cares? Sosa never hurt anyone. I agree with Caitlin, it’s time.

PolitiJim (@politiJim)

Sorry – I accidentally posted before finishing editing. Here is the corrected full response.

You miss a key factor in listing those who have been brought back into other organizations like McGuire. In EVERY case, each player accepted responsibility for their actions, showed remorse and apologized to their teammates, the organization and the fans.

There is NO discussion until Sammy puts aside his pride and self-deception. No father (like myself) wants his kids to see their club exalt a player who exemplifies the WORST of sportsmanship and character.

No Sammy detractor doesn’t acknowledge that he was important to the Cubs and gave a lot to them. But he was paid extremely well and also crippled the reputation of the team nationally. Where do the Cubs go to get back their reputation from those years as cheaters? Where do Sammy’s teammates go to get back the wasted opportunities not just because of his willingness to put his own selfish needs above that of his team, but because other free agents no longer sought Wrigley as home?

Accepting a very petulant, ungrateful and arrogant Sosa back does a great disservice to the players like Griffey, Jr., Jeter, Gwynn who competed honorably without breaking the rules and tempting hoards of young kids into damaging their bodies to take shortcuts to success.

Americans are a very generous people. More so Cubs fans. Most reluctant Cubs fans even embraced a screw up with NO Cubs pedigree after hard work and clear impact on younger players in both on and off the field skill. But Sosa has not earned that right as yet.

What you are proposing is for Sosa to receive honor. The price for honor is character. And as Manny Ramirez has shown, that game can be played long after you are no longer competitive on the field.

Unfortunately for Sammy, he will need to compete for that goal without the assistance of character enhancing substances like guilt to the rest of us who are still waiting for an apology.

Eric

“But he was paid extremely well and also crippled the reputation of the team nationally.”

What

Heidi

So if Sammy says he’s sorry you will be ok with him? B/c that to you will show character. That he are actually taking responsibility.

To me that BS. Do I honestly think most of professional athlete’s really are contrite? No, they want to back in baseball, ie spot light so they do what they have to. Say they are sorry and ask for forgiveness from the fans.

To me it’s not so much as saying your sorry to just your ex team mates, it’s all the fans that were disappointed in his actions. We were the ones rooting for him and in the end, we were the ones that took it under the chin. I say until he makes peace with the fans for his actions, keep him out

victor19nyc

I don’t sense a significant groundswell of people wanting him back. Honestly, the only person who gain from this idea is Sosa himself.

I was a big Sosa fan back in the day but I think the team is better off without the distraction.

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