Getty Image
20 years ago, in 1998, Chicago Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa, along with St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire, captivated America with their race to break Roger Maris’ long-standing home run record.
20 years later, Sammy Sosa is pretty much persona non grata around the Chicago Cubs front office, clubhouse and dugout.
Getty Image
While Mark McGwire has made his way back to Major League Baseball after finally admitting his use of performance-enhacing drugs to hit 70 home runs in 1998, which he ridiculously says he would have done even without the PEDs, Sosa has not and therefore is still waiting for a call.
Sosa actually ended up hitting over 60 home runs in three straight seasons, the only player to ever do so, beginning in 1998, and finished his career with 609 home runs, ninth on the all-time list.
In 2005, Sosa along with Rafael Palmeiro, Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire were called to a hearing before Congress where he said, “To be clear, I have never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs. I have never injected myself or had anyone inject me with anything. I have not broken the laws of the United States or the laws of the Dominican Republic. I have been tested as recently as 2004, and I am clean.”
Sosa later told ESPN Deportes that he was going to “calmly wait” for induction into the Hall of Fame, something that is not going to happen based on the 8.9 percent of the votes he got in 2017.
Getty Image
Now, in a new interview with David Kaplan of NBC Sports Chicago, Sosa expressed his desire to be welcomed back to The Friendly Confines.
[Cubs owner Tom] Ricketts wants Sosa to apologize for some of the mistakes that he made while he was a Cub. That includes leaving the team early on the season’s final day in 2004 and a perception that Sosa used performance enhancing drugs during his time with the Cubs.
However, Sosa made it clear to me that despite some people’s perception that he wants a job from the Cubs, he wants nothing from the organization other than to be welcomed back.
“I was playing for a company many years ago, it was the Tribune Company, so after I retire I formed my own company, so I’m not looking for a job,” Sosa said. “When I call somebody the first thing that I say is, ‘I’m not looking for a job. Just called you to say hello.’ So I have my own company, I’m comfortable.”
Sammy Sosa remains a popular topic among Chicago Cubs fans with many longing for his return. However, there are also large numbers of fans that side with Ricketts and want Sosa to apologize for some of the mistakes that he made.
One of those mistakes includes leaving the team on the season’s final day in 2004 before the game ended. Oh, and that whole performance-enhacing drug thing.
“The ownership they have to understand that I’m a humble man, I’m not a man to have ego, when I was playing I was a little bit because I was focused on what I was trying to do,” Sosa said. “But right now I’m gonna be 50 years old. I’m a granddaddy, I’m a grandparent, so things change. So if I made a mistake, I don’t have to say that but if I made a mistake, I didn’t want to offend any body I don’t have a problem with that, I’m sorry because you know, I was in my zone.”
Sosa hasn’t even visited Chicago since 2007, but says, “If one day I come back to Chicago, I’d come back for the fans I owe those people something.”
One of those things should probably include telling the truth about his record-setting seasons. Then, maybe he will get that invitation he says he would be “more than happy” to accept.
[protected-iframe id=”2870a3449f5acfe47690dae9ee8f500d-97886205-92827192″ info=”http://vplayer.nbcsports.com/p/BxmELC/chicago_embed/select/media/RSWGDlQilNt1″ width=”640″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””]
The BroBible team writes about gear that we think you want. Occasionally, we write about items that are a part of one of our affiliate partnerships and we will get a percentage of the revenue from sales.