ST. LOUIS, MO – SEPTEMBER 7: Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the Chicago … [+]
One of sports’ silliest spats is finally ending.
Almost 20 years after they traded him away, the Chicago Cubs have finally mended fences with one of the faces of baseball’s PED era, Sammy Sosa.
While Sosa hit 545 of his 609 career home runs when he was based at Wrigley Field, he has held persona non grata status with Chairman Tom Ricketts and the franchise he represented from 1992 through 2005.
That ended on Thursday, with statements from Sosa and Ricketts. Now we will see what mutual opportunities can be created for the two parties, beyond this winter’s Cub Convention. Ricketts said in his statement he hopes Sosa will join the team for the popular fan event held in downtown Chicago.
Like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens, Sosa was denied entrance into baseball’s Hall of Fame because of the belief that he violated Major League Baseball’s steroid policy in the years before MLB and the players union approved a policy mandating testing. But while the others maintained strong relationships with their former teams, Sosa was treated as a pariah.
Ricketts had been a fervent fan of the team while receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Chicago and rooted heavily for Sosa in his captivating home run duel with McGwire and Ken Griffey Jr. in 1998. But he nevertheless declined to extend an olive branch to Sosa after purchasing the team in 2009.
Ricketts often said he would not sign off including Sosa at alumni events until Sosa acknowledged that he had broken a covenant with the team and its fans. Through his PR firm, Sosa made a tacit admission to PED use on Thursday.
“I left it all on the field for the Cubs and Cubs fans because I wanted to win and make the fans happy,” Sosa said. “I loved to see the fans at Wrigley in the right field bleachers every home game. I understand why some players in my era don’t always get the recognition that our stats deserve. There were times I did whatever I could to recover from injuries in an effort to keep my strength up to perform over 162 games. I never broke any laws, but in hindsight, I made mistakes and I apologize.”
Sosa continued: “We accomplished great things as a team, and I worked extremely hard in the batting cage to become a great hitter. Cubs’ fans are the best in the world, and I hope that fans, the Cubs and I can all come together again and move forward. We can’t change the past, but the future is bright. In my heart, I have always been a Cub and I can’t wait to see Cubs fans again.”
Ricketts issued his own statement shortly after Sosa made the first move.
“We appreciate Sammy releasing his statement and for reaching out,” Ricketts said. “No one played harder or wanted to win more. Nobody’s perfect, but we never doubted his passion for the game and the Cubs. It is an understatement to say that Sammy is a fan favorite. We plan on inviting him to the 2025 Cubs Convention and, while it is short notice, we hope that he can attend. We are all ready to move forward together.”
Sosa hit 60-plus home runs in 1998, ’99 and 2001. But he often seemed to alienate himself from his teammates and has not received much public support from them while being estranged from ownership. Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg has been an outspoken critic of PED users, and pitcher Kerry Wood is notoriously remembered for shattering Sosa’s clubhouse boom box.
It will be interesting to see how Ricketts chooses to involve Sosa in the team’s marketing and Wrigley Field activities. The team has not retired his No. 21 jersey but that may be forthcoming next summer. It’s safe to say the team will be watching to see how things go at the Cubs Convention Jan. 17-19.
