Sayonara Sammy

Sammy Sosa is going to retire. It isn't official yet, but only one team (Washington Nationals) offered him a contract this off season. Instead of signing it Sosa decided that the "insulting" $500,000 1 year deal wasn't worthy of him. As he retires there are only 4 men in the history of baseball with more career home runs, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, and Willie Mays. He retires only 12 homers shy of 600.

Why is he going so quietly though?

Well it's quite simple really. Steroids. There is no solid proof whether Sosa took steroids, but the court of public opinion seems to sway quite heavily towards the "Guilty" side of the spectrum. All the signs are there. I remember Sammy Sosa when he was a young kid on the White Sox. I think I weighed more than him at 9 years of age at the time. Now he is a hulk of a man. His head is enormous, and it's not just his ego. He has broken down considerably the last few seasons with injury, though age could also be a factor. All of a sudden after lighting up the Chicago papers with interviews and commercials he forgot how to speak English in front of Congress. We don't have any hypodermic needles with #21 written on them, but I think we have enough to draw a reasonable conclusion here.

It's pretty sad when you think about it. During the late 90's and early 00's Sammy Sosa owned Chicago. He was the new Michael Jordan, if only for half the city. Cub fans adored him, White Sox fans hated him. Either way, everybody watched him. Much like sports fans are prone to do however, we built somebody up to be larger than life, and then reveled in tearing him back down. Sosa though seems confused by all this. He came to this country from nothing. With his limited knowledge of the english language and American customs he was smart enough to see how to become loved. Hit the long ball. So Sammy did what he needed to do, and for a few years was the best at hitting a baseball ridiculous lengths.

Then we turned on him, and he had no idea why. He was Sammy Sosa, he was the hero. This is where the problems started. Sammy's problem is the fact that Sammy Sosa seems to be the only thing that mattered to him. When former Cubs manager Don Baylor decided to name Sosa and other Cubs captain in 98, Sammy was the only one who put a red "C" on his jersey. He didn't lead though. He even kept it on his jersey after Baylor was replaced by Dusty Baker, though in fans' minds the C did not stand for captain. It stood for Clown. Sosa was on the downward spiral long before the corked bat incident, in fact, that only cemented it.

It appears the last few years still haven't helped Sosa see reality though. He complained that the Nationals offer of 1 year $500,000 was an "insult." Never mind the fact that Sosa had spent the last 2 seasons making over $30 million dollars with sub par numbers.

Sosa's Numbers Over Last 2 Seasons
.238AVG 49HR 125RBI 217K's 95BB 1SB

While there are many major leaguers who won't have those numbers in a career, they aren't making $30 million either. Last year Sosa had a horrible season in Baltimore, a notorious hitters park for right handers. He caused clubhouse trouble by getting into a fight with Miguel Tejada. He wasn't even around the team for the last week of the season. It was still all about Sammy, even when all he did was strikeout.

Will there ever be another Major Leaguer with 588HR's to go out so quietly? Sosa will make the Hall of Fame, whether he's deserving or not. It's just that without actual concrete evidence of steroid use, it is hard to not vote for a man with these numbers:

Sosa's Career Numbers
.274AVG 2304H 1422R 588HR 1575RBI .345OBP .537SLG

Whether he'll be a first ballot guy is the only question. Without the steroids cloud, he would have been. Sosa will never be remembered like Aaron, Ruth, Mays, Mantle, or Dimaggio though. He, along with Mark McGwire, helped save baseball in 1998, yet he will join the countless others who played this game and were forgotten.

It's sad too, on so many different levels, and for so many different reasons.

Random Thoughts

• It's incredibly hard to get excited for the Olympics when you already know the results of everything before NBC airs it. Desperate Housewives beat the Olympics in the ratings Sunday night. Need I say anything else?
• Earlier this season I said the Big Ten was the best conference in college basketball. Well I've jumped the fence...sorta. The Big Ten is still the most competitive, but the Big East is the best. The game on Monday night between UConn and Villanova finally convinced me.
• Dear Isaiah Thomas and the New York Knicks, Please keep losing. With every loss you suffer, the closer the Chicago Bulls get to Adam "The White Larry Bird" Morrison. Thank you for being such a great General Manager, and tell Eddy Curry I said hi!
• Why can't we just give Ozzie Guillen his own talk show? What the hell is ESPN doing? Get on the ball. Everyday the Blizzard of Oz claims another victim. Today's guest? A-Rod.
• On the North Side the Cubs have some expectations of Kerry Wood this season. Those plans are kind of off to a bad start though.
• ESPN has released their first MLB Power Rankings for this season. The team on top isn't a surprise (I'm still not used to it though), but check out second place.
• Good news(?) Bears fans. The Vikings are working the phones.
• Speaking of the Bears, please add this man to my wish list next to Antwaan Randle El.
• U. of Indiana coach has apparently resigned, to his players.
• Bill Simmons sat down with NBA Chief David Stern for a nice interview. You can read it here.
• On a completely different subject, I love Dick Cheney saying it took so long to get the story out cuz he wanted to get the facts straight. Dick. You shot a guy in the face. What facts did you need to get straight? That kinda just makes it even more suspicious. At least the question of "Why don't Presidents fight the wars?" has been answered.