Sammy Sosa returns to Wrigley Field
Sammy Sosa returns to Wrigley Field
Former Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa returned to the Friendly Confines for the first time in 21 years on Friday. The crew from Chicago Sports Tonight give their take on his reception at Wrigley.
CHICAGO - Sammy Sosa’s back! And everyone’s overjoyed.
At Wrigley Field they gave him a riotous, standing ovation Friday as he saluted from a stadium suite during the Cubs-Mariners game. Suddenly, old outcast Sammy is the darling of Chicago—and maybe all of baseball.
It's weird.
How do you go from being a pariah who allegedly used steroids to manipulate—that is, cheat–your way to 609 career home runs, to being a symbol of summertime fun for the whole family?
It’s complex.
Former Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa acknowledges applause from fans as he waves from a suite while being honored on Friday, June 20, 2025, as the Cubs play host to the Seattle Mariners at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts is at
Indeed, it’s not really even about Sosa, 56, the outfielder for the Rangers, White Sox, Orioles (briefly) and Cubs (13 years). Sammy is still the guy who did his little hop, chest tap and smile after every homer. He’s the same guy who sprinted around the outfield with a mini-American flag in a show of patriotism after the 9/11 attacks.
He’s the same guy who used a corked bat that exploded for all to see in a 2003 game against the Devil Rays at Wrigley Field. I well remember that night, watching from just above in the press box, Sammy at the plate in the first inning, swinging on a 3-2 count– ka-boom–parts of his shattered bat flying all over–me and the whole crowd wondering what in the hell just happened.
He’s older now, with dyed hair, and his physique has slipped to normalcy. But that’s all. Sammy is of a piece. The real change is with us.
Sammy Sosa speaks in his return to Wrigley Field after two decades
It’s bound up in human nature, with our capacity to forget, our willingness to overlook past sins, our need to forgive and move on. It’s also about our non-concern for history. Something happened way back when? Not my problem.
The Steroid Era was a warping of reality that was born in the 1970s, grew through the 1980s and 1990s until it reached its surreal apex at the turn of the millennium. In 1998, Sosa hit a ridiculous 66 home runs and the Cardinals Mark McGwire hit 70. That same season, 10 players hit at least 44 homers. The absurd finale came in 2001 when Barry Bonds, the swollen, big-headed product of BALCO chemistry, bashed an astounding 73 home runs. How crazy was this? Consider that Bonds never hit even 50 homers at any other time in his 22-year career.
Sammy was caught up in the era’s hoopla, the ego thrill, the instant gratification of being, with McGwire, a dueling "Bash Brother." He was making fans forget the sad player strike and missed World Series of 1994, the first time the Series was canceled in 90 years. He would grace the cover of Sports Illustrated, along with fellow 'roider McGwire, the pair resplendent in togas and laurel wreaths, as if they were modern-day Apollos assisting Ulysses in battles, the brave sons of mighty Zeus himself.
Cubs catcher Reese McGuire talks Fridays game, Sammy Sosas influence
It was all a fraud.
But here’s the thing. Time moves on. In retrospect, it gets harder to blame Sosa for taking the shortcut to fame that he knew was wrong—trust me, no 'roider ever admitted doping until he was forced or shamed into it—and a new generation simply doesn’t care about old mores. Hey, dope-smoking used to be illegal. Gambling too. Now they’re legal and encouraged.
One thinks of Pete Rose here, the gambler who never apologized until too late, and now is apparently headed for the Hall of Fame. As a dead man.
Sammy never apologized for his likely PED taking. But he was able to wait out the scorn and shame. And so far it’s worked. Is consideration for the Hall of Fame next on the comeback tour? Could the veterans' committee, the public, handle such a thing?
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JUNE 20: Former Chicago Cubs star Sammy Sosa addresses the media in the fourth inning during a game against the Seattle Mariners at Wrigley Field on June 20, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images)
Goodness, Sosa is ninth on baseball’s all-time home run list. He’s got 248 more homers than Joe DiMaggio. Every player ahead of him and behind him on the career list, down to No. 32—Stan Musial and Willie Stargell–is either in the Hall of Fame or a suspected or confirmed performance-enhancing drug taker, including No. 1, Bonds. The lone exceptions are No. 4, Albert Pujols, and No. 25, Miguel Cabrera, who are not suspected PED users, but aren’t yet eligible for election.
Should all the Steroid Era big names be re-thought and re-remembered? It would be hard—nay, impossible—for this Hall of Fame voter to ever give a pass to Bonds, McGwire, Roger Clemens, Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez, and so on. But I’m old school. New people have new thoughts.
Maybe with an asterisk for Sammy. Maybe with a sincere apology from him. Maybe…I just don’t know.
I really don’t.
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The Source: This article was written by Rick Telander for FOX 32 Chicago.
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