Sammy Sosa

Samuel Sosa Peralta, better known as Sammy Sosa (born November 12, 1968 in San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic), is a professional Major League baseball player for the Baltimore Orioles. He formerly has played for the Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, and Chicago Cubs. As of July 27, 2005, Sosa had 587 career home runs, placing him fifth on the major leagues' all-time home run list.

Corked bat incident and thereafter

While Sosa's accomplishments during his career with the Cubs had been vast, as a team they saw little success, only once making the playoffs during Sosa's tenure-a wildcard playoff birth in 1998. That would change in 2003, when the Cubs and new manager Dusty Baker won the National League Central Division title. The year was not all good news for Sosa, however. In May, he spent his first time on the disabled list since 1996 after having a toenail removed. On June 3, 2003, Sosa was ejected from a Chicago Cubs-Tampa Bay Devil Rays game in the first inning when umpires discovered he had been using a corked bat. http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/ap/ap_story.html/Baseball/AP.V3118.AP-BBN-Cubs-Sosa-B.html#

Related Topics:
Dusty Baker - June 3 - 2003 - Tampa Bay Devil Rays - Corked bat

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Major League Baseball confiscated and tested 76 of Sosa's other bats after his ejection; all were found to be clean, with no cork. http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2003/0604/1563115.html Sosa stated that he had accidentally used the corked bat, which he claimed was his batting-practice bat. On June 6, 2003, Sosa was suspended for eight games on account of the corked bat. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/us_sport/2970198.stm However, the suspension was reduced to seven games after appeal on June 11, 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/us_sport/2983350.stm

Related Topics:
June 6 - 2003 - June 11 - 2003

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After the suspension, Sosa returned to form and hit 40 home runs in his shortened season, including titanic blasts in games 1 and 2 of the NLCS against the Florida Marlins. The Cubs were just five outs away from reaching the World Series for the first time since 1945, before a Game 6 collapse left them on the verge of elimination. Their subsequent 9-6 loss in Game 7 ensured another season of unfulfilled promise.

Related Topics:
NLCS - Florida Marlins - World Series - 1945

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In May of 2004, Sosa suffered a strange injury. While sitting next to his locker chatting with reporters before a game in San Diego's Petco Park, he sneezed violently, causing severe back pain. He was diagnosed with back spasms and placed on the disabled list. Later, he fell into one of the worst slumps of his career, only snapping out of it in the last week of the season. He finished with 35 homers, far below his numbers of his best years.

Related Topics:
May - 2004 - Petco Park - Disabled list

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Sosa's actions in the last game of the 2004 season raised many eyebrows, and eventually led to his departure from Chicago. Going into the last game, the Cubs had lost seven of eight games to fall out of contention for a playoff berth. Sosa had already been told that he would not be in the starting lineup for that game, and arrived at Wrigley Field only an hour before game time; this was a violation of team rules. He then left Wrigley without permission during the game, claiming to reporters afterwards that he left in the seventh inning. However, a surveillance video proved that Sosa had left the stadium 15 minutes after the game started. Several days later, the Cubs fined him one game's pay (approximately $87,000).

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After his teammates learned of the departure that day, one of them (who has not been identified) destroyed Sosa's trademark boombox that he kept in his locker (Unconfirmed but reliable sources had later attributed the boombox breaking incident to catcher Michael Barrett). That action was viewed as symbolic of the end of Sosa's era with the Cubs. Sosa was notorious for monopolizing the music in the locker room, playing either salsa music or music such as that by singer Whitney Houston. It's normally the custom in the majors for the team's starting pitcher that day to select the music that is played in the locker room.

Related Topics:
Michael Barrett - Whitney Houston

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Many observers now consider Sosa to be declining as a player, as he was the only player in Major League Baseball whose batting average, home runs, and RBI all declined in each year since 2001 (which some point out, coincedently it is the same years the MLB starting cracking down on substance abuse).http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2004-12-03-sosa-mets_x.htmhttp://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/justice/3070150 Given this fact and his late-2004 actions, the Cubs were generally regarded as eager to trade him; however, the structure of his current contract made this difficult. Sosa had one year left on his contract with a team option for a second year; his salary will be $17 million in 2005, and will rise to $18 million in 2006. However, the contract also stipulated that if Sosa was traded during the duration of the deal, the team option would be waived, making his 2006 salary guaranteed.

Related Topics:
2001 - 2005 - 2006

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