Thought of the Day
Yesterday's news about Sammy Sosa was far from a surprise; everybody that follows baseball kind of knew that #21 was on some sort of PED. His huge power surge in the late-90's/ early-00's, the corked bat incident and of course, his complete joke of a Congressional hearing in 2005 where he essentially claimed he never knew how to speak English kind of gave away any secret he'd hoped to keep. Still, I am sad.
The summer of 1998 was one of my favorite as a Cubs fan. The team on the North Side was the best it had ever been in my 11 years of life, with a star rookie pitcher named Kerry Wood, a veteran infield carried by Mark Grace and of course my favorite player, Slammin' Sammy Sosa in right field. I clearly remember watching Wood's 20K game in early May, going to Wrigley in mid-June and seeing Sosa hit one of his 20 homers that month, staying up late every night to listen to the team on WGN push for the Wild Card in September. The one-game playoff win versus the Giants was probably the greatest non-Michael Jordan related sporting moment of my life at that time.
And Sammy was the key to all that. His swing, his hop, his smile; the way he'd hit his chest twice, kiss his hand and put up the peace sign in the dugout following a homer; the way he always seemed to respond to any challenge put in the Cubs way. Here was a guy who'd people always seen as a waste of talent hitting 66 homers and driving in 158 runs in one season. It was a blast. SI For Kids, which was my magazine at the time, had two commemorative Sosa posters that season; both still hang next to my bed.
Of course, things turned sour a few years later, after Sosa was beaned by a Solomon Torres pitch in 2003. After that he started backing up from the plate, hitting fewer home runs. Then came the corked bat, followed by Dusty Baker finally dropping Sammy from his usual #3 spot in the order all the way down to #7. Still, in the '03 playoffs, when the Cubs needed a bomb in the ninth inning of Gm. 1 versus the Marlins, it was Sosa who came through. But in 2004, Sosa struggled more, leaving Wrigley early on the last day of the season before saying goodbye to his teammates. That winter he was traded to Baltimore.
Now, in June of 2009, 11 years exactly after his epic, record-breaking month, it turns out Sosa was on PEDs. It's not a huge surprise, and generally when these things come out (like Clemens, A-Rod and Bonds), I don't blink an eye. But Sammy was my guy. 1998 was my summer. The Cubs are my team. It's sad that all has a stain on it right now.
Yesterday's news about Sammy Sosa was far from a surprise; everybody that follows baseball kind of knew that #21 was on some sort of PED. His huge power surge in the late-90's/ early-00's, the corked bat incident and of course, his complete joke of a Congressional hearing in 2005 where he essentially claimed he never knew how to speak English kind of gave away any secret he'd hoped to keep. Still, I am sad.The summer of 1998 was one of my favorite as a Cubs fan. The team on the North Side was the best it had ever been in my 11 years of life, with a star rookie pitcher named Kerry Wood, a veteran infield carried by Mark Grace and of course my favorite player, Slammin' Sammy Sosa in right field. I clearly remember watching Wood's 20K game in early May, going to Wrigley in mid-June and seeing Sosa hit one of his 20 homers that month, staying up late every night to listen to the team on WGN push for the Wild Card in September. The one-game playoff win versus the Giants was probably the greatest non-Michael Jordan related sporting moment of my life at that time.
And Sammy was the key to all that. His swing, his hop, his smile; the way he'd hit his chest twice, kiss his hand and put up the peace sign in the dugout following a homer; the way he always seemed to respond to any challenge put in the Cubs way. Here was a guy who'd people always seen as a waste of talent hitting 66 homers and driving in 158 runs in one season. It was a blast. SI For Kids, which was my magazine at the time, had two commemorative Sosa posters that season; both still hang next to my bed.
Of course, things turned sour a few years later, after Sosa was beaned by a Solomon Torres pitch in 2003. After that he started backing up from the plate, hitting fewer home runs. Then came the corked bat, followed by Dusty Baker finally dropping Sammy from his usual #3 spot in the order all the way down to #7. Still, in the '03 playoffs, when the Cubs needed a bomb in the ninth inning of Gm. 1 versus the Marlins, it was Sosa who came through. But in 2004, Sosa struggled more, leaving Wrigley early on the last day of the season before saying goodbye to his teammates. That winter he was traded to Baltimore.
Now, in June of 2009, 11 years exactly after his epic, record-breaking month, it turns out Sosa was on PEDs. It's not a huge surprise, and generally when these things come out (like Clemens, A-Rod and Bonds), I don't blink an eye. But Sammy was my guy. 1998 was my summer. The Cubs are my team. It's sad that all has a stain on it right now.
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