Well, with Manny getting busted for steroids today, I guess now's the time to throw in my 2-cents on the subject. As you can tell from my screen name (i.e. 21daman), I am one of the lonely remaining Sammy Sosa fans. Do I think he MAY have done steroids or some other performance-enhancing drugs dating back to 1998's historic HR record chase with Mark McGwire? Yes, I do, BUT you have to admit the only reason anyone can think that is based purely on speculation and circumstantial evidence including the timing. He has NEVER been mentioned in any context of steroid use including all the infamous cases such as BALCO or the Mitchell Report.
Did his numbers spike during the steroid era? You know they did! Guilty, right? Did he get caught with a bottle of the now-banned substance Andro? Nope. Innocent then? He wasn't involved in BALCO or named in the Mitchell Report. Must be innocent? But then he showed up in front of Congress and acted like he didn't know a word of English while speaking through his attorney. Very suspicious...so which is it?
In this country, you're guilty until proven innocent in court, but NOT in the court of public opinion. In the court of public opinion, it's all about hype and who speaks the loudest and/or most often. How about that Favre signing in Minnesota? Oh ya, that was COMPLETELY wrong! If you watched SportsCenter at all on Wed, you saw every other story was about Favre and how it was basically a foregone conclusion that he would be playing for the Vikings this season and yet, not so much. So, if you had a vote and it was time to vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame with Sammy on the ballot, would you vote for him? If so, don't you feel like you have your head in the sand if you don't believe he did steroids to help boost his numbers? If not, why not? What REAL evidence are you basing your decision on?
OK, so forget the HOF, why haven't the Cubs retired his number? Sammy absolutely carried the Cubs for a LONG time and put "butts in the seats". His numbers from 1998-2001 are absolutely ridiculous and his numbers shortly before and after that 4-year span, he was pretty darn good too. Sammy played 15 years for the Cubs and finished his time here as the all-time leading HR hitter. Greg Maddux only pitched 9 seasons for the Cubs including the beginning and twilight of his career (i.e. NOT the best years of his career) and Mad Dog still got his number retired last weekend. Yes, since Sammy's untimely dismissal from the Cubs, a couple of not-so-deserving players have donned the #21 - Jason Marquis and now Milton Bradley. Now MB is supposed to turn it around and be pretty good for the Cubs, but Marquis was signed as a #5 starter and wasn't even included on the playoff roster in 2007 or 2008 (maybe that was teh problem - naaah!).
So first, how do the Cubs as an organization that gained SO MUCH from Sammy not show him ANY respect by keeping guys out of the #21 jersey? Second as a player, how can you wear that number knowing what Sammy meant to this orgamization for so long? It's not like the Cubs reitred Santo's #10, Billy Williams' #26, or Sandberg's HOF #23 right away either. I truly believe the time will come when the Cubs finally retire Sammy's #21, but I guess that time isn't quite yet.
I'll expand more on my steroid thoughts in future posts. What are your thoughts?
First off, Sammy bringing an interpreter to help him in front of the United States Frigin' Congress (can you say perjury Roger Clemens?) should in no way be looked down upon! I'm not sure why people always bring that up. Bottom line is he answered the questions, denied UNDER OATH that he didn't use steroids and never pleaded the 5th, as was his right (thank-you Tom Hagen). Imagine if you spoke conversational German and you were brought before their equivalent of Congress, would you bring an interpreter to make sure nothing was lost in your understanding of the questions and nothing was lost when you gave an answer? I know I would.
ReplyDeleteI consider the treatment of Sammy Sosa by the Cubs organization, Hendry and Baker specifically, and the Chicago media to be one of the biggest injustices in Chicago sports. We will never see his number retired until Hendry leaves which is a crime.
Between the 2003 choke job, the treatment of Sammy and losing Steve Stone to pacify Baker & Alou, my Cubbie blue blood isn't as dark as it was before. Obviously they're still my team but it's not the same.
GO HAWKS!
Conversational English? I don't know about that with Sammy. How many press conferences did he do as a ball player? TONS! It wasn't just that he brought an interpreter, he acted like he had never spoken English before in his life. It just didn't look good which is why EVERYONE looked down on him for doing it. Everyone wants to think he did steroids even though he has never been included in any real allegations. As far as his denial under oath that he took steroids, I seem to remember another Hispanic player (Rafael Palmeiro was born in Cuba) in that same room (no interpreter for him although he did go to Mississippi State) wagging his finger at Congress only to get suspended a few months later after failing a drug test. People lie under oath all the time (e.g. Roger Clemens) so I take that with a grain of salt.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the treatment of Sammy by the entire Cubs organization, it is a SHAME that they made him the scapegoat of that 2004 choke job. Although I am VERY upset with him for ditching out before the end of the final game of the season, you can't ignore everything else he did for the Cubs and MLB in general.
Let's reminisce about that 2004 choke job...the Cubs were up 1 1/2 games over the Giants and 2 1/2 over the Astros. They go to Shea and get a nice 2-1 W on 9/24. The next day, they took a 3-0 lead into the 9th after a brilliant 7 2/3 outing by Prior. Then Latroy Hawkins comes in and gives up a 3-run HR with 2 on (the 2 on were courtesy of Dempster) and 2 out (I think there were two strikes on the guy too) to a guy named Victor Diaz (never heard of him before that because he had just been called up earlier that month). I was coming home from a corn maze outing with my whole family and we had stopped at Wendy's so the kids could go to the bathroom so I actually missed hearing the call on the 3-run bomb. We had the game on when we arrived and I was hoping to hear the post-game show following the end of the game. Nope! Aramis was up in the 10th and they eventually lost when Mercker gave up the first AND last career HR to Craig Brazell in the 11th. That brutal loss started a "streak" where the Cubs lost 7-of-9 to finish the season 3 GB of the Wild Card winning Astros. Notice I didn't mention Sammy's name in that whole thing.
I don't remember the whole thing with Steve Stone, but I do remember Mercker was involved as well as Alou. I wonder if Mercker's confrontation with Stone had anything to do with the HR he gave up in that fateful game. Probably and Stone, I'm sure called it exactly the way he saw it as he always had before and continues to do for the Sox now.
I definitely lost a little darkness in my Cubbie blue blood too after that season.