CHICAGO — It has been 20 years since Sammy Sosa was celebrated and revered by the Chicago Cubs and the club’s zealous legion of fans.

It has been 20 years since the Cubs booted Sosa out of the organization, slamming the door behind him.

Now, here we are, 7,290 days later, where Sosa is scheduled to walk through the door at the Sheraton Grand Hotel on Friday night at the 2025 Cubs Convention, seeing the same people who loved him, others who condemned him, as well as dozens of former teammates and Cubs dignitaries who have mixed feelings.

“He’s as important to that organization’s history as anybody,” former Cubs GM Ed Lynch told USA TODAY Sports. “You can talk in the same breath about Sammy’s impact on that franchise right along with Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Fergie Jenkins, Ryne Sandberg and those guys.

“The Cubs owe him a huge debt of gratitude and he should get a hero’s welcome for all he did for that organization. He captivated the entire nation.

“He’s one of the most important actors in a play called the Chicago Cubs.”

Certainly, there’s no arguing that Sosa was the greatest slugger in the history of the Cubs. He hit 609 home runs – 545 in a Cubs uniform. The seven-time All-Star and MVP remains the only player in history to hit more than 60 home runs three times. He electrified not only the city, but the nation in the great home-run race of 1998 that saved the game of baseball when he and Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris’ homerun record.

“He might have been he most famous athlete in the world in 1998,” Lynch said. “We’d pull up into hotels at 1 in the morning, and there would be hundreds of people waiting outside just to get pictures of Sammy. Cars would stop on the street and honk their horns when they saw him. He’d hit home runs and you’d have hundreds of fans stampeding to get the ball.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, and never will.”

Yet with the fame, came the detractors, particularly inside the clubhouse. He was accused of caring about nothing more than his home runs. Teammates were upset and angry with his personal entourage, his mugging for the TV cameras and that loud boombox at his locker.

Sandberg, one of the most popular Cubs’ players in franchise history, even went out of his way to ridicule Sosa during his 2005 Hall of Fame speech without uttering the name of his former teammate.

“When did it become OK for someone to hit home runs and forget how to play the rest of the game?” Sandberg said. “If this validates anything, it’s that learning how to bunt and hit and run and turning two is more important than knowing where to find the little red light on the dugout camera.”

There was plenty of resentment behind the scenes too with veteran Eric Karros the only teammate known to have a strong relationship with Sosa, often the only one sitting across alongside him on their charter flights.

“I think it was a cultural thing,” one of Sosa’s close friends said. “He was too colorful for them. They didn’t like that.”

Says Lynch: “Look, that’s human nature. The biggest stars always have detractors and those that are jealous. No one is that famous without resentment and envy. I’m sure someone wasn’t thrilled about Mother Theresa at some point.”

Then, along came the steroid accusations that engulfed the game. Sosa, McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro were called in front of Congress along with MLB officials. The Mitchell Report came out.

McGwire was the only player called in front of Congress who eventually confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs, while Sosa – saying he needed an interpreter during the hearing – denied ever using steroids.

Sosa’s popularity in Chicago severely waned, along with his home run totals, dropping from 64 in 2001 to 35 his final season in 2004 when MLB began testing for steroids. The Cubs wanted him out. He no longer wanted to be there. But on his way out the door, he exited before it was time. He left the Cubs clubhouse just 15 minutes after the start of the final game of the season without permission. He later told reporters that he stayed the entire game, only for the Cubs to leak a security tape of his departure time.

His teammates, allegedly led by Kerry Wood, were so upset that they took turns with a bat smashing Sosa’s boombox by his locker, making sure it would never blare music again.

The Cubs traded Sosa to the Baltimore Orioles just weeks before the start of the 2005 season, and the Cubs acted as if he never wore their uniform, wasting no time in giving out his number. While McGwire forever was revered in St. Louis and inducted into their Hall of Fame, and Barry Bonds was worshipped in San Francisco and inducted in their Hall of Fame, Sosa remained a pariah.

The Cubs even hired Manny Ramirez, who was suspended three times after flunking tests for performance-enhancing drugs during his career, but wouldn’t allow Sosa into their Cubs Convention unless he wanted to buy his own ticket.

The clamoring for his return by Cubs’ fans became greater and greater over the years but Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts made it clear: Sosa would never be invited back until he apologized for using steroids. Yes, even if it means committing perjury since he denied use in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

“I have never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs,” Sosa told Congress in March 2005. “I have never injected myself or had anyone inject me with anything.”

Two decades since the hearing, Sosa finally relented to Ricketts’ demands and publicly apologized last month in a prepared statement:

“There were times I did whatever I could to recover from injuries in an effort to keep my strength up to perform over 162 games,” Sosa said. “I never broke any laws, but in hindsight, I made mistakes and I apologize. ….

“We can’t change the past, but the future is bright.”

Said Lynch: “What people don’t remember is that Sammy always posted. He always wanted to play. He knew people were paying good money to see him, and wanted to let anyone down. And he played hard.”

While McGwire set the single-season home run record with 70 homers that 1998 season, beating Sosa by four, what will forever be remembered is the way Sosa embraced the attention, even finding a way to relax McGwire during the stress of the home run race.

“He was good for me,” McGwire told USA TODAY Sports in 2023. “He just had that vivacious, happy attitude. He just threw it out there. Everybody thought I was really serious, but when I saw him, it’s like, ‘How can you not be like Sammy?’ Because he’s so fun.”

Now, we’ll see if Sosa is reserved, maybe even humbled, when he is introduced in front of the crowd Friday night. Cubs Convention ticket sales spiked 40% in the month since it was announced he would be attending.

The expectation is that he’ll be wildly cheered, but surely there will be detractors. Some fans have revealed they’re disappointed the Cubs invited back. Some of Sosa’s friends are angry that he was “bullied” to receive an invitation.

“It will be interesting to see the reaction,” said former Cubs GM Jim Hendry, who succeeded Lynch and traded Sosa. “He apologized, but it wasn’t like he apologized like McGwire. Sammy did a lot of great things, but he certainly didn’t seem to be a revered figure when he left.

“Maybe people will forgive and forget, we’ll see.”

Dusty Baker, who managed Sosa for two years with the Cubs, including that fateful 2004 finale, was criticized by Sosa upon his departure. Baker kept his feelings towards Sosa private. He never responded to Sosa’s criticism.

Now, more than 20 years later, Baker says all is forgiven and that if he can forgive Sosa for any transgressions, Cubs fans, former teammates and executives should too.

“I’m shocked it’s taken this long for the Cubs to welcome him back,” Baker says. “What took so long?

“Come on, was it really the last game when he left? That’s not enough for all the enjoyment he brought everybody. He brought enjoyment. He and Big Mac brought enjoyment to the world. They saved baseball.”

Baker knows that Sosa wasn’t beloved in the Cubs’ clubhouse, but then again, neither was Bonds, who he managed in San Francisco. There are plenty of superstars in the game who aren’t widely embraced by their teammates.

“I’ve been around some of the baddest dudes in the game,” Baker says, “and for guys like Sammy and Barry, it’s hard to be a superstar. You don’t know who’s really pulling for you and who isn’t. Nobody gets along with everybody. The bigger the name, the more public it becomes.

“Sure, Sammy and I had a couple of run-ins, but it wasn’t always like that. Any misunderstandings we’ve had in the past are in the past. Most superstars are like thoroughbred horses. They don’t want to be ridden unless they have to be ridden.

“Nobody should fall from the graces high in the sky, from the pedestal he was on, to just disappearing. I’m just happy he’s back.”

We’re about to find out just who shares that same sentiment.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sammy Sosa Cubs Convention return: 20-year exile ends in Chicago