Sammy Sosa is expected to return to Chicago Cubs camp as a guest instructor, continuing the reunification of the former star and the organization that shunned him for more than two decades.<\/p>\n
It will be Sosa\u2019s first appearance at Cubs spring training since 2004, the final year of a long and eventful career on the North Side. He met many of the current players at the Cubs Convention and hit it off.<\/p>\n
Sosa\u2019s arrival at old Fitch Park in Mesa, Ariz., was always newsworthy \u2014 usually because he was the last player there, amid one controversy or another. His spring training stories are legendary and too numerous to mention, but here are some of the Sosa sagas we can\u2019t forget.<\/p>\n
After signing a four-year, $42.5 million deal in the summer of 1997, Sosa arrived late for \u201cfamily considerations\u201d and was the last player in camp.<\/p>\n
On the final day of the \u201897 season, manager Jim Riggleman had ripped players for having a \u201cme, me, me\u201d attitude and chewed out Sosa in particular for ignoring a \u201cno steal\u201d sign to pad his stats.<\/p>\n
\u201cI dealt with that with Sammy after the incident,\u201d Riggleman said. \u201cSammy was a real man about it, and it\u2019s over now. The season is long and there are always situations (like that). The unfortunate thing is that it got caught on camera.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sosa eventually arrived and said he and Riggleman were fine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have a problem with anybody,\u201d he said. \u201cIf anyone has a problem with me, they know where to find me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sosa would go on to hit 66 home runs and duel with Mark McGwire for the single-season record, becoming a nationally known superstar.<\/p>\n
After the duel with McGwire increased his stature, Sosa arrived at camp and said aloud to no one in particular: \u201cDid you miss me?\u201d He put on his uniform pants and then asked clubhouse attendant Yosh Kawano for a larger size.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe went from a size 34 (waist) to a 35,\u201d Kawano confirmed. \u201cYes, he is bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sosa said he gained 14 pounds of muscle and weighed 222 pounds. Due to his newfound fame, the Cubs assigned a security guard to be his Fitch Park bodyguard to fend off autograph seekers.<\/p>\n
\u201dThere\u2019s an electricity about Sammy, and all the players feed off of it,\u201d Riggleman said, which was partly true.<\/p>\n
In a Cactus League game, Sosa hit two home runs off the Arizona Diamondbacks\u2019 Todd Stottlemyre and bowed to fans at the plate, which he had seen Japanese players do during an offseason tour of Japan by major-league players.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe looked like a bullfighter out there,\u201d Stottlemyre said. \u201cTake it back to Japan. I don\u2019t think there is any place for it in the game. I have all the respect in the world for Sammy. But to bow after a home run? There\u2019s no place for that in this game. I don\u2019t ever remember Mickey Mantle bowing after a home run.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sosa announced the next day he would stop bowing: \u201cI don\u2019t want this to go to a different level. If everyone is going to get mad at me for showing appreciation to the fans, I\u2019m not going to want to play the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sosa showed up late again. \u201cI\u2019d rather he show up later and play 162 (games) than be the first guy in camp and play 120,\u201d general manager Ed Lynch said.<\/p>\n
New manager Don Baylor disagreed: \u201cI imagine a lot of those guys in the (locker room) probably care. They\u2019re here working, and you don\u2019t want to put one guy before the team. That\u2019s not going to happen. I know one thing for sure: This team lost 95 games last year and we have to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baylor quickly changed his tune and announced Sosa as one of four captains with Rick Aguilera, Mark Grace and Kevin Tapani.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to have any problem whatsoever with him,\u201d Baylor said. \u201cI think we\u2019re both after the same thing. And the magnitude of Sammy Sosa, I\u2019m not getting in the way of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
A new narrative surrounded Sosa, who was booed at the Cubs Convention, mostly over prolonged contract negotiations with Cubs President Andy MacPhail. The Cubs offered a four-year deal worth about $70 million. Sosa was looking for at least five years at $18 million to $20 million per season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a free country,\u201d Sosa said of the booing. \u201cWhatever they feel like they have to do, that\u2019s OK. I don\u2019t hurt anybody. I just come here to do my job.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people are cheering for (me), booing (me). They have a reason why. To me, I\u2019m here. I came from my country to be here and to be with them, and that\u2019s what I get.\u201d<\/p>\n
When a sunnier Sosa arrived at camp, he turned on his boom box and said: \u201cWhat\u2019s up, fellas? Welcome to my house.\u201d Several veteran players left the room to avoid the so-called \u201cSammy Circus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sosa homered on the first pitch he saw in Cactus League play, without having faced live batting-practice pitching. He credited new fitness consultant Mack Newton. \u201cI love myself,\u201d Sosa repeatedly said.<\/p>\n
The Cubs loved him too. Sosa agreed to a four-year, $72 million extension that spring, with player options through 2005 and an $18 million team option for 2006. He would not get past 2004.<\/p>\n
Shortly before camp, Sosa\u2019s agent denied a report that Sosa was robbed of $20,000 at a hotel in Caracas, Venezuela.<\/p>\n
\u201cSammy said it\u2019s a nonstory,\u201d Adam Katz told the Tribune. \u201cHe lost some money, but it was only about ($1,000). It\u2019s a nonissue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sosa reportedly had the cash in a plastic bag wrapped inside a towel as he and his brother sat talking in the lobby of the Caracas Hilton. They reportedly forgot the bag when they went to a hotel restaurant.<\/p>\n
Still, Sosa arrived at camp in good spirits. \u201cGood morning, America! I\u2019m in the house!\u201d he said before blasting his now famous boom box.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him, \u2018You\u2019re finally here, and the noise begins,’\u201d Baylor said.<\/p>\n
Sosa told reporters he preferred to arrive late because he was \u201csuperstitious\u201d and had good years whenever he did. But he called new manager Dusty Baker beforehand to let him know he would be at camp on time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s trying to make some amends for whatever has happened in the past, to leave it in the past,\u201d Baker said. \u201cHe\u2019s trying to be a better teammate. Not to say he wasn\u2019t before, which I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baker added that Sosa\u2019s power in the organization was evident: \u201cWhen you\u2019re putting butts in the seats and you\u2019re making $18 million to $20 million, you have more power probably than anyone in the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sosa gave a speech to the team before the first full-squad workout, prompted by veteran Lenny Harris, and later threw a team party at his house to unite everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat party needed to be (thrown),\u201d he said. \u201cBringing everyone together was the most beautiful thing I\u2019ve ever seen. Everyone that went to that party feels that for the first time we\u2019re together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cubs would go on to win the division and fall five outs shy of the World Series, but Sosa\u2019s corked-bat episode tainted his legacy.<\/p>\n
A new MLB rule barring \u201cnon-baseball personnel\u201d from the clubhouse meant Sosa\u2019s personal assistant, Julian Martinez, would be banned. The rule went into effect because of a steroids investigation into Barry Bonds\u2019 trainer.<\/p>\n
Martinez, paid by Sosa, was well-liked in the clubhouse and players voted to give him a partial playoff share in October 2003. But Cubs player representative Mark Prior said, \u201cThere shouldn\u2019t be anyone in the locker room besides maybe close family \u2014 dad and brothers \u2014 and the media.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cubs tried to get around the rule by making Martinez a paid employee and batting-practice pitcher and eventually put him in charge of the radar gun and pitch charting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very happy with the decision they made,\u201d Sosa said. \u201cI just want to be happy and play baseball. I don\u2019t want to cause any inconvenience or more trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n
During a Cactus League game, Sosa was unfazed after a line drive off Brian Giles\u2019 bat glanced off the top of his head in right field and ricocheted to the wall. \u201cHe said he had a hard head,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n
That would be Sosa\u2019s final Cubs camp. He was dealt to the Baltimore Orioles after the 2004 season.<\/p>\n
Twenty-one years later, Sosa returns to a different Cubs camp at Sloan Park.<\/p>\n
No word yet on the boom box.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sammy Sosa is expected to return to Chicago Cubs camp as a guest instructor, continuing the reunification of the former star and the organization that shunned him for more than two decades. It will be Sosa\u2019s first appearance at Cubs spring training since 2004, the final year of a long and eventful career on the North Side. He met many of the current players at the Cubs Convention and hit it …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":36867,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n