The Quietest Retirement You'll Ever See

by Al on Feb 15, 2006 7:39 PM CST in News Comment 27 comments

Sammy Sosa is done.

He turned down a non-guaranteed offer from the Washington Nationals, and according to his agent, Adam Katz:

"We're not going to put him on the retirement list," Katz told ESPN.com. "We decided that (not putting him on that list) was the best thing to do. But I can say, with reasonable certainty, that we've seen Sammy in a baseball uniform for the last time."

And that apparently means not in Japan, either.

Here's what I wrote about Sosa last year when the trade to Baltimore was just about consummated:

Sammy Sosa has played thirteen years with the Cubs, and the only players who have been with the club longer in my lifetime are Hall of Famers Billy Williams, Ryne Sandberg, Ernie Banks, should-be HoFer Ron Santo, and Mark Grace, all of whom are so identified and identifiable as Cubs.

Sosa should have been the same way. He's been so much loved over the last six or so seasons, because of the sunny personality he once projected, and because of all the home runs he hit -- steroids or no, and I suppose now we'll never know.

All the goodwill Sammy had built up after the 1998 season, and with his spectacular 2001 season, almost certainly the greatest offensive season in Cub history, started to fade away, first with his ridiculous "Sammy's in the house" proclamations when he arrived at spring training, to playing his boom box loudly in the clubhouse despite the fact that it grated on everyone else there, to the corked-bat incident in 2003, to injuries that seemed suspicious, and finally, with the well-documented walkout on his teammates, manager and we the fans on the final day of the 2004 season.

It is indeed truly a shame that Sammy could not finish what is certainly going to be a Hall of Fame career with the Cubs. Even with his clearly reduced abilities, he's going to hit his 600th home run this year, and possibly go on to 700 -- and that's part of the problem, as Sosa was quoted earlier this offseason as saying he wanted to play five more years so he could hit that many. No mention was made by Sosa about winning, which, after all, is what this game should be all about.

I can't really add anything to that a year later, only to say that he never made it to the milestone of 600 HR -- a plateau reached by only four players in the history of baseball -- much less 700, and his abilities went downhill very quickly.

Some blame steroids. We'll probably never know that for certain.

I blame, at least in part, his physical decline on this game on August 18, 2002, where in the top of the sixth:

Miller hit an inside the park homer to right; Sosa & Bellhorn collided and each left the game in the 7th with headaches; Dellucci reached on an error by Bellhorn; Helling struck out; Womack doubled to left [Dellucci to third]; GORDON REPLACED CLEMENT (PITCHING); McCracken struck out; Spivey flied to center; 1 R, 2 H, 1 E, 2 LOB. Diamondbacks 2, Cubs 1.

That was Damian Miller, future Cub, incidentally, who hit that ball. Sosa was hitting .308/.417/.651 on that date; he finished with .288/.399/.594 (and hit .216/.339/.412 in September 2002).

Then there was this April 20, 2003 game, which is often commented upon; after Sosa homered off Josh Fogg in the first inning, reliever Salomon Torres hit him in the head in the fourth and cracked his helmet.

Neither of these incidents alone might have caused a decline in a baseball player's abilities, but the two of them, and the corked-bat game, all combined for physical and psychological pressure on Sosa that he apparently couldn't handle, and at an age (35) when some ballplayers' skills begin to erode anyway.

Lest you think that a single physical ill cannot turn a career around, recall the broken hand that Ryne Sandberg suffered at the hand of Mike Jackson of the Giants in spring training 1993. Coming off a .304/.371/.510, 26 HR, 87 RBI season in 1992, Sandberg missed over 40 games and never really recovered his power, and this certainly had to be part of his season-and-a-half retirement, before his brief "comeback".

And thus, Sammy Sosa, who might have held the all-time homerun record, not to mention all-time adulation, slinks off into a February night without even a press conference. Two years ago, that'd have been unthinkable.

What is his legacy? If this is indeed it, five years from now, his name will be presented to Hall of Fame voters, and it will be open for discussion. That's a good thing, I think. Five years' perspective takes away some hard edges that develop during everyday competition, and give us a chance to view the man's body of work as a whole, and let some still-festering sores heal.

And at that time, presuming he is elected to Cooperstown (and with the steroid allegations, that's no sure thing these days), perhaps it will be appropriate for whoever is in charge of the Cubs, to invite him back to Wrigley Field for a number-retirement ceremony.

For Sosa did give us thrills, and was a part of two playoff teams, and remains, tainted or not, and probably forever, the only man to ever have three sixty-homer seasons -- and curiously enough, his only HR titles came in years he hit 50 and 49.

I thank him for the excitement. I shy away from him for the frighteningly poor way in which he left Chicago. And I look for the distance of the next five years to give a chance for reflection on what is inarguably a remarkable professional baseball career.

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I'm shocked

I really thought he would give it a go somewhere. I bought into the Yankees rumor.

Personally, I think the good Sammy gave the Cubs and the fans far outweighs the bad. He put together the best four year run of offense in the history of the Cubs organization, and it is for that and the rest of his career here, not his ego, that I hope most fan focus our memory.

All will be fixed in 2006

by DSZ on Feb 15, 2006 7:51 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I owe him

for getting me back into the game, au revior Sammy, how the mighty have fallen.

2006 -- AC036097 -- Eamus Catuli!

by priorpwnz on Feb 15, 2006 8:10 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

The Bellhorn collision

It's funny that you mention that play Al. I have always thought that that play was the turning point in Sosa's career. Combining that with the Torres beaning the next season on Easter Sunday and Sammy seemed to lose the aggresiveness that he had.

Still, I will remember Sosa fondly. The memories of his 2001 season and the magical June of 1998 are what I like to think about with Sosa. On many bad teams Sammy was the bright spot. Sosa played everyday for those teams. I will remember him in that light.

Farewell Sammy.

by ccd on Feb 15, 2006 8:14 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Which is why I say...

... five years' perspective will bring all of this good feeling back, and with it the real possibility of a reconciliation with the Cubs, for the memories he DID bring us.

by Al on Feb 15, 2006 8:16 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm saddened

How the mighty are fallen.

Dangit, I liked Sammy and still do. Steroided cork or not, he brought an energy and an enthusiasm to the game that helped redeem the National Pastime and along the way he helped us all forget those years in the 1990's when the Cubs were still the - Lord, I want to puke repeating this - so-called "lovable losers." He did what he could to compel his team upward and in 1998, we almost dreamed again .. For all of his deficit with his glove, not even the most rabid anti-Sosites out there can deny that he elevated the Cubs and MLB in his best days and for that, we can be grateful and think well of him.

But I can not stand how he dissed his own team, as CAPTAIN, for crying out loud, by walking on the last day of that Year we thought would be It, in 2004. There was a prima donna streak in him that just became intolerable, and finally drove him to engage in the kind of egotripping we've come too familiar with. It cost him a dignified exit that a man of his great talent and legacy should have had .. in Chicago.

I was in Wrigley that last Friday home stand that year watching Kerry melt down against the Braves and had my video camera with me. I never dreamed that my catching Sammy on video exploding out of the dugout for his dash to the outfield would be the last time I would see it happen .. This just is so not right, gang.

My Sosa bobblehead may go up on Ebay yet, but hey, it will join a lot of other ones, I am afraid ..

Well, Next Year is here .. and Jack's century's gotta end some time .. GO CUBBIES!

by cubnational on Feb 15, 2006 8:26 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Sammy

He could have been a much better player. Yes he hit a lot of home runs, but he was not a team player. It was all about Sammmy. He would not have acted that way if he was on the Yankees. Say what you will about Steinbrenner, but I think Sosa would have been out of there. He was a 5 tool player, but he squandered it all just to hit home runs. I had arguments with my brother and a friend. I said they should have traded him after 2003. While he hit a lot of home runs that year and they nearly made it to the series in other years he hit a lot of homers and they stunk. While the Cubs have made some good trades and signed some good free agents, they never seem to sign the one or two guys that will get them over the top.

by sanman on Feb 15, 2006 10:14 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Sammy

For a few years Sammy and Mark Grace(my favorite Cub) were really all the Cubs had going for them. I remember fondly being there to see him hit #61 and 62 during the summer of '98. I was actually fortunate enough to see several multiple home run games from Sammy over the years. I will be very curious as to how sammy is remembered in 2011 when he is hall eligible. I'd say he will get in and yet another Cub player will have a plaque in cooperstown.

AC 00 00 00 - BELIEVE

by mike on Feb 15, 2006 10:21 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Another former Cub retires

Brooks Kieschnick announced his retirement today, too.

I had to give up my moniker so that Chuck could have it back.

by Scott on Feb 15, 2006 10:37 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Sosa is at least 41 years old...

at least that's what all the dominicans tell me in my neighborhood...
everybody wonders how did sosa decline so fast...but his career trajectory makes a lot more sense when you figure he's around 42 years old, infact, it's pretty darn impressive.
Not to take away from sammys incredible career, I'm just saying it's just as naive to think that sammy is 37 as it is to think that he never used steroids...

by dan the fan on Feb 16, 2006 12:21 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

I have written about this before...

... and I will again.

First, after 9/11 players (as other foreign nationals) had to confirm their birth dates with the State Department. Among players whose ages "changed" were Carlos Zambrano and Alfonso Soriano.

Sosa's didnt.

Second, Sosa signed with the Rangers on July 30, 1985. This would have been about three months before his 17th birthday, as given. That's consistent with the age at which nearly all players of that era from the DR signed. To say he is 41 or 42 would mean that he was 20 or 21 when signed, which simply doesn't make any sense.

What evidence do the "Dominicans in your neighborhood" give? Or are they just spouting off a bit of sour grapes?

You can say what you want about Sosa, but one thing I do believe is that he was born on November 12, 1968, and is thus 37 years old.

by Al on Feb 16, 2006 3:25 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Not to quibble, Al

but surely this isn't fool-proof. Just look at the recent case of the 22-year old Jairo Garcia of the A's actually being 25-year old Santiago Casilla.

I know that post-9/11 there was a crackdown on players' age accuracy, but you have to ask yourself, if they found something out about, say, Sosa or Tejada, etc., would they damage the players' reputation by revealing it publicly? I imagine it was more of a safeguard against lesser-known players than it was against the stars.

This doesn't really apply for Albert Pujols, as he excelled post-9/11, but I sure have a hard time believing he's only 26.

by The Boar on Feb 16, 2006 10:36 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Sammy's age

sorry Al,
but why doesn't it make sense that sosa was 21 when he was drafted?
the word on the street among dominicans is absolutely overwhelming. i have talked to at least 50 guys from the DR about this and every single one will tell you that sammy lied about his age.
i suppose that isn't proof, but c'mon.
it was simply common practice for guys of sammys age and background to doctor their paperwork when they came over to the major leagues, they got more interest from scouts and better contracts...

by dan the fan on Feb 16, 2006 12:12 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

It doesn't make sense because...

... that's not the way they scout in the Dominican. (Wasn't drafted, incidentally -- was signed as a free agent. Dominicans are not subject to the draft.)

They scout teenagers, and legally they can sign them after they turn sixteen; they generally are signed just before they turn seventeen, and this gives them a year or so head start on their US high school counterparts.

Check just about any Dominican player -- the dates will be about the same.

You can say what you want about Sosa's attitude, playing, etc. but one thing I absolutely believe is that he was born on November 12, 1968.

by Al on Feb 16, 2006 1:03 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I don't blame Sammy

but he certainly represents much that is wrong with this organization. The idea of having the one guy on the Cubs who everyone will stick around to see bat one last time while the Cubs are once again hopelessly out of a game.

They could have traded Sammy and gotten a ton years ago but that would have taken guts from an ownership that was more interested in taking a shot at winning than the sure thing of keeping the turnstyles spinning. Unfortunately, that ain't the Cub ownership. So they paid him an ungodly amount of money and only now are climbing out from under that financial burden.

by TR on Feb 16, 2006 1:22 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Like any divorce,

it was hard not to be angery when Sammy walked out. A cancer, perhaps, but I'm sure the club took some of his soul too.

I will always love SS for giving me the chance to sport his jersey and get in a shouting match in the bathrooms at a minor league game with an elderly cardinals fan about 'cheaters'.

100 days 'till first pitch at Bosse Field!

Languishing in Card Country.

by evillecubman on Feb 16, 2006 1:49 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Doubt it

If in fact "we've seen Sammy in a baseball uniform for the last time," according to his agent, then why is he "not going to [be] put ... on the retirement list" ???

I assume "the retirement list" is an official HoF thing for eligibility, etc.

I think a team could still give him what he wants (something like Frank Thomas's contract), either in Spring or in the first couple months of the season. Maybe after a starting RFer gets injured somewhere.

by JohnM on Feb 16, 2006 6:52 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Sammy...

as I remember it was always a great player when he hit homeruns. Everybody was in love with him. I know I cheered him on every at bat. I don't remember ever hearing anything bad about Sammy until the numbers went down. I remember the first time I saw Sammy play he was with the Sox and he still chased just as many pitches if not more. I'm just as guilty as the rest of the Sammy naysayers, I too had disgust for him when all ways laid out in the open. But when he was on top we all loved him. I feel bad that I could turn on one of my favorite cubs so quickly and pray for a trade. Everytime something new developed I'd just shake my head, "say it isn't so Sammy". I guess divorce is rough

by CubsTat on Feb 16, 2006 6:59 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Good luck, Sammy

You once played the game with joy and verve. I'll never forget watching you run out to center field with the American flag in the weeks after 9/11, or what great fun the summer of '98 was. You almost made me forget about the strike that summer.

I don't know what happened to you in the past 7 years or so, or maybe you were always this way, but I like to think that the Sammy that we all adored is the real you. It's nicer that way.

Hey-Dawson backwards is Noswad!---Harry Caray

by cubbiejulie on Feb 16, 2006 10:04 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Sammy

I've been a Cubs fan over half a century. In all those years, the greatest thrill I ever had in a ballpark was in September 1998 in San Diego when Sammy's grand slam, number 63 for the season, put him ahead of McGwire (for about a half hour), he drove in all the runs in a 6-4 Cubs win, and received a standing O every time he stepped to the plate throughout the game.

Endings are sad, as they always are. But I'll remember Sammy as the greatest Cub in my time. They need to retire number 21, sooner rather than later.

by Clark Addison on Feb 16, 2006 10:25 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Sosa played the game physically and not mentally

You are probably correct that those two head injuries caused more problems with him physically than anything else. Sosa was so gifted he didn't have to adjust mentally he simply out-gifted them.

Yes the mighty fall fast and it appears that the mighty who take assistance be it legal or once was legal or not fall fast as the degrade is also faster.

Too bad both McGwire and Sosa stopped short. As for the memories they are the same as a great lover of a long ago, and I appreciated he did what he did for those special 6 seasons.

Bill Veeck planted Ivy during 'The Depression', and over time the Ivy Walls has become the most distinct symbol of Wrigley Field.

by Ivy Walls on Feb 16, 2006 1:26 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Sammy...

even though he was the player that brought me into Cubdom, he was never my favorite player. But I still loved to watch him.

I feel bad for him. Bye Sammy, I hope you have a nice life.

Cubbie Blue always sPaRkLes in my eyes.

by sparkles721 on Feb 16, 2006 4:01 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Someone on one of the

sports talk stations in Chicago (they blend together into one mediocre entity) said last week that Frank Thomas told him Sammy is 40 this year. But really, who cares? Whatever his age, he's as done as hockey in Chicago.

He always seemed like a dick to me. Never improving enough defensively, calling himself a gladiator and telling writers to "Cut the bull, they (the Cubs) need me." Trying to steal bases when he shouldn't have to become a 40-40 guy. Anyone over the age of 10 should have seen he was only in it for himself. I can't even believe some of the sentimental pap here has been written by adults.

by TR on Feb 16, 2006 8:23 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

He was and is a jerk...

I agree with the sentiments that Sosa is a jerk. An incredibly selfish player who was obviously cheating with roids and/or THG. The reason it is so anti-climatic (the retirement) is because it's obvious that once off roids he sucks. The decline was clear to anyone watching the Cubs in 2004. The great Gladiator, ever the team player, insisted on making more outs at the top of the lineup for about 7 weeks too long...

Sosa the jerk, is a product of Tribune marketing and he was treated unfairly by the even bigger jerk who is Baker. Baker and Hendry are real manipulative ass-hats in my opinion. They fabricated a story about Sosa being caught on tape so they could cover their butts regarding Sammy. But what do you expect from a chump like Baker who is so vindicative that he must move to to get an announcer fired for daring to tell the truth about is horsecrap managing.

Anyway, Sammy deserved an honest treatment from the Cubs, as they encouraged the monster selfish player and he deserved better than them making up a story about him.

When on roids he was a great productive player whose personality hurt the team at times, but who overall produced like crazy at a time when everyone was juiced. Hell, the only reason Baker has a reputation as a manager is thanks to Roidzilla and his ever expanding skull. You take roided up clowns away from Baker and you see him for the vinidctive punk that he is, as well as a horsecrap manager.

Sammy, good luck, but get ready for an even harder fall becuase no one's going to give a crap about you and your roided up self now, and for an egomaniac like you that's the most severe punishment...

by DudeVf1 on Feb 16, 2006 11:04 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

good post

you based your entire post on fact. Way to go.

by socalbob on Feb 17, 2006 8:43 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

THE GREATEST CUB EVER

Farewell Sammy..

Remembering back to the days of 98, I think back to one particular moment: I was eating at a restaurant and every single patron in the restaurant would filter into the one bar area, which contained the TV's, and hold their breath in anticipation to see what would happen. I remember thinking that the whole restaurant, the whole state, the whole nation, was watching one man have an at bat. It felt incredible to image that in my head. One man had captivated the entire planet.

There are alot of people who may say, and more importantly mave have always said that sosa was juiced and selfish. But one thing none of those people can deny is the effect, the anticipation, the magic, whatever you want to call it, that came with every sosa at-bat.

Those record seasons are more than just numbers, those were the days that sparked passion and love for a game that had been BADLY losing it's appeal. Those seasons made the casual fan a spectator. Those seasons ushered in a whole new generation of fans. And it's based on that, plus the numbers, wich makes Sosa the greatest Cubs player of all time and hands down a first ballot hall of famer.

by amaru on Feb 16, 2006 11:45 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Sammy was great...

... but Ernie Banks was the "greatest Cub ever".

by Al on Feb 17, 2006 2:28 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Tragic

In this day and age, it is so rare to see a player stay with one franchise, and literally BE the face of the franchise for so long. Sammy was part of two playoff teams, but some other teams he played for we so bad (1997, '99, 2000, 2002, just to name a few), we had Sammy, Mark Grace, and the ivy. And that was it. Sammy brought the Cubs a lot of good attention even in the years that we sucked. So I have to say that whether all of the allegations about Sammy are true or not (and most of them probably are), it saddens me that his career, and in particular his Cubs career, is going to be tainted.

That being said, Sammy really has no one to blame but himself. In many cases, the press will build a guy up, and then tear him down. In Sammy's case, the press built him up, but he tore himself down. Sammy got addicted to fame, pure and simple, the way some people get addicted to drugs, alcohol, or gambling. He got so wrapped up in himself and his image that he thought he was beyond criticism, no matter how he played or conducted himself. And it doesn't work that way, no matter how great a player you are. Just ask Barry Bonds or Kobe Bryant. Sammy was great when life was going great. But he equally bad when life threw some challenges his way. And even $17 million a year does not guarantee you that life will always be a bed of roses. Sammy just never seemed willing or able to accept that fact.

CTC

by ctcoff99 on Feb 17, 2006 11:18 AM CST reply actions 0 recs