Famed slugger Sammy Sosa made his long-anticipated return to Wrigley Field on Friday — his first official appearance at the stadium in 21 years — for the Chicago Cubs‘ home contest against the Seattle Mariners (SEA-CHC GameTracker).
When Sosa arrived at the stadium before the game, team owner Tom Ricketts greeted him with a hug.
The 56-year-old Sosa spent parts of 13 seasons with the Cubs, and for much of that time, he was one of the most potent power hitters in baseball history. Of his 609 career home runs, 545 came with a Cubs jersey on his back. In 1998, he jousted with Mark McGwire of the rival Cardinals for the single-season home run record, and for his efforts, he was given the National League MVP award. In all, Sosa had three 60-homer seasons with the Cubs, and he made seven All-Star appearances. He remains the Cubs’ all-time franchise leader in home runs, and Sosa ranks third behind Cap Anson and Ernie Banks on the franchise RBI list.
Under normal circumstances, that’s the stuff of a beloved franchise icon and a fixture at games and signature club events over the years. Sosa, though, had been frozen out since his tenure with the Cubs ended in 2004 under a cloud of mutual acrimony.
Although the Ricketts family did not own the Cubs during Sosa’s playing days, they perpetuated the estrangement, partly in response to the allegations of performance-enhancing drug use that dogged Sosa during and after his playing career. Sosa was reported by the New York Times as having tested positive for steroids in 2003, and his appearance before Congress during a 2005 hearing on PED use in sports was also widely panned as uncooperative and evasive.
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Late last year, though, Sosa released a statement in which he professed his love for the Cubs and Wrigley Field and also said in part:
“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. I never broke any laws, but in hindsight, I made mistakes and I apologize.”
That was enough for Tom Ricketts, who released his own statement that, in essence, welcomed Sosa back into the organization’s good graces. The Cubs have already announced that Sosa will be inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame, and then on Saturday, the reunion came full circle with Sosa’s first trip to Wrigley in 21 years.
It’s just the latest bit of good news for Cubs fans. Sosa’s return to the Friendly Confines comes as the Cubs are in first place in the National League Central and also have the best record in the entire NL. That makes it a fine time to welcome back a franchise legend.
