Chicago Cubs Baseball

With a thud and a yawn Sammy Sosa’s legacy came crashing to the ground like a shattered boom box amid a New York Times report last week the former Chicago Cubs baseball star tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.

That Sosa was found among 104 other players testing positive from a 2003 survey could be considered mildly surprising at best from even the most casual baseball fan.  If anything the Times story confirmed what many, if  not all in and out of baseball, suspected.

And sadly, it’s taken us one more step down the path of wondering - and unfortunately, wanting - to know one simple question. Who else?

Last Tuesday was Sammy’s turn and in no way do I feel a single fiber of remorse that it was Sosa exposed while the majority of those on the list remain in the legal shadows of anonymity.

Such is fate.  And, in my opinion, karma.

Ever since the specter of Sammy’s involvement with PEDs came to the light, he like the majority of others, chose the path of denial.  Surprising? Not in the least.

Sammy, if you remember, was the guy who got caught red-handed using a corked bat and then feigned innocence.

“I use that bat for batting practice,” Sosa claimed at the time. “It’s something that I take the blame for. It’s a mistake, I know that. I feel sorry. I just apologize to everybody that are embarrassed.”

And as Chicago Cub fans - we forgave Sammy.  For if there was one area where Sosa excelled,  it was public relations.  Sammy knew how to play to the crowd.  From his wide smile to blowing kisses to his showing of American patriotism when he carried the American flag around the bases after a home run following the September 11th attacks. it was his offering of a buy-in.  Cub fans gladly accepted.

Eventually, even the best pr machine hits a glitch.  Sammy’s persona began to lose its shine when he testified before the House Government Reform Committee on steroid use in major league baseball.

“To be clear, I have never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs,” Sosa testified in 2005.  “I have never injected myself or had anyone inject me with anything. I have not broken the laws of the United States or the laws of the Dominican Republic. I have been tested as recently as 2004, and I am clean.”

And as recently as June 4th in an interview with with ESPNdeportes.com, Sosa remained firm in his denial of any alleged steroid use.

Maybe it was that one denial too many that set the wheels in motion that led to the Times report and his association with PEDs.  In the end, the release of Sosa’s name was meant to bury him, not to praise him or any of his baseball accomplishments.

Sosa’s reputation is shattered like the boom box some Cub smashed after his final game with Chicago.  Whether history is kind to Sosa, only time will tell.

For this Cub fan, however, the Mighty Casey has struck out.