CHICAGO — No matter what you know, what you think or how it looks now, highlights of Sammy Sosa hitting home runs set to Pat Hughes’ radio calls will still give you goosebumps and put a smile on your face like it’s 1998 all over again.
On Friday night in downtown Chicago, they showed those highlights to a ballroom full of Cubs fans, and let me tell you, even a hardened cynic had to crack a grin.
Once upon a time, Wrigley Field was a stage and Sosa was its star. It’s been two decades since he walked out of the clubhouse (during the season finale) at Wrigley Field, and at the opening of the team’s winter fan convention, the prodigal son returned to thunderous ovations and chants of his name.
The fissure between Sosa and the Cubs began after they traded him, unceremoniously, following the 2004 season and continued under new ownership as chairman Tom Ricketts seemed determined that Sosa needed to apologize to everyone for … well, you know.
Sosa, the foil to Mark McGwire in the great 1998 home run chase, was in many ways the poster boy for the “Steroid Era,” but he was never actually popped for PEDs during his playing days because Major League Baseball didn’t have a comprehensive drug-testing policy. In 2009, it was revealed he did give a positive test for them in 2003, when the league was belatedly trying to deal with the issue that shamed a sport.
Despite hitting 609 home runs (545 with the Cubs), Sosa never sniffed the real Hall of Fame while he was eligible. But, that’s what team halls of fame are made for. The Cubs have their own now and this year, Sosa got voted in. (He was eligible last year but didn’t have the votes.)
So to get this done, he issued a statement apologizing for … something (more on that in a minute) and the Cubs immediately released a statement accepting his apology and inviting him to the convention.
I’m sure Ricketts was tired of being asked about it, the media was tired of asking him about it and many of the fans just wanted to cheer for Sosa again. Sosa obviously wanted those cheers too.
The ballroom ripped up in applause when Sosa was introduced as the newest member of the Hall and he ran out onto the stage carrying an American flag, mimicking his famous run to right field after 9/11.
SAMMY. SOSA.
ELECTRIC! pic.twitter.com/i1gn8rec1Y
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) January 18, 2025
When he was introduced a second time, later in the evening, he ran out on that stage again, hamming it up like it was 1998 all over again. And if there’s ever a place to do it, it’s the Cubs Convention. Sosa always loved the spotlight and that clearly hasn’t changed.
“I’m here tonight, I make everybody happy and I’m going to go home on Sunday,” he told us later.
When asked why the timing was right for a reunion, he said, “I’m 56, buddy. But I look 25, right? Timing. You make mistakes in life and you need to be ready (to move on).”
We all know what he apologizing for or what he was supposed to be apologizing for, but when he was asked specifically about apologizing for PEDs, he said, “No.” He said he was apologizing to the fans.
“I have the fans that loved me very much,” he said. “I have to apologize to them.”
Sammy Sosa on why he decided now to apology via statement last month for past “mistakes” (which when asked directly on a follow-up question by @maddie_m_lee if that is referring to PED usage, Sosa said “no” and reiterated he needed to apologize to fans who loved him): pic.twitter.com/sBBtRSIFWF
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) January 18, 2025
I think what he was trying to say was that he was apologizing because he knew it had been long enough and it would make the fans happy for him to return, but I like the idea that he was simply apologizing to them for depriving them of him. That would be perfect.
The Cubs’ world used to revolve around Sosa and his highlights and then everyone moved on. He was on the 2003 team that nearly made the World Series and he was on the 2004 team that couldn’t get back. By then, the relationship between the team, the city and Sosa had soured.
Everyone dealt with the fallout from the Steroid Era, the inflated numbers, the lost trust. And then most of us got over it. We accept that time for what it was. You can be nostalgic for how it made you feel back then while acknowledging the truths behind it.
No one’s saying Sosa should make Cooperstown — I’d be fine with it but the voters have been mostly clear on that line — but yes, he should get a blue jacket, a plaque in the hallway at Wrigley Field and be a part of the Cubs family again. He was an entertainer and I think that’s how he’s looked at now.
“He admitted mistakes, apologized for them and moved on,” said Sosa’s former teammate Derrek Lee, who also made the Cubs’ HOF. “I’m sure we’ve all made mistakes and we all want forgiveness. It’s time to move on. It’s been a long time.”
Sosa hugged the old-timers on stage and the current players seemed thrilled to meet him. On Thursday night, Sosa came to their new alternate jersey launch event at Lincoln Park blues bar Kingston Mines.
Pete Crow-Armstrong arrived at the bar at the same time as Sosa and his entourage and they talked for a minute.
“He said, ‘I like your game, you keep it low,’” Crow-Armstrong told me. “I told him, ‘Yeah, I didn’t hit as many home runs as you, so I got to.’ He was very complimentary and very sweet. It was very, very nice to meet him.”
When Crow-Armstrong and his girlfriend got home, he started showing her highlights and Sosa’s eye-popping stats. He’s only 22, but he’s a student of history, whether it’s hip-hop or a Sosa hop.
“I know all about Sammy Sosa and what he meant to the Cubs,” he said.
In 2016, when the Cubs finally won it all, few people were asking about Sosa. But now, the team is mediocre and there’s not a lot to really cheer for. The Cubs could use another Sammy bump these days and maybe a few of his home runs.
“It was like the perfect storm, you know what I mean,” Sosa said.
We do.
I asked Sosa if it was difficult to apologize at all, regardless of what he said it was for. He’s a proud man. He doesn’t look at his career the same way you or I might. He sees what he did right, not what he did wrong. It was loud in the hallway where we interviewed him, but I know he mentioned the word “ego” and that he’s now a man of God.
“Pretty much I did it in the right time,” he said of his apology. “I made my statement in the right time and right now, it’s working perfectly. I just want to continue to move forward.”
Sosa said he’ll be around more at conventions and Wrigley Field. He’ll get his blue jacket next season and he’ll get another chance to run out to right field holding a flag.
The fans will love it. It will be a moment to remember, which remains Sosa’s specialty.
“I think it’s been great,” he said. “And I’m glad that it happened. I’m glad that I’m back. Hey, what else can I ask for?”
(Photo: John Biever / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
