Taking a look back at Sammy Sosa

By: Kevin White

Posted: 4/28/06

With baseball's opening week come and gone and the national pastime on everybody's minds, it is inevitable that talk of steroids and Barry Bonds are back on the front page. These articles also mention steroid-king Jose Canseco, admitted-user Jason Giambi, proof-positive Rafael Palmeiro, the incredible-shrinking Mark McGwire and ... Sammy Sosa.

For some reason, Sosa's inclusion on these lists has been a foregone conclusion despite the complete lack of evidence, even from Canseco's tell-all book. Perhaps this suspicion has resulted from his sudden and apparent decline. A closer analysis, however, places heavy doubt on this assumption of guilt.

Though inextricably linked to McGwire and the 1998 home run chase, Sosa's season and following seasons make much more sense than McGwire's. Firstly, Sosa (and I've got the baseball cards to prove it) was rarely injured and gained small amounts of weight every year - an average of five to 10 pounds that could be explained by the weight room alone.

Contrast this to McGwire, whose career seemed to be in a nosedive due to injuries and strikeouts prior to resurgent 1996 and 1997 seasons when he magically re-appeared 30 pounds heavier and hitting more home runs than in his "Bash Brothers" prime.

While Sosa's increase in home runs was almost exclusively due to increased opposite-field swings and plate selection, McGwire simply pulled the ball and struck out in the same manner as he always had, with the notable exception that what was once a routine fly balls was now hitting the Big Mac sign at Busch stadium.

To those who still insist Sosa's 1998 season and continued stellar seasons through 2003 came out of nowhere, there are cold, hard facts showing otherwise. Sosa hit 33 homers in 1993, hit .300 with 25 homers in the severely-shortened 1994 season and 36 homers with 119 RBIs in the 144-game 1995 season. In fact, if he continued playing everyday that year (with a full schedule) he would have finished with 41 homers and 134 RBIs. Even more striking is his 1996 season, in which he was a front-runner for MVP until a pitch broke his wrist and ended his season in mid-August. He finished with 40 home runs in just 124 games, which calculates to a pace of 52 homers without the injury. Even his 1997 year, a down year, consisted of 119 RBIs and well more than 30 homers. Many scouts had predicted a breakout year after 1996 and its occurrence two years later instead of one isn't that surprising.

Still more pundits point to his sharp decline after 2003 (in which he hit 40 homers) as evidence that steroids testing may have forced him to quit shooting up and therefore lose his edge. While this argument isn't totally ridiculous, historical comparisons prove that ages 35 and 36 (Sosa's last two seasons) are some of the most common years for sudden drop-off. Two-time MVP Dale Murphy appeared to be in fine shape at age 34, hitting 24 homers and decent at age 35, hitting 18 homers, but at age 36 he hit .161 with two homers and retired the following season. First-ballot Hall of Famer Mel Ott hit only one homer after age 36 despite compiling 510 before and fellow immortal Mickey Mantle also tanked at ages 35 and 36. The Mick hit .240 with 40 home runs for those two years combined before retiring outright. By the way, Sosa hit 49 homers and averaged around .230 during his two final seasons.

Outside of performance, many speculate Sammy's good-guy image was just that and his corked-bat incident and last year's Congressional hearings shattered whatever illusions remained.

Though Sammy's rapport with his teammates varied (some loved him, some not so much), his record of philanthropy toward his native Dominican Republic (built schools, baseball academies, provided huge amounts of relief after a major hurricane) and his penchant for signing autographs should at least show his heart was in the right place overall.

Furthermore, for those who scoffed at his use of an interpreter during the Congressional hearings after having heard his post-game quips and interviews spoken in English for so long, I offer a simple explanation. Though he could speak English, no one would possibly mistake his comprehension for fluency and in a hearing where the slightest verbal slip could cause massive suspicion, he was simply being safe. By preparing answers and having a well-spoken interpreter by his side, he could avoid accidentally saying anything incriminating even if his own intentions in speech were far from that.

For the record, Sosa's denial of ever having used illegal substances (not just steroids!) is the only such denial to have stood up thus far. Rafael Palmeiro was exposed a few months later, and McGwire skirted the questions in a less-than-convincing manner, almost assuring an implication of guilt.

I'm not saying Sosa is a saint, but the proof is as far away from pinning a pitchfork on him as can be.