Sosa shows a little pop, a big hop
Sammy battles boos with vintage display of 'Cubbie swagger'
If you want ''Cubbie Swagger'' -- that elusive attitude manager Lou Piniella is trying to inject in a team that continues to frustrate -- it's on full display right here in Chicago. Smack dab at 35th and Shields.
That's where you can find the man who invented Cubbie Swagger and showed it off to the world. For a team that doesn't win World Series anymore, an unprecedented string of 60 or more home runs for three consecutive seasons was about as good as it gets.
That's where you can find the man who invented Cubbie Swagger and showed it off to the world. For a team that doesn't win World Series anymore, an unprecedented string of 60 or more home runs for three consecutive seasons was about as good as it gets.
Has Sammy Sosa heard about Piniella's mission to put a swagger in his last-place Cubbies?
Has Sammy Sosa heard about Piniella's mission to put a swagger in his last-place Cubbies?
''I don't want to say it,'' Sosa said, considering the question as he leaned against a chair and glanced at the Cubs game on the clubhouse TV, ''but when I was there, that was my attitude.
''Every day, when you carry that with yourself, you feel right. For me to have the chance to do everything I did in Chicago, I had to have some pretty good focus -- yeah, swagger.''
For the first time since he snubbed then-manager Dusty Baker and sparked a 2004 season-finale controversy made for Chicago -- complete with incriminating video evidence and ugly finger-pointing after his unexcused early exit -- Sosa returned to town Tuesday, facing his former White Sox team. And yes, he belted a booming home run when the game had been decided, hopped out of the box and kiss-tapped his way across home plate.
''I'm not going to lie to you,'' he said. ''I came here, didn't know what to expect, been out for a year and have an opportunity to come here and have a good game, I'm very satisfied.''
As he warmed up before the game in front of the Texas Rangers' dugout, the first wave of fans into the ballpark peppered him with friendly shouts of ''Sam-my.'' Sosa responded with a big smile and his patented heart taps.
Things didn't turn nasty until his first at-bat. As Sosa walked to the plate, the boos grew louder with each step. He twisted his right foot into the batter's box, stepped out and took a few practice swings as the boos continued.
The at-bat ended with Sosa looking silly, chasing a 3-2 Jon Garland sinker that was flirting with the dirt. Finally, cheers.
''They give me what I deserve,'' he said after the game. ''I'm not going to be here and trying to have a fight with the fans.''
The boos accompanied each at-bat but came through gritted teeth after Sosa's seventh-inning double to right sparked a three-run rally. They finally were muted after Sosa smacked a three-run homer -- his third this season and No. 591 for his career -- on an 0-2 offering from Mike MacDougal in the eighth.
Sox manager Ozzie Guillen -- a former South Side teammate of Sosa -- paved the way, intentionally walking Mark Teixeira with two outs and Kenny Lofton on third.
''I will walk Teixeira and pitch to Sammy Sosa every day of the year,'' Guillen said. ''Teixeira is not going to beat me. Sammy, be ready because you have to hit.''
Was Sosa offended?
''Whatever decision he make, I believe and feel great about it,'' Sosa said. ''Sometimes things don't go the way you plan. I will respect Ozzie. I don't have nothing bad to say about Ozzie. He's the manager, the man who gave the Chicago White Sox a World Series, so he's good. Leave that guy alone.''
Guillen rushed to Sosa's defense before the game, chastising Chicago baseball fans for forgetting what Sammy meant to the city.
Sosa's love affair with Chicago began to sour in June 2003, when Piniella's Tampa Bay Devil Rays were at Wrigley Field and a shattered bat revealed cork. Sosa was a cheater, and the evidence was impossible to hide.
''My incident with the bat, everybody knows what happened,'' Sosa said Tuesday. ''I took the responsibility for that. And I mean it, and I said it, that was a mistake on my part. I never needed to use that. But I explained that. That is one thing I will have to carry with me all of my life. I always regret. But this is in the past.''
''I played all of my years with my heart and did the best that I can,'' Sosa said. ''Definitely there was a misunderstanding in 2004, but time will heal everything. I had a good conversation with [Cubs president] John McDonough in spring training, and when I want to come back to Chicago, definitely, they are going to open the door for me.''
Prying open the doors to the Hall of Fame might be tougher. Judging by the cold shoulder Mark McGwire got in his first year on the ballot, Sosa could be in for a struggle.
Love him or hate him, Sosa got used and abused by baseball in just a few years. He calls his 1998 home-run chase with McGwire the highlight of his career. Baseball celebrated the two, and most would agree the bloated power numbers rescued baseball. A few years later, when baseball was forced to confront a growing steroid problem, Sosa and McGwire -- thanks to their belly flops on Capitol Hill -- became the symbols of all that was wrong with the game.
The swagger returned Tuesday when a slugger hitting .175 entering the game made a vow only Sosa could say with a straight face: ''I'm going to get hot. That you can put in your book.''
After a double and three-run homer, Sosa was ready to gloat.
''I always have confidence, without a doubt,'' he said. ''When I say something, I back it up.''
So that's Cubbie Swagger.