Sammy Sosa appreciation thread

[Magnetic Curses]

if you start liking or disliking players based on their personal lives or decisions, you need to get a life.

 

Is it ok to not like Steve Alford for allowing a man convicted of rape to continue to play? This is a legitimate question.

 

And I liked Sammy when he was here, but he hurt nobody but himself with his actions in his latter years. My "sympathy meter" isn't bleeding for him.

 

the alford/pierce incident is totally different. rape and being perceived as lacking moral character are 2 different things.

 

i wasn't asking you to have sympathy for sammy. if he committed a heineous crime, i wouldn't want him on the team. he did nothing more than ruin some casual fan's dream of the altruistic superstar and the perfect clubhouse atmosphere. why should i care about that?

 

what i care about is the production he gave the cubs in the middle of the order.

[RynoRules]

I think it is sad that he fell the way he did. I don't feel sorry for him, but I wish things would have turned out differently. I unlike many people it appears will never forget what he did for the Cubs. For years he was the only good thing they had.

\\\

 

Pretty much sums up my feelings, except that I felt taken advantage of towards the end. I (we) supported him through many issues (allegations of 'roids, corks, etc.), but the "Game 162" incident was the straw that broke my back.

[Mark_R]

if you start liking or disliking players based on their personal lives or decisions, you need to get a life.

 

Is it ok to not like Steve Alford for allowing a man convicted of rape to continue to play? This is a legitimate question.

 

And I liked Sammy when he was here, but he hurt nobody but himself with his actions in his latter years. My "sympathy meter" isn't bleeding for him.

 

the alford/pierce incident is totally different. rape and being perceived as lacking moral character are 2 different things.

 

i wasn't asking you to have sympathy for sammy. if he committed a heineous crime, i wouldn't want him on the team. he did nothing more than ruin some casual fan's dream of the altruistic superstar and the perfect clubhouse atmosphere. why should i care about that?

 

what i care about is the production he gave the cubs in the middle of the order.

 

It also depends on whether you believe Sammy hit his wife with that bottle many years ago.

 

And Sammy's production was fantastic. For that I'm grateful, but again, he has nobody to blame but himself for his perceived image.

[Magnetic Curses]

if you start liking or disliking players based on their personal lives or decisions, you need to get a life.

 

Is it ok to not like Steve Alford for allowing a man convicted of rape to continue to play? This is a legitimate question.

 

And I liked Sammy when he was here, but he hurt nobody but himself with his actions in his latter years. My "sympathy meter" isn't bleeding for him.

 

the alford/pierce incident is totally different. rape and being perceived as lacking moral character are 2 different things.

 

i wasn't asking you to have sympathy for sammy. if he committed a heineous crime, i wouldn't want him on the team. he did nothing more than ruin some casual fan's dream of the altruistic superstar and the perfect clubhouse atmosphere. why should i care about that?

 

what i care about is the production he gave the cubs in the middle of the order.

 

It also depends on whether you believe Sammy hit his wife with that bottle many years ago.

 

And Sammy's production was fantastic. For that I'm grateful, but again, he has nobody to blame but himself for his perceived image.

 

that was a rumor. pierce was convicted twice in a court of law.

 

if i was sammy i would unapologetic about my past. he was paid to play baseball, not win congeniality awards. he seldom turned down autographs, was rarely rude to the press, gave a great show every day, played every day, and treated the RF fans very well. I remember going to several games in which he'd jet out to right field at the beginning of the game with a glove full of balls and then start lofting them into the bleachers.

 

the fans turned on him very quickly, and it's a damn shame.

[RynoRules]

if you start liking or disliking players based on their personal lives or decisions, you need to get a life.

 

Is it ok to not like Steve Alford for allowing a man convicted of rape to continue to play? This is a legitimate question.

 

And I liked Sammy when he was here, but he hurt nobody but himself with his actions in his latter years. My "sympathy meter" isn't bleeding for him.

 

the alford/pierce incident is totally different. rape and being perceived as lacking moral character are 2 different things.

 

i wasn't asking you to have sympathy for sammy. if he committed a heineous crime, i wouldn't want him on the team. he did nothing more than ruin some casual fan's dream of the altruistic superstar and the perfect clubhouse atmosphere. why should i care about that?

 

what i care about is the production he gave the cubs in the middle of the order.

 

And its certainly your perogative and right to feel that way. I hope you undetrstand that some of us feel differently.

 

I do not, at my age, believe that these guys are in any way perfect. Their personal lives are their own; they make mistakes just like you and I. So long as they stay within the bounds of decency in that regard, I try not to judge them in that area.

 

That said, I do expect that they will conduct themselves with a degree of professionalism (just as I am expected to in my role as an attny). Sammy committed (in my estimation) a highly insubordinate and unprofessional act. I lost a great degree of respect for him as result, and it was doubley unfortunate in light of the fact that he was so productive for so long.

 

EDIT: And I am hardly a casual fan.

[sandberg23]

Here's my take: I was never a huge Sosa fan. I grew up idolizing Sandberg and how he played the game. Everybody brings up the offense Sosa brought and '98. I didn't watch many games in '98 due to being at school and I kind of fell out of the baseball world for a year or 2 because I didn't have a television in my room. So, while that year was incredible for him and fans, it doesn't mean a whole lot to me. But, that doesn't take away from what he did that year...it just isn't imbedded in my head and heart like it is for others. I liked Sosa better when he was a basestealer as well as a hitter and gave more to the game than just simply hitting long homeruns (that how he appeared to me). As I came back around to watching the Cubs again when I got my own tv, there were other players that I liked better than Sosa for various reasons. So, it's not that I hate Sosa, because I don't, it's just that he's not a player I felt a great passion for nor did I feel connected to him in any special but the more he fell from grace, the more I really cared for him less and less.

 

Oh, and Mizzou, I have been following the Cubs over half my life minus the year or two I previously talked about.

Edited January 2, 2006 by sandberg23

[Brucecubsaol.com]

I seem to have lost my rights to membership in Northside baseball and

I wonder why. If it is a dues question, please inform me as I would

like to do more than just read the controversial posts.

 

 

 

Cub fan since 1945

Bruce Davidson

[Mizzou]

And Sammy's production was fantastic. For that I'm grateful, but again, he has nobody to blame but himself for his perceived image.

 

The Cubs aren't at all to blame for making Sammy the way he is? For putting him on a pedestal and allowing him to become the megastar that he became?

[Mark_R]

And Sammy's production was fantastic. For that I'm grateful, but again, he has nobody to blame but himself for his perceived image.

 

The Cubs aren't at all to blame for making Sammy the way he is? For putting him on a pedestal and allowing him to become the megastar that he became?

 

Believe what you wanna believe.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Do people not like Sammy so much that they go to lengths to bash him in his appreciation thread? If you don't miss Sammy, then maybe this isn't the thread for you. :?

 

I miss the Sammy that hit lots of home runs.

[treebird]

sosa was more of a team player than ryno. he had more sac flies in his career, and he didn't sell out his teammates with stupid sacrifice bunts that hurt the team more often than they helped it.

[Magnetic Curses]

Here's my take: I was never a huge Sosa fan. I grew up idolizing Sandberg and how he played the game. Everybody brings up the offense Sosa brought and '98. I didn't watch many games in '98 due to being at school and I kind of fell out of the baseball world for a year or 2 because I didn't have a television in my room. So, while that year was incredible for him and fans, it doesn't mean a whole lot to me. But, that doesn't take away from what he did that year...it just isn't imbedded in my head and heart like it is for others. I liked Sosa better when he was a basestealer as well as a hitter and gave more to the game than just simply hitting long homeruns (that how he appeared to me). As I came back around to watching the Cubs again when I got my own tv, there were other players that I liked better than Sosa for various reasons. So, it's not that I hate Sosa, because I don't, it's just that he's not a player I felt a great passion for nor did I feel connected to him in any special but the more he fell from grace, the more I really cared for him less and less.

 

Oh, and Mizzou, I have been following the Cubs over half my life minus the year or two I previously talked about.

 

sammy became a much more offensively productive player when he stopped stealing bases. 97 was the last season he stole more than 20 bases, it was also his last full season in the bigs in which he did not even come close to scoring 100 runs. sosa scored 146 runs in 2001, it was, statistically, the single greatest season that any cub player has EVER had. if you take away several seasons by bonds and ruth, it might be the best season in the history of the game. make no mistake about it, sammy became a great player once he lost the base stealing part of his game.

 

i grew up watching sandberg and grace play, i matured watching sosa play--and i mean this as no disrespect, i love Ryno, and always will, but Ryno gave nowhere near the production that sosa gave.

 

it's really sad to see that people don't care about what he did for the cubs anymore.

[Mark_R]

Do people not like Sammy so much that they go to lengths to bash him in his appreciation thread? If you don't miss Sammy, then maybe this isn't the thread for you. :?

 

It should be duly noted that the last statement of the first post in this thread read as follows:

 

Anyone else miss Sammy?

 

So the "no" is justified and reasons why can be elaborated on as well.

[rocket]

What Sosa gave us as Cub fans in 04' is enough to forget him.

 

Sosa in 2004 gave us a more productive season than Burnitz gave us in 2005, and likely more production than Jacque Jones will give us in 2006 and beyond.

 

I miss him to death.

[BigbadB]

sosa was more of a team player than ryno.

 

Ryno shared his wife with Cub teammates. Can Sammy beat that? :D

[JC]

This thread is overdue. Sammy made a lot of otherwise unbearable years bearable with respect to Cub baseball. When Bruce Kimm wasn't improperly taking him out late in close games, that is.

[RynoRules]

sosa was more of a team player than ryno. he had more sac flies in his career, and he didn't sell out his teammates with stupid sacrifice bunts that hurt the team more often than they helped it.

 

:?:

[Mizzou]

And Sammy's production was fantastic. For that I'm grateful, but again, he has nobody to blame but himself for his perceived image.

 

The Cubs aren't at all to blame for making Sammy the way he is? For putting him on a pedestal and allowing him to become the megastar that he became?

 

Believe what you wanna believe.

 

I will, thanks.

 

I was just asking your opinion of it.

[erik316wttn]

I miss Sammy. Cubs baseball just isn't the same without him. He's the main reason that I started watching baseball again following the 94 strike. And it really pisses me off when people blast Sammy at every opportunity. People who can't appreciate what he did for this organization probably haven't been following the Cubs for longer than a couple years.

 

I think it really is sickening the way that people threw him under the bus after one lousy 2004 season. Yes, he had a bad year. But, that should not have offset how many great years he gave us. I think it was shameful how the organization treated him on the way out.

 

One bad season should not erase the many, many great ones he had for us.

[UK1679666180]

Sosa did many great things while in Chicago and baseball in general. He deserves a great deal of credit for what he has been able to accomplish. I believe he was a terrible teammate and one of the more selfish teammates probably since Maldonado. When there's two sets of rules one for 24 players and the other for one player, the player is at fault as well as coaching staff. He was great at promoting himself and capitalizing off of it and MLB was great at selling it as were the Cubs.

 

You can't ignore the many outstanding things he did and you can't ignore the negatives either.

 

I appreciate what he did, I don't appreciate the baggage that came along with him.

 

It's not an all or nothing scenario.

[Andy]

Sammy memories:

 

Tying the May 04 game vs Cincy with his 512th Cub homer before Big Mo won it

Tying Game 1 of the NLCS with a home run (most nuts moment of my life)

Spraying down the Wrigley faithful with champagne after clinching the 2003 NL Central

Making meaningless games in summer 2000 and 2002 worth watching

2001 (He was the MVP damn it)

[Ding Dong Johnson]

if you start liking or disliking players based on their personal lives or decisions, you need to get a life.

 

Is it ok to not like Steve Alford for allowing a man convicted of rape to continue to play? This is a legitimate question.

 

And I liked Sammy when he was here, but he hurt nobody but himself with his actions in his latter years. My "sympathy meter" isn't bleeding for him.

 

the alford/pierce incident is totally different. rape and being perceived as lacking moral character are 2 different things.

 

i wasn't asking you to have sympathy for sammy. if he committed a heineous crime, i wouldn't want him on the team. he did nothing more than ruin some casual fan's dream of the altruistic superstar and the perfect clubhouse atmosphere. why should i care about that?

 

what i care about is the production he gave the cubs in the middle of the order.

 

It also depends on whether you believe Sammy hit his wife with that bottle many years ago.

 

And Sammy's production was fantastic. For that I'm grateful, but again, he has nobody to blame but himself for his perceived image.

 

that was a rumor. pierce was convicted twice in a court of law.

 

if i was sammy i would unapologetic about my past. he was paid to play baseball, not win congeniality awards. he seldom turned down autographs, was rarely rude to the press, gave a great show every day, played every day, and treated the RF fans very well. I remember going to several games in which he'd jet out to right field at the beginning of the game with a glove full of balls and then start lofting them into the bleachers.

 

the fans turned on him very quickly, and it's a damn shame.

 

Not to nitpick, but Pierce was never convicted of rape, and he was never convicted of any serious crimes TWICE while he was still on the team. He pled down a 3rd degree sexual abuse charge (deferred judgement) and was immediately dismissed from the team when he was still considered a suspect in his most recent arrest. Alford gave him a 2nd chance after Pierce was forced to sit for an entire season, and he responded with a lot of character by dismissing his best player before an arrest was ever made.

 

I am certainly not defending Pierce or his actions. I am also no fan of Steve Alford. I do, however, get irritated by the unnecessary hits Alford has taken in regards to Pierre.

[Magnetic Curses]

if you start liking or disliking players based on their personal lives or decisions, you need to get a life.

 

Is it ok to not like Steve Alford for allowing a man convicted of rape to continue to play? This is a legitimate question.

 

And I liked Sammy when he was here, but he hurt nobody but himself with his actions in his latter years. My "sympathy meter" isn't bleeding for him.

 

the alford/pierce incident is totally different. rape and being perceived as lacking moral character are 2 different things.

 

i wasn't asking you to have sympathy for sammy. if he committed a heineous crime, i wouldn't want him on the team. he did nothing more than ruin some casual fan's dream of the altruistic superstar and the perfect clubhouse atmosphere. why should i care about that?

 

what i care about is the production he gave the cubs in the middle of the order.

 

It also depends on whether you believe Sammy hit his wife with that bottle many years ago.

 

And Sammy's production was fantastic. For that I'm grateful, but again, he has nobody to blame but himself for his perceived image.

 

that was a rumor. pierce was convicted twice in a court of law.

 

if i was sammy i would unapologetic about my past. he was paid to play baseball, not win congeniality awards. he seldom turned down autographs, was rarely rude to the press, gave a great show every day, played every day, and treated the RF fans very well. I remember going to several games in which he'd jet out to right field at the beginning of the game with a glove full of balls and then start lofting them into the bleachers.

 

the fans turned on him very quickly, and it's a damn shame.

 

Not to nitpick, but Pierce was never convicted of rape, and he was never convicted of any serious crimes TWICE while he was still on the team. He pled down a 3rd degree sexual abuse charge (deferred judgement) and was immediately dismissed from the team when he was still considered a suspect in his most recent arrest. Alford gave him a 2nd chance after Pierce was forced to sit for an entire season, and he responded with a lot of character by dismissing his best player before an arrest was ever made.

 

I am certainly not defending Pierce or his actions. I am also no fan of Steve Alford. I do, however, get irritated by the unnecessary hits Alford has taken in regards to Pierre.

 

i don't want to get into it over pierce. suffice it to say that the situiations are different.

[Chris]

<-----------appreciates Sosa, and is grateful for the things he did in a Cubs uniform.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/vance_the_cubs_fan/meandsammy_small.jpg

 

The good ole days!