Good bye Sammy Thread

[CubinNY]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-060215sosaretire,1,4278510.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

 

I know there is already a thread in transactions but I thought I'd start one here to talk about his career.

 

To me the beaning of Sammy was the watershed mark of his dissent into oblivian. He really was never the same player afterwords. I know it coincided with other injuries and possibly the withdraw of steriods as well.

 

I will always appreciate Sammy. He really was a gladeator.

[Houston_Cub_Fan]

Has there ever been a sports hero who fell so far so fast? For years, Sammy WAS the Cubs. Unfortunately adulaton created an ego that helped bring down a pretty good team (04) and a stellar career - his own. Does the good (98-02) outweigh the bad? In my mind, he's a HOFer, but his induction will be bittersweet.

[hardcorecubfan]

I expected more out of Sammy

[badgercub]

While I appreciate what he did for the Cubs, he will never get, nor does he deserve, the respect I have for guys like Ernie Banks, Ryne Sandberg, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins, who I believe will forever be known as the face of the Cubs.

[BeerHere]

I denied it for years, but I firmly believe that Sammy is a "me first" player. I totally love the guy for what he did for the Cubs, but he isn't bigger than the game or the team.

 

I for one, would kill to get paid $500K to play beisbol. That's his idea of begging.

 

:roll:

[treebird]

I for one, would kill to get paid $500K to play beisbol. That's his idea of begging.

 

:roll:

 

i think it's pretty obvious that that comparison isn't fair at all

[Southpaw191679666239]

To me the beaning of Sammy was the watershed mark of his dissent into oblivian. He really was never the same player afterwords.

 

http://www.thejasonmurphyshow.com/images/uploads/sammy_sosa.jpg

[rocket]

i love you sammy, bye

[Andy]

Reposting my farewell from the thread in Transactions.

 

Questions may exist about his character or his possible usage of performance enhancers, but I don't think there are many people who would dispute that, for his accomplishments alone, Sammy deserved a happier ending than this.

 

Sammy, I don't care about Game 162, or the cork incident (on which I wholeheartedly believe you) or the so-called "crappy" 2004 that so many players in baseball would have killed for, or the fact that you couldn't speak English at a court interrogation disguised as a Congressional hearing. The fact is that you were a huge part in me becoming a Cubs fan, and you carried me through many a crappy year in the late 90s - early 00s. And for that, I'll always be grateful. :)

[thedaymen]

I was actually planning on catching the Nats-Cubs in DC just to see Sammy get his cut at baseball's highest paid middle reliever, Kerry Wood.

 

I was never sold on Super Sammy but I was never sold on Steroid Sammy either. He was a great rf'er and the best player on the Cubs from 1994-2003. He should go in the hall and I bet the Cubs are retiring 21 before the Cubs are polishing their WS rings.

[Soul]

While I appreciate what he did for the Cubs, he will never get, nor does he deserve, the respect I have for guys like Ernie Banks, Ryne Sandberg, Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins, who I believe will forever be known as the face of the Cubs.

 

Sounds like Sammy never had much of a chance with you anyway then.

 

 

If that's your eternal face of the Cubs, then it's the eternal face of losers. Because none of those guys ever got the job done in terms of a Championship any more than Sosa did. Sosa put at least as much excitement into Wrigley as any of them. Too bad he didn't play in the '60s when the media didn't crawl around with cameras to expose every wart in your life.

 

I, for one, still hold out hope for this God-forsaken franchise to win. WIN. And if that ever did happen, those group of guys would supplant Ernie, Ryno, and Fergie......and yes, Sammy too.

[ThePenguin11]

meh. He's been dead to me since he corked his bat.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

After Sandberg's retirement, Sammy became my favorite player. He was the first player that my now 10-year old nephew could recognize. I still remember maybe 8 years ago when I showed my nephew who was maybe 2 yrs old the picture of me with Sosa, he responded..."It's Vance....with SAMMY!"

 

I remember on my first ever trip to Wrigley that Sammy belted 2 homeruns. I returned two days later to watch him hit two more, one of which landed on the rooftop which used to have the little house on it.

 

I remember the time Sammy waved to me from rightfield in the Astrodome as I cheered him amist a throng of heckling Astros fans.

 

There are many more memories as well. Sammy was a phenomenal player from those years of 1998-2002. I will miss him. I wish it had ended better, but with his retirement comes closure. I can now pull out my Sosa jerseys that I had put away last year and wear them with pride to Cubs games.

 

Sammy Sosa HOF Class of 2011.

[Andy]

Unfortunately, I only went to three Cubs games in my life that Sammy played in. One, in May 2000, Sammy hit a solo home run (his 10th of that season) and the Cubs lost to Pittsburgh 4-2.

 

One of the other two happened to be his disastrous 0-5, 4 K performance against San Diego on 8/12/04 which earned him a chorus of boos from the crowd, including my best friend who I was at the game with. I firmly remember refusing to open my mouth and boo.

 

Even with all the stuff he has done or allegedly done, the man has done too much for the Cubs, and for me, for me to dislike him.

[VicCub]

I saw Sammy in June of '92, pretty much right when he joined the club. He hit a HR to tie the game against the Pirates late in the game. Sandberg later hit the game winner.

 

It is too bad the two of them weren't teammates during their primes.

 

Thanks for the memories Sammy!

[sweetpeteman]

I went to a game in 98 against the Giants that he hit 56 (I believe) in. I was also at one against the Rockies in 01? where he hit 3 homers in a horrible lost. Then in 2003, I saw them in Baltimore just after the cork and saw him hit a double high off the center field wall that everyone thought was gone. I never believed that something like this would happen.

[Roast]

Fergie Jenkins.

 

Didnt he get in trouble for drugs or something?

 

 

 

Everyone knows I love sammy. Alot. Alot alot. But when it comes down to it, Sammy Sosa was the best offensive producer this team has ever seen. He played a large part in making the game we all love into what it is today. Sosa's 1998 season is most likely the sole reason I am a Cubs fan today. Sammy's list of accomplishments is astounding.

 

-Only player with back to back 60 HR seasons

-Only player with 3 60 HR seasons

-5th on all time HR list (Aaron, Ruth, Bonds, Mays, Sammy...good company, huh?)

- (most likely) Finishes his career only 12 HR shy of 600

-33rd on the All time RBI List

-32nd on the All time SLG% list

-Carried the entire cubs offense on his back in 98, took us to the playoffs

-Carried the dead corpse of a 2001 cubs team within inches of the playoffs

-2001 season is still one of the best single performances in baseball history

-1998 MVP

The list goes on.

 

Sadly, Sosa's legacy will be stained by the corked bat incident, and rumors of steroids. In all reality, his explination of the bat incident is very believable, especially since none of his other 70-some bats were corked. And those steroid rumors, are just that, rumors. The front page of espn today made me want to throw up "put a cork in him." Talking of how the $500,000 offer was a slap in the face to his huge ego and how he found it below him to even come back and try for 600.

 

Sad, because if he did come back, I can just immagine how many people would say its time for him to hang it up, and that he was only out to pad his career numbers, and his ego. Sorry espn, you probably wont have another milestone to chase, i guess thats more time for you to stay in Jeters jock.

 

But for me, there are a million things about Sammy I'll never forget. For one, I was at the game in 1999 where he hit his 60th HR, I had a HUGE sign reading something along the lines of "Hey sammy, give me a birthday Blast with #60", he saw me waving the sign and did his famous little chest tap finger kiss thing to me. Awesome.

 

Another would be when he tied big mac with 62 in 98.. chips call "MOVE OVER BIG MAC, YOU'VE GOT COMPANY" still gives me chills.

 

His hop after every homerun, an ego trip its not, plenty of players do something similar, hell, Lee does it, his was just so memorable. So Sammy.

 

For me though, those all come in a distant second to this:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v429/KingJME/sosa_zoom.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v429/KingJME/sosa_flag.jpg

 

In the first game after the Sept 11 attacks in 2001, he ran onto the field in typical sammy fashion, only this time, he had an american flag and ran out holding it up, and after his first hr, he rounded the bases with the flag. That was my favorite sammy moment ever. So amazing.

[soccer10k]

If that's your eternal face of the Cubs, then it's the eternal face of losers. Because none of those guys ever got the job done in terms of a Championship any more than Sosa did.

 

Until the Cubs win a World Series, you can't judge their players based on that at all. I do agree that at one point Sammy was the face of the franchise but he threw that away with the corked bad incident, leaving early on the last day of the year, and not volunteering to move down in the order to help the team.

 

Sosa should be, and will be, remembered for his titanic blasts and the Home Run chase in 1998 that captivated the nation. But he should be remembered for the negatives also. Even if you don't count the steroids because nothing has been proved, you still have to remember the other things because they are facts.

 

Sammy did give the Cubs a number of good years. On the outside he was somebody who was just having fun but on the inside he was a prima donna that only cared about himself. He kept that on the inside until the end of his career when his skill started to diminish.

 

I will remember Sammy for all of this.

[Roast]

he was a prima donna that only cared about himself.

 

Which is exactly why he won the 1999 Jackie Robinson Humanitarian award for his work in his home country of the Dominican Republic after Hurricanes destroyed it. Right?

 

Look at the pictures I posted above, and then try to honestly write that ignorant trash again.

 

Everyone knows Sammy had an ego. But idiotic statments like "he only cared about himself" are totally untrue and uncalled for.

 

And honestly, can we all just stop with the "beisbol has ben berry berry good tu me" stuff. Okay, so the man speaks poor english, thats what happens when you are born and raised in another country. When people resort to bashing sammy because of his thick accent it not only shows an extreme ammount of ignorance, but its pretty telling of the fact that they just dont like him, and need something to bash him about.

[Andy]

Roast, that was an awesome post with the pictures. The US flag thing is one of my most fond memories about Sammy.

 

Peteman, I remember that 2001 Rockies game because I went to Six Flags Great America with my best friend that day and when we got back, we saw Sammy on Going, Going, Gone on BBTN having hit three homers (that was incidentally his 2nd of 3 three-homer games that year, yet another record) and instantly thought the Cubs had won easily, only to find out five minutes later that they'd lost something like 14-5.

 

In my biased mind Sammy could've been the MVP in 2001 when he put up a .328-64-160 line, set his career high in walks and OBP, and took a Cubs team that had no business contending (more on that below) to within an inch of the playoffs. While Barry Bonds had a statistically better year, I felt his team was much more talented, with then-defending MVP Jeff Kent protecting him in the lineup.

 

Of the Cubs' 2001 team:

- Sammy was one of two Cubs to post a .300 average (Bill Mueller was the other, but only played 70 games)

- Sammy was the only one with an OBP above .371

- Unbelievably, he was the only one with a SLG above .560! (McGriff only played 37 games with the Cubs, and 3rd on the list was Rondell White with .529, but he only played 95 games)

- Sosa, Eric Young and Ricky Gutierrez were the only ones to get over 500 ABs (showing how injury-riddled and iffy this team was)

- Sammy was the only one to score 100 runs (EY had 98 to take 2nd)

- Sammy led the team in triples (5-4 over EY)

- Sammy was the only one with more than 17 homers (Stairs and White had 17)

- Sammy was the only one with more than 66 RBIs (Gutierrez)

- Sammy was the only one with more than 52 BBs (Stairs)

- Sammy was IBB'd 37 times. The rest of the team was IBB'd 35 times.

- Sammy's OPS was 1.174 (.086 more than DLee in 2005)

 

Pitching:

- Kerry Wood was the only Cub starter under 3.80 ERA

- Jon Lieber was the only Cub to post 200 IP

- Wood was the only Cub pitcher to post 200 K's

- Cub pitchers that made more than 15 relief appearances: Mike Fyhrie, Ron Mahay, Manny Aybar, Dave Weathers, Courtney Duncan, Juan Cruz, Felix Heredia, Todd Van Poppel, Kyle Farnsworth, Jeff Fassero and Tom Gordon. Of these, only three (Mahay, Farnsworth and Van Poppel) managed sub-3.00 ERAs, every Cub reliever that pitched 20 innings or more allowed at least 4 home runs

- Only Lieber, Tavarez, Wood, Van Poppel, Cruz and Aybar managed to win more games than they lost

 

 

I could probably do this for 1998 and come up with similarly pathetic teammate results, but the point is that in not one, but two seasons, Sammy Sosa took a team that should not have even had a winning season and made them postseason contenders. Not many guys can say that.

[Soul]

If that's your eternal face of the Cubs, then it's the eternal face of losers. Because none of those guys ever got the job done in terms of a Championship any more than Sosa did.

 

Until the Cubs win a World Series, you can't judge their players based on that at all.

 

That makes little sense. What are you trying to say? Players shouldn't be judged on their performance? Or is it just Cub players----because we suck year after year? Sandberg and Jenkins get a pass for failing to win because we have nothing else to fall back on?

 

Bullpucky. No Cub team has gotten the job done. And that's just a fact. The players deserve their share of blame. Bottom line. And if a Cub team ever *DID* win it all, then those players immediately supplant the failures as the face of the franchise.

[Chocolate Milk]

I agree that Sammy's retirement is being overly criticized in the media. It seems to be a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" kind of thing.

 

My true feelings are that once the smoke clears, Sammy's legacy won't be a particularly a good one. I feel, right or wrong, he'll be looked at as the textbook steroid era player. A few mind boggling years followed by falling off the face of the earth. The articles being written about him right now, certainly lead me to believe this will be the case.

[Scott G. F.]

I miss Sammy Sosa and he will be in the HOF mark my words. Sosa made the 1998 season what it was, if you remember how he calmed Big Mac down from being a jaskass and enjoying "the run". the corked things wasn't a big deal nor was him leaving early on games 162. Was it wrong? yeah it was but we were all frustrated at the time and Sosa was getting the blame, which at the time should have been Dusty's and Hawkins.

I'm with roast on this one. Sammy was great for the Cubs and for those that poke holes in the man and his career. Enjoy it to no real end.

[Butterscup1679666578]

Sammy will always be one of my top two favorite Cubs, there is no doubt about that. If it wasnt for him, there wouldn't have been a reason to watch the Cubs for most of the 90s. He helped change the game, he was hands down one of the most exciting players of the past 20 years. I don't care about the corked bat, I don't care about the steroid assumptions, I don't care about him leaving during the last game in 2004. To me, Sammy will always be that smiling guy who loved to play the game, sprinted out to right field, and hopped after he blasted them on to Waveland. Thank you for the memories Sammy, but I still hope that you find a team so you can hit 600.

[Magnetic Curses]

one day " 21" should be flying down the right field line. he was the most productive cub player ever, like him or not.

 

he gave his freaking heart and soul to this franchise for 13 years. he charged out of that dugout into right field for probably most of the life-spans of many here on this board.

 

i understand that there will be ingrates everywhere, you just can't please some people, no matter what kind of show you put on. make no mistake--sammy gave it all to the fans. he deserves better.