He must have done something bad that wasn't reported that burned serious bridges. The fans from what I've seen generally either want him welcomed back or are indifferent. He had a lot of warts, but I believe he had a net positive impact on the Cubs organization. He is not the biggest reason, but I think he is a small reason why the Cubs are a nationally relevant team, and an entire generation of fans who are now in their early-30's grew up idolizing Sammy. Yeah it makes no sense. He should be brought back and is an important part of the teams history, especially with a ton of current fans. Like you said, something bad/ridiculous must have happened sometime in 2004 that has never gotten out that he's been blacklisted. nah the most likely story is they hated him and Ricketts buys into the "shame" of steroids and whatnot. The holdovers still hate him, ricketts sees little upside in bringing him back and the new crew isn't wasting their time pushing for the other side.