The Many Faces Of Sosa

Fresh faced rookie

Speedy strikeout king

Raging monster

Aging hipster

Token white guy

A Little Commentary About Sammy Sosa

When I chose Sammy Sosa's 1992 Score card for my card of the week on June 5, 2009, it was mostly because of his retirement announcement. I had a gut feeling that something bigger was on the horizon. I thought that if there was anything on Sosa, this would be the perfect time to spring it.

On June 16, 2009, word "leaked" that Sammy Sosa had failed a drug test in 2003. If five percent or more of the players failed the test, then a permanent testing policy could be put into place. When this was first announced, the majority of the White Sox members voted to boycott the test. The thinking was that a refusal resulted in a positive test. Frank Thomas and many others were ready to make that sacrifice in order to force a testing policy to be a part of baseball.

The team was talked out of the boycott and no player, to my knowledge, refused to take the test. The agreement was that whoever tested positive would be kept anonymous. Any time that there is potentially explosive information like this, you know it's going to eventually leak.

Since Jose Canseco's books have been published, there has been slow trickles of information bubbling to the surface. I'm of the opinion to let the floodgates open and whoever else is on the list is out of luck. The still unnamed players have had six years to come forward. That is an ample amount of time to get their affairs in order and face the music.

Will this list be the end of speculation from this era? Certainly not. This is just from one test. We will never know how many players took any banned substances before 2003. The clean players who put up fantastic numbers are the ones who are suffering the most. Players like Frank Thomas, Jim Thome and Ken Griffey Jr. put up great numbers during this time. While I'm almost positive that none of those players cheated, they are now under suspicion because of the years that they played.

I can never be 100% certain about anyone who had career years during that time. That, I think, is the real tragedy of the steroid era. The players who deserve the accolades will never properly get them. There will always be a lingering doubt.

In my Sosa post on June 5th, I danced around the issue of Sammy's drug use. There has been plenty of speculation, but no hard evidence until now. I grew up rooting for Sammy. Since one of my favorite players was traded to acquire him, I wanted him to succeed. If only to justify the trade of a fan favorite.

Now that the truth has finally come out about Sammy Sosa, am I glad? No. I made my peace with what he was accused of doing a long time ago. I don't feel sorry for him. He knew exactly what he was getting into. I don't buy his non-English speaking act either. He spoke English well enough when he was the toast of the North Side of Chicago.

I feel sorry for the fans. They shelled out a lot of money on Sosa merchandise. They bought tickets through ticket brokers with inflated prices just to see him. Little kids trusted Sammy Sosa. They idolized him. I watched kids' heads bop up and down following Sosa's hop when he hit another long one. I watched ladies of all ages try to catch one of Sammy's kisses, when he was rounding the bases.

I feel sorry for the clean players, whoever they may be. Most of them were faced with a great moral dilema. Either go with the flow or possibly be out of a job. I applaud those players who decided to fight cleanly for their jobs. It couldn't have been easy in some clubhouses. In other clubhouses, I'm sure it wasn't as hard.

Hours after the news broke, I heard Lou Piniella talk his way out of his responsibility as a manager to know what was going on with his team. If I'm not mistaken, he referred to not knowing the difference between a steroid and a reefer. That doesn't exactly leave me brimming with confidence that he ran a clean clubhouse in Seattle or in Tampa Bay.

Joe Torre also danced around the issue when asked about Manny Ramirez the other day on the Tonight Show. He spoke candidly with Conan, but it seemed awfully guarded at the same time. Not that I blame him for feeling uncomfortable about the issue. Manny's problem came this year, not six years ago.

I wish that whoever is the source of these leaks would release all of the names left on the list. There is absolutely no reason to prolong it any longer. Let's get past this and hopefully move on. It's easy enough to blame Jose Canseco for the wide use of these drugs, but it's not the cause for any player who has tested positive. Every player made their own decision to take drugs. No one forced players at gunpoint to take anything.

I can be easier on the players who admitted to taking banned substances, but that doesn't make them less guilty. All that shows is that they are willing to take responsibility for their own actions. Some players refuse to do that. They are the game's biggest shame. Players like Jose Canseco aren't innocent either. They choose to name names for their own gain. That's helping, somewhat, but it's not an action that should be rewarded.

Shame on you, Sammy Sosa. Shame on you for pretending to be something you're not. Shame on you for lying to adoring fans. Shame on you for setting a bad example for the children. Shame on you for lying to congress by saying that you never used "illegal performance-enhancing drugs," have never "injected myself or had anyone inject me with anything," and have not "broken the laws of the United States or the laws of the Dominican Republic."

You, Sammy, are a disgrace to the game. Your years of denial only further tarnish your crafted image. While there is no possible way to erase your misdeeds from the box scores, I can only hope that you are calmly waiting to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame for eternity.

Card Spotlight 12-21-07

While looking through cards on eBay, I ran across this card of Sammy Sosa. All I have to say is, what the hell is going on with the hair? It seems to be escaping off the top of his head. To be fair, if I was Sammy's hair and had to live with him every day, I'd want to escape too.

I guess Sammy was trying to be stylish for his Sears portrait. The fade and the poofy hair were laughable back then. Now, it just looks like he was smoking something he found on the side of the road. Maybe that explains that goofy grin he's displaying. I guess this was before any steroids. Sorry, alleged steroids. He looks thin, scraggly and goofy.

I can still remember the joke he was when he was patrolling right field at Comiskey Park II. The bored fans around me would spell out his name and shout wake up to him. To his credit, he didn't respond and kept his eye on the game. When you have White Sox fans turn on you, you know you're in real trouble if you are on the White Sox at the time.

Shortly after this, Sammy would be traded to the North Side for George Bell. Sammy went on to world-wide fame a few years later and would forget how to speak English when in a jam and George Bell would be pumping gas in the Dominican Republic a few years later. That trade was truly a crossroads. A career not yet started and a career in the limelight, soon to fall.

I always thought the Studio cards were cool and different. They were usually something you didn't see in other card releases at the time. This card just reminds me of how much Sammy really sucked when he was on the White Sox. Sure, he had his moments, but for the most part his time would be forgettable on the South Side.

Jose Can You See The 206

I've voiced strong opinions about *alleged steroid users in the past few days. I'll tell you this... I have no problem with Jose Canseco. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he's a saint. He's not. He made a mistake and he was man enough to own up to it.

I know what you're thinking. Canseco is alright in your book because he was with the White Sox. Sammy Sosa was with the Sox for many early years. I don't give Sosa a free pass. He never admitted it. Jose did. Even though he named names in his book, it was the last straw that forced MLB to finally look at the problem instead of pretending it would go away.

I've done everything from admire Jose to laugh at him during his first 15 years in the majors. I loved watching him hit homers. I cringed when he tried to pitch and ended up injuring himself in the process. I laughed when the fly ball hit his head and bounced over the wall for a home run. Yes, I've followed his career long before he ever considered putting a White Sox uniform on.

That being said, on to cards! I didn't really get back into baseball cards full time until this year. I picked up a few White Sox sets here and there the past few years, but never got into a lot of the releases that came out. To be honest, I never knew most of them existed. So, when I run across something I've never seen before, it's like a brand new release to me.

A few months ago, I came across Topps 206 while I was investigating White Sox tobacco cards on eBay. I thought I might be able to pick up one or two relatively cheap. I haven't found a good deal at the same time that I have money to spend... yet. But there these cards were. They intrigued me, so I picked up a full White Sox team set. The fact that Jose Canseco and Tom Seaver were part of the set instantly hooked me. I'm always looking for Canseco cards of his time with the White Sox. The only one I had really seen up to that point was a Donruss card.

When the set arrived, I was not disappointed. They are simply beautiful cards. They remind me a bit of the 2007 Bowman Heritage set. Very striking imagery. It seemed like slight overkill that Maggs had 3 cards, but that's OK. I can live with that. The cards remind me of artwork where markers are the medium. It sounds like it shouldn't work, but the results are beautiful.