Sammy Sosa has spent most of his post-baseball career as an outcast.
When The New York Times revealed in 2009 that Sosa had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs six years prior, an asterisk was placed next to all of his accomplishments: his National League MVP Award in 1998, seven All-Star selections, six Silver Slugger Awards and 609 career home runs.
But after a 15-year period of exile away from the game, the Chicago Cubs have opened their arms to Sosa, with the possibility that he could have a more visible presence with the club moving forward.
Could Sosa throw a first pitch at Wrigley field in the near future?
Sosa was brought back into the franchise’s spotlight on Sunday, when he was inducted into the Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame alongside Derrek Lee.
According to The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney, the ceremony served as a reconciliation between Sosa and the Cubs, who shared a bitter relationship for the better part of the past decade-plus.
It also may have paved the way for Sosa to make more public appearances, as he did at the club’s Cubs Convention this summer and its spring training facility earlier in the year.
“Behind the scenes, Sammy Sosa has mended his relationship with the Cubs to the point where he was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame. After a 21-year absence from Wrigley Field that ended earlier this summer, the weekend ceremonies seemed to signal the conclusion to an awkward, ongoing saga,” Mooney wrote.
“While this still appears to be a feeling-out period between Sosa and the Cubs — the organization has almost completely turned over since his last game at the Friendly Confines in 2004 — it opens the possibility for ‘Slammin’ Sammy’ to throw out the first pitch before a playoff game or lead the seventh-inning stretch in October.”
Throwing the first pitch at a postseason contest would easily be the most notable appearance Sosa has made for the Cubs since he publicly apologized this winter for his involvement in MLB’s PED scandal, which formally mended the rift between both parties.
But it doesn’t matter what Sosa ultimately does for the franchise — he’s happy with whatever opportunities are presented to him.
“Let’s see what the future brings,” Sosa said, via Mooney. “I think it’s going to bring great things. I don’t want to go ahead and say something that I’m not supposed to. But I believe that I’m here now, you know? I’m happy just to contribute.”
