Sammy Sosa Totally Explained

Everything about Sammy Sosa totally explained

Samuel Sosa Montero (born November 12 1968 in San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic) is a designated hitter and right fielder in Major League Baseball and is currently a free agent.
   Sosa's Major League career began when he broke in with the Texas Rangers in 1989. In the intervening years, he's played for the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs and Baltimore Orioles. He ended the 2005 season with 588 career home runs, placing him fifth on the all-time home run list. After sitting out the 2006 season, Sosa signed with the Rangers in a comeback attempt in early 2007, and he made the team as a designated hitter. While playing for the Rangers on June 20th, 2007 against the Cubs, his former team, Sosa hit his 600th home run, becoming the 5th player in professional baseball to achieve that mark. He is also the all-time home run leader among foreign-born Major League Baseball players.
   Sosa's alleged involvement in the era of Major League Baseball's steroid scandal has harmed his reputation. The 2007 Mitchell Report didn't name Sosa in its list of players identified in the course of the investigation, although Sosa was mentioned in a related affidavit by Federal Agent Jeff Novitzky dealing with the use of amphetamines.
   Sosa wears number 21 in honor of his childhood hero, Roberto Clemente.
   Sosa is known to family and friends as "Mikey". His maternal grandmother, who had suggested his birth name of Samuel, also came up with his nickname: "[She] heard the name on a soap opera she liked and decided from that moment on I'd be Mikey."
   Although his officially registered birthplace is San Pedro de Macorís, Sosa was actually born in Consuelo. San Pedro de Macorís was "the largest town nearby." Both Consuelo and San Pedro de Macorís are in San Pedro de Macorís Province.

Early Major League career

Sosa made his major league debut on June 16, 1989 with the Texas Rangers, and he hit first career home run off Roger Clemens. Later in the season, the Rangers traded Sammy to the Chicago White Sox. He played two full seasons for the White Sox and was traded, along with pitcher Ken Patterson, to the Chicago Cubs for outfielder George Bell before the 1992 season.

Career with the Chicago Cubs

After years as a respected power/speed threat with a rocket arm in right field, he emerged during the 1998 season as one of baseball's greatest. It was in this season that both Sosa and Mark McGwire passed Roger Maris's single season home run mark of 61 home runs that had stood since 1961. Sosa ended the season with 66, behind McGwire's 70. His 416 total bases were the most in a single season since Stan Musial's 429 in 1948. Sosa won the National League Most Valuable Player Award for leading the Cubs into the playoffs in 1998, earning every first-place vote except for the two cast by St. Louis writers, who voted for McGwire. He and McGwire shared Sports Illustrated magazine's 1998 "Sportsman of the Year" award. Sosa was honored with a ticker-tape parade in his honor in New York City, and he was invited to be a guest at US President Bill Clinton's 1999 State of the Union Address. 1998 was also the first time the Cubs made the post-season since 1989. The Cubs qualified as the NL Wild Card team, but were swept by the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS.
The following season Sosa hit 63 home runs, again trailing Mark McGwire who hit 65. Sosa, already a home run legend, finally led the league by hitting 50 home runs in the 2000 season.
In 2001 he hit 64 home runs, becoming the first player to hit 60 home runs in three seasons in his career. However, he didn't lead the league in any of those seasons; in 2001, he finished behind Barry Bonds, who hit 73 homers, breaking the single-season HR record set by McGwire in 1998 (70). In the same season he set personal records in runs scored (146), RBIs (160), walks (116), on base percentage (.437), slugging percentage (.737), and batting average (.328). Major League Baseball confiscated and tested 76 of Sosa's other bats after his ejection; all were found to be clean, with no cork. Five bats he'd sent to the Hall of Fame in past years were also tested, and were all clean as well. Sosa stated that he'd accidentally used the corked bat, which he claimed he only used during batting practice. On June 6, Sosa was suspended for eight games. However, the suspension was reduced to seven games after appeal on June 11.

Career after the Chicago Cubs

2005

The final straw for the Cubs appeared to be an incident in late 2004. Sosa requested to sit out the last game of the season, which was at home against Atlanta, and then left Wrigley Field early in the game. Sosa attempted to deny this, but had been caught by security cameras leaving Wrigley Field early in the game. On January 28, 2005, the Cubs traded Sosa to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for infielder/outfielder Jerry Hairston, Jr., infielder Mike Fontenot, and RHP Dave Crouthers. To facilitate the deal, Sosa and his agent agreed to waive the clause that guaranteed his 2006 salary, and the players' union indicated it wouldn't object to that agreement. Under the deal, Sosa earned $17,875,000 for the 2005 season, with the Cubs paying $7 million of his salary. By playing for the 2005 Orioles alongside fellow 500 home run hitter Rafael Palmeiro, Sosa and Palmeiro became the first 500 home run club members in history to play together on the same team after reaching the 500 home run plateau.
   After slumping throughout the season, Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli dropped Sosa as low as the 7th spot in the lineup and then eventually benched him. Sosa finished the 2005 season batting .221 with 14 home runs, his worst performance since 1992, and continuing his post-2001 trend of declines in batting average, homers, and RBI. On December 7, 2005, the Orioles decided not to offer him arbitration, effectively ending his Baltimore Orioles tenure and making him a free agent.
   In 2005, The Sporting News published an update of their 1999 book Baseball's 100 Greatest Players. Sosa didn't make the original edition, but for the 2005 update, with his career totals considerably higher, he was ranked at Number 95. Sosa had 9 consecutive years with 35+ home runs and 100+ RBIs, all with the Chicago Cubs.
   During this year, Sosa accompanied President Fernandez of the Dominican Republic on several diplomatic trips including U.S., Japan and Taiwan.

2007

The Texas Rangers, Sammy Sosa's original team, signed him to a minor league deal worth $500,000 on January 30, 2007. This was the same contract that Sosa turned down the previous year from the Nationals. The contract included an invitation to spring training, where Sosa competed for a spot in the lineup with Nelson Cruz, Jason Botts, and other rookies/prospects. Sosa was successful during spring training and was added to the team's 25-man roster. He started the 2007 season as the Rangers' designated hitter and occasional right fielder.
   On April 26, 2007, Sosa made history by hitting a home run in his 44th major league park. Sosa also homered in The Ballpark at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, a minor league park that hosted a regular season series between the Rangers and Tampa Bay Devil Rays in May of 2007.
   On June 20, 2007, Sosa homered in the 5th inning off a pitch by Jason Marquis in a game against the Chicago Cubs. Marquis also happens to wear the number 21 jersey formerly worn by Sosa himself. Sammy became only the fifth man in history, after Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth, and Willie Mays, to hit 600 home runs.
   The home run was the first Sosa had recorded against the Cubs, and as a result he'd hit a home run against every active MLB team. Sosa is the Cubs all-time home run leader with 545 home runs in a Cubs uniform.
   Sosa became a free agent after the season.

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