The 600-home run plateau has been reached by only four players in major-league history. Yet somehow, one player is fast approaching that mark with less fanfare than an episode of 30 Rock. If it is possible to make an under-the-radar assault on 600 homers, then that's what Sammy Sosa is doing. The hop-happy Rangers slugger is at 597 and counting heading into Thursday's game against the Devil Rays.
Many of us -- myself included -- dismissed his signing this spring as a public relations gambit by a Texas ballclub that has never won a playoff series and isn't likely to in the near future. Get juice wherever you can, right? (Perhaps in more ways than one.) Hence the signing of Sosa, who if nothing else brought a good deal of publicity to Rangers camp this spring.
But something happened on the way to Sosa's ignominious swan song. He started raking. He leads Rangers regulars in slugging percentage (.530) and ranks second on the club in home runs with nine, trailing only the hot-starting second baseman Ian Kinsler (10). And this is without Sosa taking advantage of the Rangers' launching pad of a ballpark -- his road OPS (1.148) more than doubles his home OPS (.532). How surprising is Slammin' Sammy's resurgence? Consider that Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA, the most reliable player-prediction system, had him down for a meager .385 slugging percentage this season, which is basically what he did for Baltimore in 2005 before taking a year off.
Thanks largely to Sosa, the Rangers are a respectable fourth in the AL in runs scored at 4.73 per game despite the fact that they sport a miserable excuse for an American League starting outfield; Brad Wilkerson-Kenny Lofton-Nelson Cruz do anything for you? (The pitching, of course, is as bad as ever, ranking 13th in the league in runs allowed and keeping the Rangers mired comfortably in last place, 7 1/2 games out.)
Critics and cynics alike can say Sosa's successful comeback wouldn't be possible without some type of chemical enhancement. Perhaps they are correct. Maybe Sosa was going to get those last 12 home runs to reach 600 either by hook or by cork, er, crook. There is no test for Human Growth Hormone, which means Sosa and anybody else who feels like it can take as much HGH as he wants. It's possible that there is a new, unknown designer drug that is a potent successor to THG. All we do know for sure is that the drugs that supposedly fueled the late 1990s power binge can be ruled out; hardcore steroids, such as deca durabolin and Winstrol (Rafael Palmeiro's downfall), and the cream and the clear (THG) are all being tested for by MLB. Maybe it's not the most encompassing of tests as far as offseason testing or whatever, but any player taking those substances now would be a fool to risk detection.
The bigger question has more to do with how Sosa's return to form jibes with our lingering disillusionment of the 1998 Home Run Race and The Steroid Era in general. I mean, it was a fraud, right? It was in the papers and everything. We're supposed to feel guilty for having cheered Sammy and Big Mac all summer long while they pursued Roger Maris' record of 61 home runs, right?
But with every blast Sosa launches, he disturbs the widespread perception of The Steroid Era (capital letters). We've painted a lot of players from the same time frame with the same broad brush as cheaters. And maybe they were cheating. But maybe there were other factors, too (i.e. expansion, smaller stadiums, lively baseballs, bad pitching, etc.) that had a lot to do with it. At what point do we stop revising history and start giving Sosa and Barry Bonds credit for what they are doing right now under a different set of conditions?
Deanna Clover
Esti Ginzberg
Did You See That?
Best Players 6-5 and Under
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I drafted Sammy in my roto league, and was kicking myself after the draft for my foolishness. Shhh. Don't tell anybody. I'm claiming prescience, now.
Here's a related post from my FanNation blog, Troy O'Leary's Cow, discussing steroids and Mark McGwire's snub by the Hall of Fame voters. I think you and your readers will enjoy it:
[copy and paste in your address line; I don't think hyperlinking works in the comments, but I'll try, below the address, here:]
http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/4971
<a href="http://www.fannation.com/blogs/post/4971">link to steroid post</a>
Howard Camerik
Weston, FL
Total Comments (123)
Love the column and I have to admit (although I hate it) that with every home run Bonds blasts out of the park my disgust for him shrinks a little bit. I mean come on, say he hits 40-50 homers this year? I'm going to HAVE to start beleiving (maybe just slightly) that there is the slimmest possibility that he didn't knowingly cheat. As a diehard D'backs fan that is totally hard for me to say...
'01 Champs
Payson , AZ
Total Comments (57)
01 Champs - Um...the whole point is that he's *still* cheating. Most guys are. Some guys shrunk right away, probably all the guys on THG. For people not to realize that there's a BALCO in Chicago, a BALCO in NY, and a BALCO in so many other major cities is simply ignorant. There are probably several different designer steroids available to these guys as well.
How come no one pointed out that Palmeiro threw Tejada under the bus by saying he got B-12 from Tejada. B-12 is known lingo (of sorts) for steroids. Andy Pettite got a free pass as well. Why? Because he's a good guy? And I'm a Yankee fan.
waleadesmail
New York , NY
Total Comments (1)
Is it really cheating if steroids were not banned by MLB when players took them?
69Mets
Total Comments (168)
Yes, it is cheating. The use of steroids, when not properly prescribed, is banned simply because they are a controlled substance. Remember,then commissioner Uebberoth suspended and fined a dozen players in he '80's cocaine scandal, even though cocaine use was not specifically banned in baseball.
cubfan1982
Greencastle , IN
Total Comments (1)
Steroids or not, Sammy's ability to drive the ball stems from his willingness to go with the ptich and drive it to right field. His last few years in Chicago and the one year in Baltimore, he was trying to pull the ball too much and became victimized with sliders down and away. This was a big difference between Sammy prior to 1998 and after 1998. The scouting report was that if you kept the ball down and away he would get himself out. That same slider from 1998 to about 2002 was a pitch he would drill to right field.
I am not saying that I don't think Sammy took steroids. He more than likely did and could be taking some sort of designer steroid now. I am a huge Cub fan and watched Sosa closely for pretty much his entire career. What I have seen of him this season is that willingness to go to right field more. It is too bad he could not figure that out sooner. He may have a better relationship with Chicago than he does now.
gnjaxon
Fort Wayne , IN
Total Comments (9)
I have always thought that we don't give the hitters of the steroid era enough credit. After MLB "officially" banned steroid use, most of the players caught using have been pitchers. It seems like more pitchers then hitters are using steroids. If that's the case, the steriod era probably created just as many if not more great pitchers as great hitters. So why are he so focused on the hitters? Maybe some of the hitters deserve some credit for being able to hit off the juiced pitchers.
N/****
Nutley , NJ
Total Comments (22)
You are right on gnjaxon. I went to D-Ray Texas game Wed., and I saw Samy just go with an outside pitch and hit an easy home run to right field. It wasn't a monster bomb, but you knew it right off the bat. He another ball hard to right earlier in the game. His swing looks good, and there were more cheers than boos. In person you can tell that he is alot smaller than he used to be. So, if he using some other kind of juice, it must not be the kind that bulks you up. Fun to see him play. BTW the D-Rays have some young stud position players. Upton made a play from 2nd base in short left field, best defensive play I've see, and he made it look easy. Dukes and Young are going to be great too!
phins13
Orlando , FL
Total Comments (5)
HGH is a beautiful thing!
Muffie
Vernon Hills , IL
Total Comments (27)
No credit can be given to Bonds, Sosa, Palmeiro, Giambi, McGwire, etc... until we can be certain that HGH isn't the new roids. No test? No problem! Right? Right Bud Selig?
All of these guys hide behind the "I never failed a test" smokescreen. Of course they never failed a test (ooops Palmeiro), they didn't test when most of them were juicing. So they are telling the truth when they say, "I never failed a test." That truth will never obscure an even greater truth. None of them has said, "I never took steroids, or HGH in my life. Period." Oops, there's that Palmeiro chap again.
No test? No credit. After HGH gets a test, they'll be on to something else. Criminals, cheaters, and lowlifes always seem to be a step ahead of the good guys. Where is this generations Eliot Ness?
Zwitek
Berkeley , CA
Total Comments (1294)
No credit can be given to Bonds, Sosa, Palmeiro, Giambi, McGwire, etc... until we can be certain that HGH isn't the new roids. No test? No problem! Right? Right Bud Selig?
All of these guys hide behind the "I never failed a test" smokescreen. Of course they never failed a test (ooops Palmeiro), they didn't test when most of them were juicing. So they are telling the truth when they say, "I never failed a test." That truth will never obscure an even greater truth. None of them has said, "I never took steroids, or HGH in my life. Period." Oops, there's that Palmeiro chap again.
No test? No credit. After HGH gets a test, they'll be on to something else. Criminals, cheaters, and lowlifes always seem to be a step ahead of the good guys. Where is this generations Eliot Ness?
Zwitek
Berkeley , CA
Total Comments (1294)
If you say that there's a new way out there to get juiced without being tested for it, what stops not-steroid-era sluggers to take it too? Why Sosa, Bonds, Palmeiro are treated like cheaters and everybody seems to suppose that A-Rod, Pujols, Manny and Ortiz are all clean?
Huido
Total Comments (8)
Lets face it; it seems that most players were (are?) most likely on some sort of so called "performance enhancing" drug. Roger Clemens, Boston gave up on him and all of a sudden he wins 2 Cy Young with Toronto? Still going very strong at the young age of 45...
Whenever the steroid era began, the only thing we can be certain of is that Sosa, Bonds, McGwire, Clemens were above and beyond most of the players of their era playing in a field were everyone went to the same pharmacist.
Stop trying to blame the whole steroid issue on Bonds - I don't care if he is the one about to break the home run record. Its called the steroid era because everyone was doing it.
ElPesao
Hollywood , FL
Total Comments (2)
Sosa, Bonds, Palmeiro are treated like cheaters because they are the face of the Steroid Era. The biggest and brightest stars always pay the heftiest price because of their fame and stature within the game. No one cares about the Grimsley's of the world, because no one cares about the Grimsley's anyway. Bonds gets the attention because he's the brightest
Palmeiro IS a cheat. Bonds also used amphetamines (failed test, no denial), and acknowledged (unknowingly) using the cream and the clear under oath in a court proceeding. Sosa, while being called before Congress for a reason, at the very least has honesty issues with his corking of bats, and his size change over the years is circumstantial evidence, which is enough to raise doubt.
A-Rod, Pujols, Manny, and many, many others are also tainted by the actions of their coworkers. HGH still isn't tested for, and they are guilty by association in my book. No one is off the hook yet, history will tell who is clean, and who isn't.
Zwitek
Berkeley , CA
Total Comments (1294)
For me the steroids era is a dark stain that will linger for quite awhile. But it does seem that baseball is coming back to earth a bit. Pitchers seem to be doing much better these days and I don't think it is because they are necessarily better. The saddest part of the steroids era is that as fans we feel duped. The homers felt too good to be true and they were. Can we eliminate the records? Of course not. We can only say that the whole era was tainted. Time to move on and keep the drug tests coming. Perhaps this is one good reason not to care about stats so much and enjoy the game for what it is.
manamana
Total Comments (2)
Pujols? When did he come into this?
Arcadia
Total Comments (4)
"Is it really cheating if steroids were not banned by MLB when players took them?"
I just love this moronic 'logic.' Did you know that murder is not specifically banned by MLB? That's right, it is 'only' illegal according to US Federal and State laws. MLB has never felt the need to duplicate every law on the books in the MLB Rulebook...because those things ARE ALREADY ILLEGAL, just like steroids. Why should MLB need to put in rules specifically banning things that are against the LAW already? Law supercedes the rules of any sport.
To demonstrate the stupidity of the "there was no rule against steroids in baseball" argument, how is this one: if Alex Rodriguez had stabbed Bronson Arroyo while running down the first base line, rather than just slapping the ball out of his glove, that would have been OK and he would have been awarded 1st base because MLB has no rule against stabbing another player on the field. Brilliant!
I wish these steroid apologists would just go away. Or at least go back to their dingy basements and continue injecting themselves with the stuff so that we can be sure they will not reproduce.
ws19
Total Comments (248)
sammy is off the roids now. he's at least 20 lbs lighter than he was with the cubs. His swing is a lot slower than it ever was, too.
i have a sammy sosa baseball card from his first stint with the rangers (1989). sosa is listed at 5' 11" 175 lbs. 2003? Sosa was listed at 6'0" 220. i wonder what he's listed at now?
Erxxxleben
New Orleans , LA
Total Comments (1)
all you whiny little babies, when will you realize everyone took something of one sort or another. but all anyone cares about is Bonds or Sosa, u think Roger Clemens never took anything, Tony Gwynn admitted taking greenies and he is Mr. Clean himself. So why is it cheating when one person performs better than another or takes somethig a little different. How do you all know Hank Aarron never took amphetamines? or even Babe Ruth, he played in the 1920's and during WWI all the soldiers were "juiced" up. Bonds didnt cheat anymore than anyone else its just because of his personality that he is the "cheater" of the bunch
philliesfansincetyle…
Mount Royal , NJ
Total Comments (1)
Actually Bonds is the focus not because of his skin color, or his attitude, or his demeanor, or his personality. Bonds is the focus because he is the "best" player in Baseball.
The Mets have players in their system that are seemingly routinely given 50 gamers for performance enhancers, but no one pays much attention because no one has ever heard of those guys.
Grimsley only got attention because he sang like a canary, and because of who he associated with. If he didn't have a tune that people were already humming, no one would've cared. Most still don't because he's merely Grimsley.
Bonds is the face of the Steroids scandal, because of his involvement with BALCO. For his involvement with a trainer (convicted of distribution) that is in jail for contempt of court for his refusal to explain Barry's doping calendars. For his involvement with Victor Conte who was convicted of distributing STEROIDS. For being the single season Home Run King. For closing in on perhaps the most hallowed individual record in all of sports.
This is why everyone focuses on Barry. If Clemens was approaching the most hallowed records for a pitcher, you can bet we'd all be asking harder questions, but right now, there is no bigger player in MLB (seriously, no pun intended) than Barry Lamar Bonds. So Bonds gets the heat. Rightly so in my opinion.
The best, and most famous always get the most adulation on their way up, and the most kicks when they fall from grace.
Zwitek
Berkeley , CA
Total Comments (1294)
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