CHICAGO — Legendary Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa returned to Wrigley Subject for the primary time in additional than 20 years Friday earlier than Chicago’s afternoon sport with the Seattle Mariners.
Sosa, who is about to be inducted into the Cubs’ group Corridor of Fame this yr, arrived on the iconic North Aspect ballpark in a black SUV. He was greeted by proprietor Tom Ricketts, who embraced him in a hug as he exited the automobile.
Sosa grew to become the face of the Cubs franchise the place he performed 13 seasons after coming in a commerce from the crosstown White Sox in March 1992. A seven-time All-Star, Sosa hit 545 homers in 1,811 video games with the Cubs and hit a franchise-record 66 in 1998 when he was named the NL’s MVP.
Sosa, now 56, performed his ultimate sport with the Cubs at Wrigley on Oct. 2, 2004, when he homered and had two hits in an 8-6 loss to Atlanta. Throughout his years with the Cubs, Sosa appeared to bulk up drastically and was a headliner in a technology of baseball’s greatest names linked to performance-enhancing medicine.
The Cubs traded him to Baltimore with money in February 2005 for 3 gamers.
Sosa appeared to acknowledge utilizing performance-enhancing medicine in December when he launched a press release saying he was sorry for errors, with out specifying them.
“There have been occasions I did no matter I may to get well from accidents in an effort to maintain my power as much as carry out over 162 video games,” he mentioned within the assertion. “I by no means broke any legal guidelines. However in hindsight, I made errors and I apologize.”
On Friday morning, Sosa posed for pictures with rising Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong outdoors the group’s clubhouse and a video confirmed Sosa embracing supervisor Craig Counsell in his workplace earlier than the sport.
The Cubs remained mum, nonetheless, on any ceremony or occasion earlier than or throughout Friday’s sport.
In Thursday’s 8-7 loss to Milwaukee, Crow-Armstrong went deep to set a brand new group file for reaching 20 homers and 20-plus stolen stolen bases the quickest, doing it in 73 video games. Sosa had the previous mark of 96, set in 1994.