Sosa retiring

[omicron]

Story (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2332063)

Ok the guy is actually 5th(!) on the alltime home run list. However, will he be remembered as a great slugger, or as a bat-corker and steroid popper?

Omicron

[Adam54]

I'll most remember him for his magic ability to unlearn English when testifying in front of Congress.

[CaptPike]

I am a huge Cubs fan. Not a huge PLAYER fan. I don't follow players all around. In other words, I loved Sammy while he was a good player and good for the game. I didn't become an Orioles fan just because he went there. I'm a Cubs fan first.

Unfortunately, Sosa is forever tarnished. Unlike Bonds, he was never an all around player nor will he have the longevity. Beyond the maybe maybe not steroid issue, Sosa was caught red handed...cheating. Pure and simple. And his attitude towards the end was pathetic.

[DarkJedi]

Bonds isn't that much of a all around player either for that matter. His defense has been horrible for years now. He also technically is "on the record" with Grand Jury testimony no less about the use of steroids.

With Sammy, it's just rumor really and educated guesses. Good educated guesses.

The irony is Bonds is on the record here with steroids but he's getting in First Ballot. Mark M and Sammy S probably won't get in first ballot due to poor PR management.

[CaptPike]

I don't know man.......check out the stats!

http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bondsba01.shtml

Bonds could steal bases in his youth, big time. 506 lifetime. Lifetime .300 hitter, too. I guess I should say, better all around offensively.

Though Barry has about a 20 point higher lifetime fielding pct.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sosasa01.shtml

Sosa COULD have been great. But really, what's happened to him? Let's say both guys used steroids, not a stretch. Is Sammy just one of those unlucky guys who has started to break down from the abuse? I know Barry is breaking down but that could simply be age. Sosa was starting to lose it three years ago.

[DarkJedi]

It's almost like Sosa stopped taking the roids.

[CaptPike]

It's almost like Sosa stopped taking the roids.


I kept wondering about that when I watched him play. Could that be the story with many of the players who suddenly fell off the face of the Earth? Like Brett Boone? The guy denied all the rumors, of course. But I've never seen a production fall off from one season to the next like his. Can age alone account for some of these guys?

And therein lies the problem really. There will always be a question in our minds. In the past, you'd always just say..."age". Skills declining. Not now.