Sosa: Swing and a Miss
From the Cheap Seats
by Chris Hahn
By now we all know the story. Last week Sammy Sosa swung at a low outside switch and broke his bat. Minutes later he was ejected for the cork in the middle of his bat, and a week later it is still a hot topic.
We’ve heard from sport writers, former players, current players, and all kinds of sports analysts. But those of us in the cheap seats don’t need all those guys to tell us what we think. I’ve heard quite a bit from fellow cheap-seaters over the past week, so instead of listening to the experts, let’s share our point-of-view.
Spare us the story, Sammy. We like you, we really do. But we don’t buy the excuse that you just happened to accidentally picked up the corked bat. If that was the case, how many other times might you have done that over the past couple years? If you couldn’t tell this time, how can you say you could tell during hundreds of other at-bats?
Of course, we don’t believe that you’ve been using illegal bats for a while. Your record chase with McGwire was probably using solid lumber, but you were looking for an edge during the slump you’ve been in since getting hit in the head from a fastball earlier this season.
As for the guys who claim you are getting a raw deal because of your race, we barely have the patience to address that thought. Sure Mark McGwire didn’t get as much bad press during the Andro scandal, but then again Andro isn’t illegal…a corked bat is. We would have the same reaction if Mark had been caught with a rigged stick, so it’s an apples to oranges comparison. And forget the claim that 76 of your bats were x-rayed because Major League Baseball didn’t believe you—they did it to exonerate you. They helped prove that you weren’t a complete cheat. Had they left it at just the broken bat, there would be even more doubts.
As for the suspension, just take the eight games and get on with the season. We know you had to appeal so that you could play against the Yankees—the baseball world needed that matchup. But you shouldn’t get any fewer games that has become standard for a corked bat just because you are a superstar (just the same as you shouldn’t get any more because MLB wants to set an example). You were big enough to admit you were wrong when it happened, so prove it by taking the standard punishment. The sooner you do the time, the sooner your team gets you back in the middle of what is sure to become a pennant run.
Lastly, we still believe you are a Hall of Fame player. Of course, this incident will be a blurb in your bio, but not in the first line. It will be mentioned after your career home runs and a sentence about the classic duel with McGwire. You will have to accept it is something which with you have to live, but we’re a forgiving group. Prove to us that it was not the norm, and we’ll let it fade away.
And by the way, tell those racism-claiming guys to drop their nonsense and it will fade away that much quicker…