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Sammy Sosa

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Sammy Sosa
Texas Rangers – No. 21
Designated Hitter
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
debut
June 16, 1989, for the Texas Rangers
Career statistics
(through September 9, 2007)
AVG.273
HR607
RBI1658
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams

Samuel "Sammy" Sosa Peralta (born November 12 1968 in San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic) is a designated hitter for the Texas Rangers of the American League. His Major League career began when he broke in with the Texas Rangers in 1989. In the intervening years, he has played for the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs and Baltimore Orioles.[1] He ended the 2005 season with 588 career home runs, placing him fifth on the all-time home run list. Sosa sat out the 2006 season; in early 2007, however, he signed with the Rangers in a comeback attempt and made the team as its 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 non-American Major League Baseball players.

Early Major League career

Sosa made his major league debut on June 21, 1989 with the Texas Rangers, and he hit first career home run off of 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. 

Herepe

Career after the Chicago Cubs

2005

Sosa in spring training with the Orioles in 2005.

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. Sosa had worn his welcome in Chicago after requesting to sit out the final game vs. Atlanta in 2004, and then was caught by security cameras leaving Wrigley Field early in the game. Sosa then attempted to deny this had taken place, and thus began a fiasco that was a huge topic in the Chicago media, until Sosa was finally dealt. To facilitate the deal, Sosa and his agent agreed to waive the clause that guaranteed his 2006 salary, and the players' union indicated it would not 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, with 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 his 500 home run marks.

Sosa had a modest start to the season, which was followed by slumps during mid-season. His trademark home run hop (which once signaled a sure home run) was now followed by mostly a lot of long fly ball outs. The slumps caused then Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli to drop Sosa as low as the 7th spot in the lineup. When Sosa's slump continued, Sosa was benched

Sosa finished the 2005 season batting .233 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 did not 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.[1]

2006

At the end of January 2006, the Washington Nationals offered Sosa two different minor-league offers, both of which he turned down, seeming to settle into retirement. On February 15, 2006, Sosa's agent Adam Katz stated: "We're not going to put him on the retirement list. We decided that [not putting him on that list] was the best thing to do. But I can say, with reasonable certainty, that we've seen Sammy in a baseball uniform for the last time."[2] In 2006 Sosa accompanied President Fernandez of the Dominican Republic to several diplomatic trips including U.S., Japan and Taiwan.

2007

File:Sammy Sosa Texas Rangers.jpg
Warming up at a 2007 Cincinnati Reds/Texas Rangers game.

On January 30, 2007 the Texas Rangers, Sosa's original team, signed him to a minor league deal worth $500,000, 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.[3] Sosa had a great 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 July 21, 2007, Sosa was hit in the head with a pitch by Cliff Lee on 'Sosa Celebration Night'.

600 Homers

On June 20, 2007, Sosa homered in the 5th inning off of 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 Cubs remained the only team Sosa had not hit a home run against in his career prior to his 600th. Sosa is the Cubs all-time home run leader with 545 home runs in a Cubs uniform. When Sosa hit his 600th homer off of Jason Marquis of the Cubs, he became the first player in history to have a home run against every baseball team.

References

  1. ^ a b Sammy Sosa career stats. Baseball-reference.com. Accessed 2007-06-05.
  2. ^ Jayson Stark (February 16, 2006). Sosa passes on Nats; likely to end career. ESPN.com. Accessed 2007-06-05.
  3. ^ T. R. Sullivan (January 17, 2007). Sosa, Rangers agree in principle to deal. MLB.com. Accessed 2007-06-05.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sammy Sosa.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Sammy Sosa.
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