Please do it.....its about time, and what's this about not allowing his legacy to be stained.:laugh:
Sammy Sosa planning to announce formal retirement - ESPN
Sammy Sosa planning to announce formal retirement - ESPN
- Thread starter A.Hidalgo
- Start date
Sosa will soon retire....officially
You want to wait 5 years????
I'll tell you what, lets wager on what Ortiz's average will be by the end of 2 weeks. Above or below 200. I say below.
Sosa should be in the HOF.
He has the numbers and he's never been implicated in any steroids scandal.
If one is going to associate him with the steroids era and punish him for that, let's have a little perspective on the situation.
He became a great ambassador for the game and was partly responsible for bringing it back to life after the 1994 strike.
His immigrant rags-to-riches story, the ultimate model of the American Dream, was used by baseball to market itself and win back the fans it had alienated.
People seem to forget how even casual observers were caught up in the Sosa/McGuire home run frenzy of 1998, and how the sportscasters and writers never once brought up the subject of steroids and never once asked how was it possible for these guys to get so big and strong so fast.
They never questioned what they saw and went along for the ride. They were more than happy to catch the vapors of the sports' resurgence, aided mightily by Sosa.
And they too profited. They checked their objectivity at the doors to the stadium and swooned worse than a high school blowjob queen in love with the quarterback at the mere mention of either player.
Now these same sports writers are going to cast judgment on Sosa and keep him out of the Hall when they were jumping up and down like monkeys on crack every time he or McGuire hit a home run?
He has the numbers and he's never been implicated in any steroids scandal.
If one is going to associate him with the steroids era and punish him for that, let's have a little perspective on the situation.
He became a great ambassador for the game and was partly responsible for bringing it back to life after the 1994 strike.
His immigrant rags-to-riches story, the ultimate model of the American Dream, was used by baseball to market itself and win back the fans it had alienated.
People seem to forget how even casual observers were caught up in the Sosa/McGuire home run frenzy of 1998, and how the sportscasters and writers never once brought up the subject of steroids and never once asked how was it possible for these guys to get so big and strong so fast.
They never questioned what they saw and went along for the ride. They were more than happy to catch the vapors of the sports' resurgence, aided mightily by Sosa.
And they too profited. They checked their objectivity at the doors to the stadium and swooned worse than a high school blowjob queen in love with the quarterback at the mere mention of either player.
Now these same sports writers are going to cast judgment on Sosa and keep him out of the Hall when they were jumping up and down like monkeys on crack every time he or McGuire hit a home run?
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You nailed it. And he is the "cleanest" of the bunch as far as implications go. The only supposed thing that anybody has on him is he refused a drug test from a sportswriter who had falsy gained Sosa's confidence in order to ultimately make Sosa look bad. People will realize that nobody but nobody would have done that test either.
I cant understand all the sammy sosa bashing that goes on. The guy had a great carear and was never found guilty of useing any steroids at all. All you haters need to stop convicting a man based on your assumptions. Untill i see some proof,like with a-rod etc... etc...i think the guy should be givin the respect that he earned as one of the games all time great power hiters..
Not quite. One thing I had no idea about was McGuires' brother was a competitive bodybuilder who had a hand in his steroid use, stuff much stronger than the then over the counter supplement androstenedione.
one skill player
Sammy could do one thing exceptionally, hit home runs, that's it and I don't care if he hit a lot of them, that he's 5th or 6th on the all time list, or that he was the only one to hit 60+ 3 times. He's no 5 skill player, can't even come close to Albert Pujols. Now THAT's a HOF player. Think of Willie Mays and compare to Sammy Sosa, still want to put Sammy in the hall?
But then again, I'm still ****ed that I had Sammy in a fantasy league team BEFORE the home runs started coming in bunches.
My opinion of Sammy not belonging has nothing to do with Steriods, just his OVERALL level of play. Doesn't belong along side the two I mentioned above.
And Yes he was and is a Great Ambassador for MLB but that's not criteria for getting in (for a player at least).
Sammy could do one thing exceptionally, hit home runs, that's it and I don't care if he hit a lot of them, that he's 5th or 6th on the all time list, or that he was the only one to hit 60+ 3 times. He's no 5 skill player, can't even come close to Albert Pujols. Now THAT's a HOF player. Think of Willie Mays and compare to Sammy Sosa, still want to put Sammy in the hall?
But then again, I'm still ****ed that I had Sammy in a fantasy league team BEFORE the home runs started coming in bunches.
My opinion of Sammy not belonging has nothing to do with Steriods, just his OVERALL level of play. Doesn't belong along side the two I mentioned above.
And Yes he was and is a Great Ambassador for MLB but that's not criteria for getting in (for a player at least).
Willy Mays, how many guys can you really compare to him? and pujols is a great player, but still has a way to go to catch sammys stats. Maybe sosa is not up to willie mays standards, but he ranks way higher then probably half the guys in the hall now.
Points well taken but...
Say Hey - Agreed.
Pujols - Yes but barring serious injury, project them out... Also stats can be overrated especially comparing eras but that's an entirely different discussion. A lot of baseball does not appear in the stat sheet of tomorrows paper that make players great. Can't just look at numbers, gotta see how play the game.
Here's a question: During Sammy's era, and you are building a team, is he one of your 3 starting outfielders? I'm not sure if your answer is no, you can make a strong claim to Hall of Fame. If not one of the 3 best during your time, how can you make comparisons to all time?
But, maybe by definition, doing one thing extremely good does give him Fame??
Here's a contemporary to compare, you taking Jr. Griffey when still with Seatle or Sammy in his best Cub years, no question right?
Say Hey - Agreed.
Pujols - Yes but barring serious injury, project them out... Also stats can be overrated especially comparing eras but that's an entirely different discussion. A lot of baseball does not appear in the stat sheet of tomorrows paper that make players great. Can't just look at numbers, gotta see how play the game.
Here's a question: During Sammy's era, and you are building a team, is he one of your 3 starting outfielders? I'm not sure if your answer is no, you can make a strong claim to Hall of Fame. If not one of the 3 best during your time, how can you make comparisons to all time?
But, maybe by definition, doing one thing extremely good does give him Fame??
Here's a contemporary to compare, you taking Jr. Griffey when still with Seatle or Sammy in his best Cub years, no question right?
yea, but you dont compare players to willie mays to get into the hall of fame.And a player is judged on his total playing time, not just one season..and are you saying that right now only the three best pitchers, or shortstops will get into the hall..bottem line, he is more deserving then many people in the hall today. Sosa has just got a bad rap because all of the steroid problems. Untill proof is shown that he was dirty, he is more then deserving for the hall.
Agreed, may have overstated my point. That point was that you should really be exceptional to get in the HOF.
And obviously no, some eras have several good shortstops that may deserve entry and some eras may not. That point I was trying to make (poorly I guess) was if you aren't one of the best at your position during your time, how can you be considered one of the best All-Time?
Seems like I'm in the minority here. Was discussing with my neighbor this AM and he thinks I'm nuts also. Again, nothing to do with steroids, I don?t even care if they use them. I saw a talk show with some older players and some admitted that they might have done it if available as they use to load up on caffeine before games, anything for the competitive edge. My point on Sammy and, although not as prolific, the same for Dave Kingman, one dimensional player. To be clear, I'm not comparing their abilities, Sammy's a much better hitter as I don't believe Kingman ever hit .300 just that they are only at the risk of beating this horse, only one dimensional players. There was a time and I guess still some "old-schoolers" did not/will not will not vote
for a DH or a reliever for the same reason. I'm not that strict, at least on the relievers (Marino is a lock obviously and SHOULD BE), not so sure on DH's.
I'm done. You guys are probably right, he will eventually get it.
Strawman arguement
He's never won a damn thing other than a HR title. Please name a few of "the many" in the HOF today that he's more deserving than.
This argument that there's no proof of Sammy doing steroids is for ostriches. The guy went on the DL from sneezing too hard. He used a corked bat. He probably cheats his kids on their allowances.
The guy went from a rail to an Adonis over the course of a few years, during the "Steroid Era" but because there is no smoking gun (and he apparently doesn't know enough English to answer questions before Congress) he's clean and you're ready to put him in the HOF?
Your letting your opinions determine the facts you care to notice.
That's ludicrous.
He's never won a damn thing other than a HR title. Please name a few of "the many" in the HOF today that he's more deserving than.
This argument that there's no proof of Sammy doing steroids is for ostriches. The guy went on the DL from sneezing too hard. He used a corked bat. He probably cheats his kids on their allowances.
The guy went from a rail to an Adonis over the course of a few years, during the "Steroid Era" but because there is no smoking gun (and he apparently doesn't know enough English to answer questions before Congress) he's clean and you're ready to put him in the HOF?
Your letting your opinions determine the facts you care to notice.
Show me in which study the steroid use is linked with sneezing hard and get injured, hell I can even pull a Hernia if I sneeze hard. That you don't like the guy is one thing, but to apply non-sense fact into getting Sammy out of the HOF is other.
If Reinaldo Parez Perez subpoeaned you to Congress to answer some accusations, will you go alone with your chopped spanish to Congress or will you be intelligent and go with your lawyer so he can answer the questions correctly in proper spanish?
If you would compare any player worthy of HOF to Willie Mays only 5 or 6 player would get in. The only player comparable to Mays were Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Barry Bonds (I know, I know), Mickey Mantle and that's it.
Sammy was a good player who had an extraordinary peak, even putting a 200 OPS+ monster season (those seasons are extremely rare) in 2001. Besides Sammy had speed in his early years which can be proved with his more than 250 stolen bases and his 30-30 years. He had his flaws but he belongs in the HOF if you ask me.