Chicago Cubs: Should the team welcome Sammy Sosa back?

Should the Chicago Cubs welcome Sammy Sosa back after a tumultuous ending 15 years ago? Our Cubbies Crib writers weigh in.

I still remember the day that the Chicago Cubs traded Sammy Sosa to the Baltimore Orioles back in early 2005. My grandparents came into my work and told me. As soon as they did so, I took my left arm, with my Sosa watch on my wrist, and put it behind my back, embarrassed that I was once a big fan. I took it off when I got home and never wore it again.

I wasn’t surprised that it happened; after all, the last two years had been filled with controversy, including steroid rumors, the corked bat, and the once-beloved slugger leaving the team early at the end of the 2004 season. Yet it felt like a big part of my childhood ended that day.

I was 19 years old at the time. As a teenager, my bedroom was filled with Sammy Sosa posters and my shelves full of my Sosa baseball card collection. I was once a Sosa fanatic, but I had a hard time defending him to critical family and friends after what had happened over the past two seasons. I got rid of all my Sosa posters. I’ve tried to sell my cards on eBay, but I can’t get anything for them.

Since then, I’ve had a hard time picking another favorite player, out of fear that they would break my heart again. We can debate whether Sosa deserves the harsh treatment, yet the way the whole situation ended was still sad. To this day, Sosa has not been invited back to be a part of the Chicago Cubs; there’s been virtually no talk of retiring his number, though he is the team’s all-time home run leader.

Here we are, 15 years later, with new ownership and a whole cast of characters on the field, and Sosa is still on the outside looking in. Of course, it’s mostly up to him to help make amends as well; it’s not just on the team. Assuming Sosa was to reach out and try to return to Wrigley Field, should the Cubs welcome him back?

This is undoubtedly a controversial topic. Let’s hear from some of the Cubbies Crib writers.