The Cubs organization welcoming Sammy Sosa back is very different from one he left

The news of Sammy Sosa being welcomed back to the North Side of Chicago by Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts has brought a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions to the fans. A potential reunion has been a topic of conversation for a long time, as it's been 20 years since Sosa was last at Wrigley Field. With the iconic slugger inevitably being part of Cubs lore again, it's interesting to look at how the organization has changed during his exile.

The world, as a whole, was a much different place back in 2004. There were no smartphones, TVs were still mostly glass and tubes, neither YouTube, Twitter (X), or Instagram existed, and Facebook had just launched. We could go on, but our main focus is on the Cubs organization during the days of Sosa, an entity long gone. It's the same franchise but not the same organization.

One of the most puzzling questions Cubs fans had was why the Ricketts ownership seemed to take Sosa's past personally, requiring him to acknowledge his wrongdoings before being welcomed back. The Cubs were then owned by the Tribune Co. with a completely different infrastructure, from the personnel to the facilities.

The Cubs were a franchise desperately seeking their first championship in nearly a century with a primitive operation. While the intention in those final days was to compete under team president Andy MacPhail and GM Jim Hendry, they did not have the level of resources the team has now. Wrigley Field was stuck in the Stone Age and literally crumbling, lacking modern team facilities and amenities. No video boards, no luxury clubs, no Gallagher Way. The clubhouse was a nasty broom closet that doubled as a sketchy batting cage. Wrigley still exists, but the primitive arteries that Sosa walked through are long gone.

When Sosa inevitably enters the ballpark for the first time in two decades and sees the facilities, he won't even recognize it. Everything he knew is from a bygone era that is not your father's Cubs, putting in perspective how long it's been. A whole generation of Cubs fans don't even know the Tribune ownership or what it was like watching Sosa on the team. This reunion might help them learn what it was like - because, at least when it came to the latter, it was something special.