It has to be considered a given that the PED question has hurt many players in their quest for Cooperstown. It is very possible that anyone associated with it will fail to get elected, and the Hall will be devoid of some of the game’s greatest record setters. Yet, of all the people whose careers got tarnished, we can’t help but wonder if Sammy Sosa took the biggest fall of them all.
Barry Bonds may be the man most synonymous with power in the Steroids Era, but it was Sammy Sosa who was the period’s most consistent Home Run Threat. “Slammin” Sammy belted 50-plus homers in four straight seasons and had nine consecutive 100 RBI campaigns. He was popular with the fans and the media, and seemingly never saw a camera he couldn’t smile into.
Things changed drastically upon the Steroids Trial. “Slammin” became “Surly”, and he forgot the English language when questioned by Congress. As fans poured through the inflated statistics, they would notice that, unlike Bonds, McGwire, and Clemens, Sosa did not have the same number or quality of productive seasons prior to allegedly taking PEDs. Sosa became instantly unlikable, and the once media darling became one of its many pariahs.
Like other entries, should Major League Baseball classify the late 90’s/early 00’s as an “era”, Sammy Sosa would have a legitimate shot, as he was one of the game’s top offensive producers. Somehow, we don’t think that will happen, and if it does, Sosa will still struggle to gain Hall of Fame admittance.
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