Chicago – The legendary Toletero of the puppies Sammy Sosa returned to Wrigley Field for the first time in more than 20 years on Friday before the Chicago afternoon game with the Seattle sailors.
Sosa, who will be included in the Fame Hall of the Cubs team this year, arrived at the iconic North Side stadium in a black SUV. He was received by the owner Tom Ricketts, who hugged him in a hug when he left the vehicle.
Sosa became the face of the puppies franchise, where he played 13 seasons after reaching an exchange of Crosstown’s white socks in March 1992. Sosa, seven times, Sosa hit 545 homers at 1,811 games with the puppies and reached a record of franchises 66 in 1998 when MVP was appointed of the NL.
Sosa, now 56, played his latest game with the puppies in Wrigley on October 2, 2004, when he arrived and had two hits in an 8-6 defeat against Atlanta. During his years with the puppies, Sosa seemed to increase dramatically and was a holder in a generation of more important baseballs linked to drugs that improve performance.
The puppies changed him to Baltimore with cash in February 2005 for three players.
Sosa seemed to recognize the use of drugs that improve performance in December when he issued a statement saying that he lamented the mistakes, without specifying them.
“There were times when I did what I could to recover from injuries in an effort to maintain my strength to perform more than 162 games,” he said in the statement. “I never violated any law. But in retrospect, I made mistakes and I apologize.”
On Friday morning, Sosa posed for photos with the star of the puppies in Rising, Pete Crow-Armstrong, out of the team’s club and a video showed Sosa to cover the manager Craig Counsell in his office before the game.
“(Sosa) saw the wind exploding today and planned this trip a good day to be here,” Counsell joked. “He asked to be in the alignment because the wind is exploding.”
The puppies honored Sosa with a video board tribute after the second entry. Sosa greeted and bowed to fans of a suite during the presentation.
In the defeat of Thursday 8-7 against Milwaukee, Crow-Armstrong was deep to establish a new team record to reach 20 homers and more than 20 faster stolen bases, doing so in 73 games. Sosa had the old 96 mark, established in 1994.
Counsell, who faced Sosa as a player, greeted former Slugger by his strength on the plate and long home runs, as well as the power of the star.
“Probably the best, Sammy was a true artist,” said Counsell. “I think that when you are so long, you realize that this is part of this.
“We are also here to entertain and I think Sammy was great in that.”
