CHICAGO — Iconic Cubs hitter Sammy Sosa made his return to Wrigley Field for the first time in over two decades on Friday, just before Chicago’s day game against the Seattle Mariners.
Slated to be inducted into the Cubs’ team Hall of Fame this year, Sosa arrived at the famous North Side stadium in a black SUV. Upon his arrival, he was welcomed by team owner Tom Ricketts, who gave him a hug as he stepped out of the car.
Sosa became emblematic of the Cubs franchise, playing 13 seasons with the team after being traded from the city rival White Sox in March 1992. A seven-time All-Star, Sosa hit 545 home runs in 1,811 games for the Cubs, setting a franchise record with 66 homers in 1998 when he was named the National League’s MVP.
Sosa, now 56, played his final game with the Cubs at Wrigley on Oct. 2, 2004, when he homered and had two hits in an 8-6 loss to Atlanta. During his years with the Cubs, Sosa appeared to bulk up drastically and was a headliner in a generation of baseball’s biggest names linked to performance-enhancing drugs.
The Cubs traded him to Baltimore with cash in February 2005 for three players.
Sosa appeared to acknowledge using performance-enhancing drugs in December when he released a statement saying he was sorry for mistakes, without specifying them.
“There were times I did whatever I could to recover from injuries in an effort to keep my strength up to perform over 162 games,” he said in the statement. “I never broke any laws. But in hindsight, I made mistakes and I apologize.”
On Friday morning, Sosa posed for photos with rising Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong outside the team’s clubhouse and a video showed Sosa embracing manager Craig Counsell in his office before the game.
“(Sosa) saw the wind blowing out today and planned this trip around a good day to be here,” Counsell joked. “He asked to be in the lineup because the wind’s blowing out.”
The Cubs honored Sosa with a video board tribute after the second inning. Sosa waved and bowed to fans from a suite during the presentation.
In Thursday’s 8-7 loss to Milwaukee, Crow-Armstrong went deep to set a new team record for reaching 20 homers and 20-plus stolen stolen bases the fastest, doing it in 73 games. Sosa had the old mark of 96, set in 1994.
Counsell, who faced Sosa as a player, saluted the former slugger for his strength at the plate and long homers, as well as star power.
“Probably the best thing, Sammy was a true entertainer,” Counsell said. “I think when you’re in this long enough, you realize that’s part of this.
“We’re also here to entertain and I think Sammy was great at that.”
