Sammy didn't owe the Cubs that letter
The Garbage Family That Owns The Cubs™ reminds us again how awful they really are



Get more from Andy Dolan in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and AndroidGet the app
Last Thursday, the Cubs and one of the most popular players they’ve ever had reconciled and the Cubs wanted us all to be super appreciative for what they did.
Fuck that.
Sammy Sosa released a letter of apology, where he signed his name to a tepid acknowledgement of “mistakes” he made during his playing career. Moments later, Tom Ricketts magnanimously accepted Sammy’s apology and invited him to attend their shitty little fan convention in January. “We plan on inviting him to the 2025 Cubs Convention, and while it is short notice, we hope he can attend.”
Fuck that, too.
Ever since The Garbage Family That Owns The Cubs™ took control of the Cubs in 2009 they have shunned Sosa. They made it very clear that he was not welcome at the ballpark unless he bought a ticket (don’t forget to pay the city amusement tax, Samuel), they didn’t invite him to the Cubs Convention, and they resumed inducting new players into their crappy Utility Tunnel of Fame, but not Sammy, who is conservatively, one of the five best players in the history of their franchise. But sure, Jose Cardenal, E-ramis Ramirez and Shawon Dunston were probably better than Sammy. Sure.
The reason the Ricketts wanted nothing to do with Sammy? Well, they wouldn’t say, exactly. The messaging went from, “He knows what he did.” To “Stop asking about this.” To, at last year’s convention, “Steroids?”
Never mind that during the peak of Sammy’s career, probably half the league was gooped up on gop. The Cardinals have no problem trotting out the ever deflating soma of Mark McGwire, and Big Mac Land is still a thing. The Giants have no problem honoring Barry Bonds and now that Willie Mays is gone, they are fine touting Barry as the greatest living player.
Was Sammy all ‘roided up when he hit 243 homers in a four year span from 1998-2001? We have no way of knowing. But yes, of course he was.
Was it cheating? Well, considering how many other guys were, I’d like to think of it as Sammy “leveling the playing field” for the Cubs.
What isn’t in dispute is that before Sammy went nuclear in 1998 the Cubs were wallowing on and off the field. They had finished better than fourth once in the decade, and that was a fluke third place finish in 1995. Even with the change in attendance counting from tickets used to tickets purchased they were struggling to top the two million mark. Baseball itself was struggling from the self-inflicted wound of the 1994 strike.