Sammy Sosa suspended for 8 games over corked bat

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/1940343

Cubs slugger will appeal ruling

CHICAGO -- Sammy Sosa was suspended for eight games by major league baseball today for using a corked bat.

The Cubs slugger will appeal the suspension, said Jim Hendry, the team's general manager. The appeal will make Sosa available for a four-game series against the New York Yankees.

"We support him in his appeal," Hendry said. "We have no reason to believe it was anything more than a one-time incident. We will support him and his right exercise and appeal."

The appeal had to be filed before today's game so he could play.

A piece of cork was found just above the handle in Sosa's bat Tuesday night when it shattered after he grounded out in the first inning of the Chicago Cubs' 3-2 victory. Sosa didn't deny the corked bat was his, but he said it was a batting practice bat he had grabbed by accident.

"Some punishment is in order. Hopefully, it can be reduced," Hendry said.

He noted that Sosa "has been shattering bats his whole career" and no other corked bats had been found.

Bob Watson, baseball's vice president in charge of discipline, met with Cubs manager Dusty Baker and Hendry at Wrigley Field on Thursday, then returned to New York. Watson did not talk to Sosa.

Other players who have used corked bats have been suspended for up to 10 games. The Cubs had hoped that Sosa's cooperation, as well as the fact that no cork was found in any of his 81 bats that were checked, would work in his favor.

The Hall of Fame said Thursday that X-rays or CT scans of its five Sosa bats showed no cork or anything else that would violate baseball rules. Baseball officials didn't find anything in 76 bats confiscated from Sosa's locker after he was ejected from Tuesday night's game, either.

"The sad part about the whole thing is that he had 70-some bats and it's like you still don't believe it. That's what's unfair," Baker said. "He was wrong with that one bat. It was a bad decision."

Boston Red Sox ace Boston pitching ace Pedro Martinez came to his Dominican countryman's defense, saying the incident was being blown out of proportion because of racial bias by the media.

"If it was (Mark) McGwire, it would still be a big deal, but not like this," Martinez said. "We might be Latin and minorities, but we're not dumb. We see everything that happens."

Several other players have been caught or have admitted using a corked bat. But none has had the gaudy resume of Sosa.

In a five-year stretch from 1998-02, he hit 292 home runs. He's the only player to hit 60 or more homers in three seasons, hitting 66 in 1998, 63 in 1999 and 64 in 2001.

He's No. 17 on the career list with 505 homers. And at just 34, many believe he'll have a chance at Hank Aaron's record of 755 homers.

Sosa insists he's never done anything illegal.

"I feel very bad for having used that bat, but my conscience is clean," Sosa said Thursday. "I'm not a criminal nor someone who intended to deceive or take advantage of others."

Watson spent about two hours at Wrigley, meeting with Baker, Hendry, Cubs president Andy MacPhail and clubhouse manager Tom Hellmann, then went back to New York.

Baker said his meeting with Watson wasn't an interview so much as an explanation of what Watson was doing.

Not only is this weekend the teams' first meeting at Wrigley since the 1938 World Series, but Roger Clemens goes for his 300th career win Saturday against fellow Texan Kerry Wood. The games Saturday and Sunday will be broadcast nationally, with 90 percent of the country seeing the Clemens-Wood matchup on Fox.

 

And this is just bad timing...

http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2003/0605/1563893.html

Sosa to be honored for 500th homer at Wrigley

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Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Several Illinois congressmen are expected to visit Wrigley Field on Friday to honor Sammy Sosa, even though the star is facing a suspension for playing with a juiced bat.

The U.S. House voted 372-0 Monday to congratulate the Chicago Cubs slugger on his 500th home run and praise him as a role model. Friday's ceremony is to present him with a copy of the House resolution.

A day after the House vote, Sosa was found to be hitting with an illegal bat.

Sosa said he used the corked bat by accident, and tests of the remaining bats in his locker -- as well as the five he'd given the Baseball Hall of Fame -- came up clean.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who sponsored the House resolution, said Thursday he never considered canceling the Friday event.

Had another corked bat been found in Sosa's locker, however, Gutierrez would've taken a different approach.

"I would have rolled up the resolution and sent it to him in the mail,'' he said.

Gutierrez, who represents a largely Hispanic district on Chicago's Northwest Side, said he expects several of his colleagues to be at Wrigley to join in honoring Sosa, including Rep. Bill Lipinski, a die-hard Chicago White Sox fan.

Lipinski declined to join those who would criticize Sosa.

"The poor Cubs have had enough trouble over the course of the years. I don't have to heap any more problems upon them,'' Lipinski said.

 

I love these Late Night gimmicks of Sosa:

Letterman's Top Ten last night was: "Top Ten Sammy Sosa Explanations":

10) "My mind was clouded by the anabolic steroids."
9) "Damn al Qaeda."
8) "I may be a strong guy, but those bats is heavy."
7) "I wanted to catch the premiere of 'American Juniors' - man those kids can sing!"
6) "Hans Blix checked my bat for three months without finding any cork."
5)"Wanted to do something to take the heat off my girlfriend, Martha Stewart."
4) "Threat of rain necessitated a more buoyant bat."
3) "If you hit home runs you get paid $20M a year, dumb ass."
2) "I was punk'd."
1) "Pete Rose bet me I wouldn’t do it."

More Dave: "Here’s what Sammy Sosa had done. He had hollowed out the bat and it was filled with cork; also Styrofoam and ground-up bits of rubber balls. It’s the same way they make their hot dogs in Chicago."

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Kilborn: "Sammy Sosa got in big trouble when his bat broke and cork popped out of the bat. The Cubs were confused. They’ve never seen a cork popped before."

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Leno: "MLB is really shocked. They said players should only hit home runs the old-fashioned way: while on steroids. Sammy said it wasn’t his bat. He claims he grabbed the wrong piece of wood in the dugout. Wasn’t that Mike Piazza’s excuse?"

"Thoroughbred racing experts say that if Funny Cide wins the Triple Crown this weekend on NBC, that he will become the biggest-earning gelding of all time. Up to now, the biggest payday for a gelding was when David Gest married Liza Minelli."