Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs, mend fences after 20 years in exile

Sammy Sosa’s high-profile return to the Chicago Cubs family was announced Thursday with two press releases sent out minutes apart.

But the reunion took years and was completed shortly after his September appearance at a Club 400 charity event in Lake in the Hills, sources said.

The animosity between the former Cubs slugger and the Ricketts family, which owns the team, had waned somewhat since 2020, and what once seemed like an impossible dream became a reality Thursday when chairman Tom Ricketts invited Sosa to the 2025 Cubs Convention.

Next up is entry into the Cubs Hall of Fame and a return to Wrigley Field, home of his greatest triumphs… and also some embarrassing Cork-related moments.

So why now?

According to Brian McRae, a former Cubs teammate who stayed in touch with Sosa, the timing was right to end this long, painful divorce.

“When I talked to him a little bit over the last couple of years, it was something that had been on his mind,” McRae said. “He didn’t want to be unwelcomed back, and they worked behind the scenes for a while to try to get something done that would satisfy everyone, or at least the (Cubs) decision-makers.”

A Christmas miracle arrived in the form of Sosa’s “apology letter,” in which he alluded to his “mistakes” of taking performance-enhancing drugs to “recover from injuries and maintain my strength.” There was no mention of steroids in it, but it was enough for Ricketts, who had previously called for Sosa to apologize for the cheating before the organization would welcome him back.

Ricketts has clearly been fed up with the protracted Sosa debate since his family purchased the team in 2009, just five years after Sosa’s exit on the final day of the 2004 season. That strike was followed by the infamous incident in which a mystery player or players attacked Sosa legendary boomboxes destroyed. And when Sosa claimed he didn’t go out before the game and was given permission to leave by manager Dusty Baker, the Cubs revealed they had video of him leaving the parking lot. Sosa told the Chicago Tribune in spring training in 2005 that the team had “destroyed” his reputation.

Former Cubs owners Tribune Co. subsequently banished Sosa, and the standoff continued with the Rickettses. But 20 years after the breakup, the relationship appears to have finally healed, even as the Boom Box saga remains one of Chicago’s great unsolved mysteries.

All’s well that ends well?

We’ll see. A former Cub declined to comment on Sosa’s return, saying, “What is he apologizing for?” He didn’t say it.”

Some believe it’s a matter of financial convenience, meaning that with an official connection to the Cubs, Sosa can make more money from signings and appearances, and the Cubs will find ways to generate revenue by marketing Sosa.

The 2025 Cubs Hall of Fame announcement is scheduled for the opening of the Cubs Convention on Jan. 17, and if he’s there, Sosa will quickly find out if he’s still loved. The guess here is that most fans will applaud him, although there will certainly be some boos.

McRae plans to attend the convention along with several of Sosa’s other former teammates. Ryne Sandberg and Mark Grace are among the other participants. McRae said he didn’t know how some former teammates would react, particularly those who have stressed that they played the game the so-called “right way.”

But he believes enough time has passed and those who don’t approve of Sosa’s alleged PED use will likely keep it to themselves. Sosa is being pulled in so many directions that he may not have time to share stories with old teammates.

“I don’t think the guys in Chicago can have as many conversations with him, at least not like I did at the Super Bowl,” McRae said of a previous encounter. “When he leaves, it will definitely be a different feeling than the Cubs Convention. It’s already crazy to begin with, and this will take it up a few notches.”

Carlos Zambrano, who also stays in touch with Sosa, told me in 2023 that he told Sosa to “do whatever it takes to come back.” Zambrano’s return to the convention after a long absence reminded him how much he loves the fans from Chicago and Cubs missed.

“Hey, we all make mistakes,” Zambrano said. “I made mistakes. It would be good for Sammy to come and say “I apologize” for everything he did.”

Baseball has a tendency to forgive and forget, unless you’re Pete Rose or Shoeless Joe Jackson.

But Sosa had been estranged from the Cubs for two long decades and waited in vain for an unconditional pardon. That was partly because of his stubbornness, and partly because Ricketts refused to put the past in the rearview mirror, as several organizations have done when their players were tainted by steroid allegations.

Manny Ramirez was welcomed in Cleveland, as were Barry Bonds in San Francisco and Mark McGwire in St. Louis. Alex Rodriguez is a national baseball analyst for Fox Sports. The stigma of PED use has kept these greats out of the Baseball Hall of Fame, but in many other areas it hasn’t been a deal-breaker.

“He’s like one of the last guys from that era who had a falling out with his team that was starting the redevelopment,” McRae said. “It will be nice to see him back at Wrigley Field sometime. Whatever you think about Sammy, good, bad or indifferent, there are Cubs fans today who will be Cubs fans for life, and they started watching Sammy.

“And he made the team a lot of money, and he made the league a lot of money. He did a lot for baseball in Chicago and put the city in the spotlight while he was there. There’s no denying that.”

Anyone who saw Sosa in the late 1990s and early 2000s can attest to this. Other than Michael Jordan, no Chicago athlete was as prominent as Sosa in the 1998 home run race with McGwire.

Now that his exile appears to be over and Sosa has received absolution for his alleged baseball crimes, the reconciliation process begins.

It’s a long road from here to building a statue outside Wrigley Field.

Maybe the Cubs can start by buying Sosa a new boom box.