Hatchet job to Sosa was well executed by Tribsters
March 19, 2009 28 Comments
Sammy blows kisses to the WGN cameras in the days when he was the toast of Chicago.
Yesterday I asked the question should the Cubs retire Sammy Sosa’s number? The overwhelming response was no they should not. In my ‘very scientific’ survey 26 of you (68%) believe Sosa shouldn’t have his number retired. I know this is a very small sample size and all that shit, but I would bet that is pretty reflective of what a larger survey of Cubdom would show. As much as I might disagree, the response is what it is. Hey, I asked the question I should have been ready for the response. While I disagree with the sentiment, your response was actually about what I would expect.
When one looks back at the final days of Sammy Sosa in Cubs pinstripes we will remember the Tribune turning their back on the larger than life Sosa. A larger than life figure that the Tribune had been happy to create when it meant more fans dollars being sunk into a pitiful Cubs team on the field. With Sammy’s skills in decline in 2003 and 2004 the Cubs no longer had room for the Sammy Sosa they had created. Truthfully that Sammy Sosa didn’t exist anymore. Barry Rozner in the Daily Herald following the Sosa trade probably put it best:
They didn’t have the guts to merely trade Sosa, so first they had to humiliate him, strip him of what dignity he had left and shove it down the throats of every kid who worshipped No. 21.
They couldn’t let him leave a hero because they didn’t want the heat, so the Cubs tried to make sure Sosa left here with a reputation as the worst person, teammate and baseball player the North Side has ever known.
Remember how the Cubs trashed Sosa’s reputation from the end of 2004, to the point where Cub fans actually booed him on a video montage at their winter love-fest. It really was shameful IMO. More from Rozner:
He shook writers’ hands and smiled, and they looked the other way as he grew exponentially each winter.
But now that public sentiment has turned, thanks to the Cubs, the critics have also abandoned Sosa and joined the pariah parade.
They have all helped sell it to you, and by the Convention the Cubs knew it. They took the ballroom’s temperature and realized 100 days of trashing the right fielder had worked, and they could make their trade – albeit 10 years too late.
From his 1998 home run race on, the Tribune marketed Sammy and Wrigley Field more than they did the Cubs brand. Sammy was everywhere in the city showing up on billboards and on the side of buildings. He was a baseball hero to both Cub fans and baseball fans in general. You couldn’t go to a park or the lakefront without seeing Sammy t-shirts or jerseys.
gaius marius detailed the hatchet job done on Sammy Sosa when the deal went down:
but informed fans should stand up to call this travesty by its rightful name. as rozner points out, the cubs have made their millions on sammy — they may not even care if they get a particularly fair deal in pushing him out of town because they’ve already made their mint. protecting the franchise from lasting public relations damage that could detract from ticket sales is what they care about.
so they butcher sammy on the way out the door, to ensure the club takes what appears to be (to the credulous, anyway) the moral high ground. cubs good, sammy bad, buy your season tickets now.
This hatchet job by the Tribsters was done so Cub fans could deal with the Cubs parting with their superstar. As a baseball decision I won’t argue the deal (and the Cubs actually acquired a good player in the deal getting Mike Fontenot). What I will say was wrong was the public relations campaign that the Cubs and the Tribune ran smearing Sammy to the fans. The fans turned on Sosa on a fucking dime, and from the looks of the poll I took yesterday most of you won’t forgive him for these ‘so-called sins’. That’s your right.
I’m not here to tell you how to be a fan. You do your thing and I’ll do mine. I choose to remember the great years of Sosa. His early days when he was full of speed and potential… were followed by an incredible offensive show that we fans were able to witness. Steroids or no steroids, it was sure a hell of a lot of fun to watch Sammy during those years. Counter to all of the selfish behavior written and discussed by the media about Sosa, I remember something that a fellow Cub fan told me in 1999. After a ballgame he took his son for a few autographs by the players lot at Wrigley Field. Most of the players headed right to their cars and on their way home. That was their right, and I could give two shits if a player signs autographs, truthfully I don’t get it. Anyways, Sosa stayed for an hour signing autographs. Isn’t that what many of you fans bitch and moan about, players not signing autographs. Apparently Sosa did that. I’m not here to say Sammy Sosa was a great guy or anything like that, but he wasn’t the pariah he has been made out to be either.
But this hatchet job was well executed. Fans have decided that all of the good things Sosa did are outweighed by the bad. Maybe it’s the witch hunt that is the coverage of steroids in baseball…maybe it’s just fans not liking ballplayers that make tons and tons of cash. Whatever it is, it’s apparent Cub fans are not about to forgive Sosa and that probably means if the team ever gets around to retiring Sosa’s number, deservedly so IMHO, Sosa will either be old and grey or not with us anymore. Yep, that was a fucking good hatchet job, a hatchet job that didn’t just run Sammy out of town but ran him out of Cubs fans good graces for years to come.
So since some of you won’t forgive Sammy, I have decided it is only fair that I not forgive the Tribune and the media members that partook in the hatchet job on Sammy Sosa. For my money that hatchet job, was one of the most effective yet despicable acts during the Tribune’s ownership of the Cubs.
I couldn’t find an email address on your website, so I’m leaving this note here. Looking forward to hearing from you!
My name is Emily Schleier and I’m the Assistant Editor for a new media start-up publication titled The Printed Blog. You can download our latest issues at http://www.theprintedblog.com.
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There are many advantages to our approach at forming a new type of newspaper. First and foremost, all of our content is taken from the internet and then put through an editorial process so that we’re sure our readers are only getting the best of the best when it comes to blogs, photos, music, events, etc.
With this being said, we think that your blog falls under the “best of the best” category and would feel extremely privileged if we were able to take articles from it to include in our publication. High profile blogs such as, Mashable, Daily Kos, The Bloggess, American Express and Bastard Life are all on The Printed Blog team!
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We’d love to add you to our list of blogs to pull content from in hopes to print one of your posts in an upcoming issue. Do we have your permission? We would also like to have the option of printing the images that accompany your blog posts- do you have the rights to these images? I look forward to hearing back from you and please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions. You can follow our progress on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter!
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This is great stuff, ccd. Very well done.
I think you should do the deal with Emily even if she isn’t Editor-in-Chief and only an assistant editor of a blog.
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It was ridiculous the way the Trib treated Sosa, and I don’t even particularly understand why. Would some people have given up their tickets if the Cubs traded him without tearing him down? Sure, but you and I both know how long the Cubs season ticket waiting list is.
I’m sort of hoping the franchise has finally realized it can ignore what the fans say they want and as long as it puts a good product on the field the fans will come around.
the chicago tribune treats steve rosenbloom well and sammy sosa like shit.
that about sums it up.
LMAO. does Rosenbloom still have that blog?
I’ve never understood it Bob, as I said above it was probably the right baseball move at the time and Fontenot is proof of that. Still, they had no reason to make Sammy out to be some kind of demon. Simply trade the guy. Have some fucking class.
As long as the franchise is focused on winning they can ignore fan sentiment…when that changes…well let’s not think about that right now. This is a good club and a good franchise I hope they stay that way for a long time to come.
Editor-in-Chief is where it’s at…
What was maddening to me was the fact that I wanted to trade Sosa in 2002. The team was crap, Sosa was still “The Man” and they could have gotten ANYBODY in any farm system that they wanted.
But the Cubs ALWAYS held onto their assets too long. I don’t know if it is lingering Lou Brock syndrome or what, but they would never trade someone at the height of their value.
What amuses me about the whole thing is that by trashing Sosa they diminished his value even more than his eroding skills did. They still could have had a decent bidding war for Sosa’s services since there are always teams that believe a change in scenery is all that is needed to bring a guy back to MVP form. But by turning Sosa into the worst teammate ever, they eliminated teams who might have been willing to take a shot. So even though I like Mike Fontenot, he is all we got for a 600+ homerun hitter?
All that said, I don’t think the Cubs should retire his number yet. There are still too many unknowns about his girth and it is still too fresh. They need to rebuild a relationship with him and then do the honors when he has been re-established as an elder statesman of the game. Otherwise its a pointless marketing stunt that diminishes the honor for Ernie, Billy, Ron, Ryno, Fergie, and Maddux.
Lastly, one of my professional blogger friends told me about The Printed Blog and it is a pretty interesting melding of mediums. Its good recognition and could lead to good things for your site. Congrats.
- Tim
You were making baseball sense with trading Sosa back in 2002, unfortunately the Cubs brass wasn’t into baseball sense in those days.
The Cubs have always held onto players too long. Maybe the trade of DeRosa shows that those times have ended. They traded him after a career year. That’s what you’re supposed to do.
Held on to players too long??? Like Joe Carter? Jamie Moyer? Greg Maddox? I guess that is a little different from the other complaint I always hear that they don’t hold on to them long enough like Matt Murton or Felix Pie.
Well said, ccd. The way Sosa has been treated, by the fans and the organization, is shameful.
Joe Carter was traded for value – we got Rick Sutcliffe not just for his 16-1 Cy Young performance, but as a valued part of the rotation for years to come after.
Jamie Moyer was dealt as part of the Mitch Williams deal, which may not have had the long term success of the Sutcliffe deal, it was key to the 1989 NL East Championship run. Besides, Moyer would not become a consistent, decent pitcher until 1996. That would have been a 7 year wait and I can’t blame the Cubs for making that deal then.
Maddux wasn’t traded – he was allowed to leave via free agency during the worst off-season of my life when Andre Dawson was replaced with Candy Maldonado and Maddux with one of the Guzmans – I don’t remember which one it was, but whichever it was, it was the wrong one. Larry Himes should be very glad he has never met me, because I swear the first thing I will do upon meeting him is punching him dead in the face.
Meanwhile, Murton still hasn’t covered himself in glory and while I liked him, he certainly was not worth waiting on for much longer. His value was almost gone since it was fairly obvious to anyone else in baseball that he is a AAAA outfielder. So while you say they weren’t patient enough, I say they waited too long on him.
In the same way, Pie’s value is practically gone. He falls right ino the Corey Patterson mold of five-tool guys that we fall in love with and never get rid of, or develop properly. They just become worthless replacement-level players. While its going to happen to the best teams, its inexcusable how often it happens to the Cubs.
The Cubs actually had Moyer in a ST camp in the early 90′s and thought he was through. They asked him to be a coach. I think he went on and signed with the O’s after that.
tim, do you remember 2000 when the yankees were rumored to be offering a pack of youngsters including jake westbrook and alfonso soriano for sosa? i remember sitting in cody’s after a softball game with ccd advocating any deal like that.
i loved sammy, but i thought the trib screwed up when it let sammy go 10-and-5. once the vet gets right-of-first-refusal on trade deals and the skills start to fade, the team has to find a way to force the player into seeing the wisdom of a trade. this was sammy’s town back then, and the trib seemed to think it had to undo that in order to get sammy to acquiesce to a trade. so we got this farce demonization.
anyway, about 2000, you can certainly argue it both ways. sammy hit 64 in his best professional year in 2001, and was monstrous again in 2002.
the idea that he shouldn’t have his digits on a flag out there is absolutely right fucking preposterous. was ANY cub EVER as dangerous as sosa was? sandberg? williams? santo? banks? hack wilson? you might have to go back to cap anson or king kelly, for christs sakes.
“The Cubs actually had Moyer in a ST camp in the early 90’s and thought he was through. They asked him to be a coach. I think he went on and signed with the O’s after that.”
I had forgotten that. He was signed and released by both the Cubs and Tigers in 1992 before sticking with the Orioles in 1993.
I remember that very well. I think I was one of the dumbasses on the other side of the fence…but oh well one can’t be right all the time (or in my case ever!).
offensively, no
unreal isn’t it tim. the cubs were so bad at evaluating talent under frey, himes and lynch. i really should block 1990-97 and 1999-2002 out of my mind as far as the Cubs go. They sucked bad…
Agree 100%. I think I liked exactly one of Lynch’s trades: Brant Brown for Jon Lieber. Blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. I think that also explains 1998.
there were some defensive liabilities, true, but he wasn’t a terrible rightfielder either.
for a lark, i went back and sorted all cub players by their OPS+ at baseball reference. all players over 1000 games for the cubs:
cap anson — 2276 g, 329/395/446, OPS+ 140
sammy sosa — 1811 g, 284/358/569, OPS+ 139
frank chance — 1274 g, 297/394/395, OPS+ 136
bill nicholson — 1349 g, 272/368/471, OPS+ 136
billy williams — 2213 g, 296/364/503, OPS+ 135
heinie zimmerman — 1022 g, 304/343/444, OPS+ 128
ron santo — 2126 g, 279/366/472, OPS+ 127
gabby hartnett — 1926 g, 297/370/490, OPS+ 126
jimmy ryan — 1660 g, 307/376/446, OPS+ 124
ernie banks — 2528 g, 274/333/500, OPS+ 122
i stopped there because mark grace was next.
I do remember that deal being rumored. I took crap from my Aisle 424 comrades for advocating the deal. I still hear about it occasionally as “the time I wanted to trade Sammy Sosa for Jackson Melian” (who was also part of the prospect package being discussed).
good stuff, we see where Sammy ranks.
look at Swish Nicholson coming in 4th. I’m surprised Chance is so high, is he ever given fair credit for what he did for this franchise? Williams was an absolute hitting machine and these numbers just prove that. Again Santo comes up higher than I would have thought, he really is HOF worthy.
The Tribune performed a hatchet job? The Tribune didn’t cork his bat. The Tribune didn’t ask him to leave in the 1st inning of the last game of the season in 2004.
Maybe the Tribune was harsh, and maybe they turned fans against Sosa. But Sammy didn’t do himself any favors either.
like it or not, it was a hatchet job and a thorough one. that last-game bullshit is a perfect example — that is, whether anyone knows it or not, fairly standard practice in the majors for meaningless games. the fact that it happened is completely unremarkable. what IS remarkable is that the trib unleashed the hounds on sammy because of it. they took advantage of the near-complete ignorance of fans (who generally prefer fantasy to reality, albeit often unwittingly as they are stupid) as to how baseball actually works behind the scenes.
prima facie, virtually any of baseball’s star players are open to this kind of butchering if the team is motivated to destroy them. a-rod is not a particularly remarkable example of a major league star. the drugs, the infidelity, the seaminess — none of that is strange. what IS strange is that 99% of fans carry around a yellonesque fantasy image of star ballplayers that in no way reconciles with the reality, and that gap of foolishness can be arbitraged by the teams or agents when the motive arises.
the trib eventually found that motive (again), and if sammy and his agents did something wrong it was not to recognize that it had. if anyone wants to blame sammy for that, go ahead. but understand what you’re really blaming him for. it isn’t for him being an unusual prima donna or for presuming double-standards that aren’t the widespread practice not only of baseball but of life. it’s for not calling the turn when it came, when what had been the standard practice he was lulled into was finally turned against him by an opportunist and ruthless ownership.
thanks chad, your comment reiterates my point, the hatchet job was well done.
Spot on, gm. The fans just love to believe that only those players whose shenanigans are spotlighted by the media (conveniently when the teams need to make the players’ departure palatable) engage in shenanigans. Out east the Red Sox illustrated this point nicely with one Manny Ramirez.