The Chicago Cubs celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first game at Wrigley Field last week and a number of legends were on hand, including Mr. Cub Ernie Banks, but one guy who wasn’t there generated as much discussion as the actual event itself.
Sammy Sosa was the notable omission from the invitees despite being the team’s all-time leader in home runs and selling millions and millions of tickets during his tenure as the face of the franchise as the Cubs right fielder, but things ended poorly and questions about his use of performance-enhancing drugs tainted the relationship.
Banks is trying to mend fences between Sosa and the Cubs and hopes to see a reconciliation between the two provided Sosa makes amends in comments to Fred Mitchell of The Chicago Tribune.
“He can admit to that (steroid use),” Banks said. “We had Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire … a lot of guys … Alex Rodriguez. They admitted to doing something that is not right. But I don’t know if Sammy ever admitted to that.”(Sosa) is quite a guy. He did a lot for this organization. And nobody could answer (why he was not at the celebration). I wanted him to come. And later on it came out that Sammy wanted to come. Nobody invited him.”
It’s time to let bygones be bygones and for Sosa and the Cubs to move on.