‘Long Gone Summer’ gives Cubs another chance to finally do right by Sammy Sosa

As ESPN pushes their Long Gone Summer documentary, it’s time for the Cubs to forgive Sammy Sosa.

Sammy Sosa’s descent from former home run king to a man exiled by the city he used to call home was a long, arduous journey, but one that ought to end as soon as humanly possible. Sosa’s actions from a bygone era will always leave him on the outside looking in on Cooperstown, but the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field should be the one exception, if only because owner Tom Ricketts benefitted alongside the infamous slugger.

Sosa hasn’t been welcomed back to Wrigley Field since the Chicago Cubs traded him to the Texans Rangers in 2005.

Should the Cubs welcome back Sammy Sosa with open arms?

Such a question is loaded, of course, but Sosa has expressed a desire to come back to Cubs in some capacity, even if only a trial basis.

“I don’t see why [I can’t] be invited to Chicago, but you know it’s not in my hands,” Sosa said on ESPN 1000’s “Kap & Co.” in Chicago. “I don’t control that; I don’t want to get into much of that because I don’t want to create any inconvenience, or I don’t want people to get mad at me for some reason.”

Despite that lack of control, Chicago is the only place Sosa might be welcome. In similar fashion to Barry Bonds in San Francisco, he’s made enemies around baseball for his past transgressions involving performance-enhancing drugs and his unwillingness to take full and total responsibility for his actions. This is where the ESPN documentary comes in.

If Sosa finally comes clean, it’s the final hurdle. The Cubs are by no means a perfectly-run organization, as evidenced by their handling of Addison Russell’s domestic violence situation a few seasons ago. In this case, they can right past wrongs.

Sosa has paid his dues and then some.