It's been 21 years since Chicago Cubs legend and Summer of '98 icon Sammy Sosa has returned to Wrigley Field. The relationship between the former star and his longtime club has been slowly mended over recent years. Now, they'll take a massive step forward, one fans should love, as Sosa is set to return to the Friendly Confines for Friday's matinee against the Seattle Mariners. And current superstar Pete Crow-Armstrong had the perfect message to echo fan sentiment ahead of Sosa's return.
Appearing on Mully And Haugh on Chicago's 670 The Score, PCA was asked about Sosa's return. Not only did Crow-Armstrong reveal that he met with Sosa as the former star arrived in Chicago on Thursday night, but made it clear that Wrigley Field is where Sosa belongs and showing full respect for everything that the longtime right-fielder and slugger earned from the Cubs and fans, per Chris Emma.
"It's really hard not to appreciate what he did in a Cubs uniform," Crow-Armstrong said. "I think it's right that he's back in a place where he spent a lot of good years."
On @mullyhaugh, Pete Crow-Armstrong said he visited this morning with Sammy Sosa, who will be recognized at Wrigley Field: "It's really hard not to appreciate what he did in a Cubs uniform. ... I think it's right that he's back in a place where he spent a lot of good years."
— Chris Emma (@CEmma670) June 20, 2025
Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong sounds like he's loving Sammy Sosa's Wrigley return
While there are always going to be outliers, Crow-Armstrong's sentiment is right on par with that of most Cubs fans, enough that I feel comfortable saying "all Cubs fans" while accounting for the margin for error. But on the whole, fans should welcome Sosa back. They should appreciate everything he did in Chicago. They should consider this a special moment as he returns to the shadow of the ivy for the first time in more than two decades.
Make no mistake, the history with Sosa for the Cubs and in MLB is complicated. His home run exploits are tainted with PED use, though he was obviously not alone in that at the time in the late 1990s and early 2000s. There was also the corked bat incident. His final game with the Cubs also ended with a brutally awkard exit as he left the team and game without permission. All of that led to some bad blood between him and ownership, which has resulted in his long absence from Wrigley and, until last year, the organization too.
Crow-Armstrong is exactly right, though. While Sosa wasn't a boy scout and certainly had a tricky relationship with the rules of baseball, he's a Cubs legend beyond a shadow of a doubt. He captured the baseball imagination of a generation of fans in Chicago like few players have since, especially if you remove 2016 from that math.
It's also fitting that Sosa returns in the middle of June, 27 years after his historic 20-home run month for the Cubs back in 1998 amid the great home run race. It's all coming full circle, and let's hope the fans at Wrigley have the same reaction to Sosa' return as PCA, one of respect, admiration, and appreciation that Sosa is back where he has always belonged.