CNN/SI - Sosa Timeline

Next stop, corner of Clark and Addison: The White Sox send Sosa and pitcher Ken Patterson to the northside Cubs for slugger George Bell. Cubs general manager Larry Himes pulls the trigger for Sosa—again. Himes also worked the Baines-Sosa trade from the White Sox end.

It looks like the Cubs plied a gem from their southside rivals. With a stolen base against San Francisco, Sosa becomes the first 30-30 player in the Cubs' 118-year history.

The Sammy superlatives begin to pile up. He plays in his first All-Star Game on July 11 in Arlington, Texas. His two-run blast off Los Angeles' Tom Candiotti on Aug. 14 is the 10,000th home run in Cubs history. Sosa not only completes another 30-30 campaign, but also becomes the first player in the 20th century to lead the Cubs in homers and steals for three consecutive years.

Sosa becomes the first Cub to hit two home runs in one inning, leading off the seventh against Houston with a bases-empty shot off Jeff Tabaka and then coming back to hit a two-run job against Jim Dougherty. The Cubs win a laugher at Wrigley, 13-1.

Sosa takes a pitch from Florida's Mark Hutton on the hand. It snaps both a bone in his right hand and his consecutive-games streak at 304, dating back to July 3, 1994. Despite missing the rest of the season after surgery, Sosa finishes with 40 taters and 100 RBIs in just 124 games.

Sosa hits the first—and thus far only—inside-the-park homer of his career, off Pittsburgh's Francisco Cordova at Three Rivers Stadium. The roundtripper ends up being the deciding run in the Cubs' 2-1 win.

Sosa inks a four-year, $42.5 million deal with the Cubs, making him at the time the third-highest-paid player in the bigs, behind Barry Bonds (two-year, $29.9 million extension) and Albert Belle (five-year, $55 million deal). The real question is, can Bonds or Belle float a new boat? Sosa can—he used a bushel of his new dough to buy himself a yacht, Sammy Jr.

Sosa drills career homer No. 200 off Montreal's Steve Kline. Four days later, his blast off Florida's Don Pall makes Sosa just the sixth player in Cubs history to produce four 30-homer seasons. He joins Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Hack Wilson, Hank Sauer and Ron Santo in that exclusive Cub club.

What, no elves? Sosa goes on a seven-city tour as "Sammy Claus," delivering thousands of gifts to children in schools and hospitals. Sosa makes stops in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Miami, Santo Domingo and his hometown, San Pedro de Macoris.

Sosa's run at Maris begins inauspiciously, with an opposite-field solo homer off Montreal's Marc Valdes in the Cubs' fifth game of the season, a 3-1 win. However, the four-bagger signals the arrival of a more disciplined hitter. "The only real mistake I made was throwing a pitch up and away to Sosa," Valdes says afterward. "Normally he tries to pull a ball like that. Today he went with the pitch."

Sosa goes on one of the most impressive home run binges ever. In 22 games, Sosa knocks 21 out of the park—exceeding in this timespan the career bests of all his teammates except Henry Rodriguez. Faster than you can say "McGwire," Sosa becomes a threat to break Roger Maris' record.

Make that 23 homers in 26 games, as Sosa breaks the major-league record for home runs in any month with his 19th in June, an upper-deck shot off Detroit's Brian Moehler at Tiger Stadium. Down goes Rudy York's mark of 18, set in August 1937. Sosa would extend his record to 20 on the last day of the month.

Sosa slams home run No. 41 of the season, setting a new personal best. The shot off Arizona's Bob Wolcott is his second grand slam in as many nights (and just the second of his career), but the Cubs lose 7-5.

Sosa clubs a pair of homers in an 8-5 win at San Francisco to tie Mark McGwire in the race to catch Roger Maris. Both have 46 four-baggers.

Sosa takes over the major league lead in homers by blasting No. 48 in the fifth inning of a game against the Cardinals. But three innings later McGwire ties him, and in the 10th Big Mac clubs No. 49 to regain the upper hand.

With McGwire's bat quiet for five days after No. 62, Sosa quickly makes up his four-homer deficit in a weekend series against the Brewers. After starting the game with 60, Sosa ties Maris with a two-run poke in the fifth off Bronswell Patrick, then in the bottom of the ninth sends a nearly identical, 480-foot bases-empty shot to Waveland Avenue off Eric Plunk—to tie McGwire at 62. A Wrigley-season-high crowd of 40,846 watches the Cubs win 11-10 in 10 innings. "Mark, you know I love you," Sosa says later. "I wish you could be here with me today."

With a bases-empty shot in the fourth inning off Jose Lima at the Astrodome—No. 66 on the year—Sosa takes the lead in the home run chase for the second time in 1998. This time, however, the advantage is even more short-lived. On Aug. 19, Sosa had the upper hand for 58 minutes; tonight McGwire, hundreds or miles away in St. Louis, ties Sosa 45 minutes later.

After McGwire's swats five homers in three days, to finish the season with 70, Sosa gets an extra game to try to make up ground. The Cubs and Giants deadlocked in the wild-card race, forcing a one-game playoff. Chicago wins 5-3 to reach the post-season for the first time since 1989, but Sosa is held to two singles in four at-bats. He ends up with 66 home runs, four fewer than McGwire. No matter. "Everybody came through," Sosa exults afterward. "Tonight is something I'm never going to forget in my life."

Text by Brian Hamilton
Photos by (top to bottom) Chuck Solomon, John Biever, Stephen Green

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