Sammy Sosa has gone 66 at-bats since his last homer on May 1. AP
By Dan George, SI.com
Thanks to taking two out of three from the New York Yankees over the weekend in the Friendly Confines, the Chicago Cubs check in at No. 10 in this week's Power Rankings.
Innocent victim? One-time cheater? Inveterate scofflaw? Liar? You've heard all the arguments, you've read all the columnists. The evidence is just sketchy enough to support almost any opinion.
Heck, even Sammy's peers are divided on this one, which should tell us something. Many players were disappointed, given Sosa's persona as an ambassador, one of baseball's good guys.
"Sosa corking his bat is like saying Roger Clemens scuffs the ball," said Reds pitcher Danny Graves. "It breaks your heart."
"I never heard of that happening in Japan," Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki said. "If it did happen and someone was caught, there would be much shame."
Graves' teammate, Reds captain Barry Larkin, lamented the latest PR disaster in a sport whose attendance has declined steadily since 2001. "Black eye after black eye after black eye for baseball," he said. "There was Mark McGwire and 'andro' and Ken Caminiti and Jose Canseco saying everyone in the game is on steroids, and now you have everybody wondering how many players use corked bats."
Indians pitcher Terry Mulholland said baseball would press on. "There's no difference between this and finding out there's no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny. Regardless, we're still going to color eggs and stuff stockings," he said. "And I still think the Cubs will sell some Sosa jerseys."
More than one player questioned Sosa's claim that he merely picked up a batting practice bat by mistake.
"Sammy has done a lot of good and you want to believe he's been doing it the honest way," Braves outfielder Gary Sheffield said. "But I listened to what he had to say and I just don't like his story. Maybe I'm naive to a lot of things. A lot of guys are looking for an edge.'"
Indians outfielder Ellis Burks echoed that sentiment. "Sammy was just coming off the disabled list, and he's been struggling. I think he wanted an edge of some kind ... and he got caught," Burks said. "When I played with Orel Hershiser in San Francisco, I would ask him, 'Orel, I know you're doing something [to the ball].' He wouldn't tell me. You take those things to the grave with you."
Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell and Mariners outfielder Mike Cameron think the incident has been blown out of proportion.
"All those naysayers, those who say, 'They are all on steroids, the strike zone is too small, the ballparks are too little, the balls are juiced' -- it just gives them another arrow to shoot," Bagwell said. "That's why I'm saying it's unfortunate. You shouldn't generalize the game because of one incident like that."
"They're treating it like the space shuttle blew up," Cameron said. "Let it go. The guy's going to come back and hit 45, 50 homers no matter what. He got caught. It's against the rules. That's it. He'll serve 10 days and come back. It ain't going to stop him from hitting home runs, I guarantee you."
But it will taint Sosa's legacy, according to other players.
"It probably will affect him the same way the Pete Rose thing did," said shortstop Jose Valentin of the White Sox. "The same thing happened with [Roberto] Alomar when he spit on [umpire] John Hirschbeck. A lot of people forgot what kind of player he was and remembered the guy who spit on the umpire."
Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry, himself forever linked to accusations of ball-doctoring, said a lot will depend on how Sosa handles the matter.
"He should have been a better carpenter," Perry told the Seattle Times. "It just goes to show you that everyone wants an edge. This will always hang over him. How much he lets it bug him is up to him. If it bugs him a lot, it will curtail his career a great deal."
But at least one fan isn't jumping off the Sammy bandwagon.
"I'll stick with him," Nic Rotondo, a 37-year-old freelance graphics designer, told the Chicago Tribune. " How can you embarrass a Cubs fan any further?"
SI.com's Power Rankings
Rank
LW
Team
1
1
Seattle Mariners How hot are they? Their No. 1 run producer, Edgar Martinez, was on the bench last week because of interleague play, and the M's still scored 40 runs during 5-1 rampage through Philadelphia and New York.
2
2
Atlanta Braves Count Greg Maddux, who's made a career living off the corners, among those who think umpires are shrinking the strike zone. "There's such an effort being made not to call a ball an inch off the plate a strike, they're missing strikes," he says.
3
3
San Francisco Giants When they recently honored their 1978 team, all the players except Willie McCovey went on the field wearing bright orange jerseys. "Hall of Fame has its privilege," noted Vida Blue.
4
5
Montreal Expos There have been 63 homers in the 16 games in San Juan's cozy Hiram Bithorn Stadium. The Angels' Garret Anderson sounded almost embarrassed after hitting three in one game the other night.
Minnesota Twins More than one person gets a shock when talking to reliever Mike Nakamura for the first time. Nakamura was born in Japan but raised in Australia, and his English comes with a definite Down Under accent.
7
13
Houston Astros Add a mysterious fungus to Minute Maid Park's myriad attractions. It's been growing on parts of the ballpark's roof for the last three years, and folks are already squabbling over who should clean it as Houston prepares to host the 2004 All-Star Game.
8
4
New York Yankees Here's something to put their struggles into perspective. The Yanks are 12-20 over their past 32 games. The Tigers, even after losing their last four games, are 13-19.
9
6
Oakland Athletics Like John Candy's character in Splash, when they find something that works, they stick to it. Bill Beane and Co. spent their first 20 draft picks on college players before finally taking a California high school catcher in the 19th round.
10
10
Chicago Cubs Circle Aug. 1-3 on your calendar. That's when the Cubs play host to Mark Grace and the Arizona Diamondbacks for a three-game series. Neither Sosa nor manager Dusty Baker was amused by ex-Cub Grace's corked bat joke.
11
9
Los Angeles Dodgers Fernando Valenzuela is back in the Dodgers family, doing analysis on their Spanish-language radio broadcasts. Of course, the way their pitching is banged up, they might want to see if he can take a turn in the rotation.
12
16
St. Louis Cardinals Cal Eldred has seven saves in nine tries, but manager Tony LaRussa still will be glad when closer Jason Isringhausen, now rehabbing in the minors, returns. The Cards are 4-14 in one-run games this season.
13
11
Toronto Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi had planned to put pending free-agent outfielder Shannon Stewart and Cory Lidle on the market at midseason, but the Jays have played so well that they may instead try to add veteran help if they remain in the wild-card hunt.
14
12
Philadelphia Phillies Their lack of punch (.249 batting average overall, .250 with runners in scoring position) is bringing out manager Larry Bowa's natural testiness. "You guys have all the answers," he told reporters. "Who are you going to trade?"
15
17
Anaheim Angels Garret Anderson is no fan of baseball's plan for players in this summer's All-Star Game to wear National and American league jerseys, instead of their own team uniforms. 'If it just comes down to money, that's weak," Anderson said of the marketing ploy. "I don't like it."
16
14
Kansas City Royals Rookie Angel Berroa is having a nice season at the plate, batting .270 with six homers and 23 RBIs -- but the 25-year-old shortstop has also made 16 errors in his first 56 games.
17
19
Cincinnati Reds Notre Dame quarterback Carlyle Holiday doesn't play baseball for the Fighting Irish. But that didn't stop the Reds, who played the school's fight song on the conference call, from making him their 44th-round pick in last week's draft.
18
18
Colorado Rockies Coors Field, the home run haven? Gabe Kapler went 67 at-bats without hitting a homer before being sent to the minors last week. And Larry Walker's homer Saturday against the Royals was his first since April 29.
19
15
Baltimore Orioles Commemorating the 1944 World Series with the Cardinals, they wore throwback St. Louis Browns uniforms for Saturday's game at Busch Stadium. The scoreboard even said Browns vs. Cardinals, and the local TV station showed the first part of the game in black and white.
20
24
Arizona Diamondbacks They've placed 10 players on the disabled list this year, including eight pitchers. "If we end up winning this thing [NL West], our MVPs will be our own trainers," said Luis Gonzalez.
21
22
Florida Marlins Lefty Dontrelle Willis (4-1, 3.00 ERA) is off to the best start for a Marlins rookie since Livan Hernandez in 1997. He was 4-0 with a 1.50 ERA at Class AA Carolina before his May 9 callup.
22
23
New York Mets This isn't the kind of history Tom Glavine hoped to make in New York. For the first time in his career -- after 518 consecutive starts -- the 37-year-old Glavine (5-6, 4.82 ERA) is expected to miss his turn in the rotation Wednesday. He has a bone spur in his left elbow.
23
20
Chicago White Sox What's wrong with Paul Konerko? A year ago, he finished the first two months hitting .333 with eight homers and 48 RBIs. But he came out of this past weekend at .194-3-15 -– and he may have lost his first base job to the resurgent Frank Thomas.
24
25
Pittsburgh Pirates In the 20th round of last week's draft, they selected Brett Holmes, a center fielder from the Auburn University -- and the grandson of former Pirates player, coach and manager Bill Virdon.
25
28
Milwaukee Brewers The Jeffrey Hammonds era in Milwaukee is over. The injury-prone outfielder was hitting .206 with three homers and 10 RBIs when he was released last week. He won't be forgotten, though -- the Brewers are still on the hook for $5 million of his three-year $21.75 million deal.
Cleveland Indians The addition of lefty Billy Traber to the rotation means they now have three rookies in their starting five. Cuuriously, all are older than C.C. Sabathia, the staff veteran at 22-year-old.
28
27
Tampa Bay Devil Rays Everybody keeps waiting for him to fizzle. Meanwhile, Rocco Baldelli, after hitting .314 with two homers and 11 RBIs in May, now has back-to-back AL Rookie of the Month awards.
29
29
San Diego Padres They marked last week's interleague series with the Tigers by honoring members of the 1984 Padres team that lost the World Series to Detroit in five games. Nothing says tradition like Terry Kennedy, Tim Flannery, Dave Dravecky, Ed Whitson, Mark Thurmond and Carmelo Martinez.
30
30
Detroit Tigers Lefty Mike Maroth is just the second pitcher in 110 years to lose 10 games before June 1. And who can forget the first, Dolf Luque of the 1922 Cincinnati Reds?
