Tough call

Sammy Sosa is going to be a tough call for the Hall.

I made my stand against steroid users by leaving Mark McGwire off my ballot last year. I pledged never to vote for McGwire, and that pledge will stand. But Sosa is a somewhat different story. His candidacy is more complicated for me.

Did he use steroids when he hit his 66 home runs in the summer of 1998? Is he getting some sort of outside help now that he's back to being a power hitter for the Texas Rangers? Tough call. Just like Sosa's Cooperstown candidacy. I can assume the worst, yet I'd want more proof before committing to omit him from bronzed immortality.

While McGwire is hiding somewhere in Orange County, Calif., Sosa is back, front and center and hitting home runs for the Rangers. While McGwire refused to help Congress two years ago, lamely saying, "I'm not here to discuss the past,'' Sosa issued an extremely well-crafted written denial of steroid usage (obviously written by his lawyers or agent). Then when Sosa was called upon to speak, he struggled to find English words. I know Sosa's English is better than it seemed that day. But maybe he was nervous. Can I know for sure?

Sosa's barely audible denial was fairly unconvincing. But unlike McGwire, at least Sosa denied usage. And who am I to judge someone's sincerity? Perhaps no one gave a better performance that day than Rafael Palmeiro, who shook his finger while assuring us that he never took steroids, punctuating his soliloquy with a period, as in "I have never used steroids, period.'' But of course, now we now know Palmeiro is worthy of being a soap opera star. Within weeks of that testimony he was quickly exposed as a liar by failing a steroid test.

No one has ever had the goods on Sosa. No one has ever said he failed a test. Unlike Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, he never bought from BALCO. I can assume the worst. But I'm not sure that's fair.

McGwire's refusal to testify, and his continued stonewalling after promising to help, is tantamount to admission in my eyes, as if his behemoth body wasn't enough evidence. But while Sosa grew from a skinny Rangers import into a strong man, his size never expanded beyond that of a relatively normal human. Everyone gets bigger as they get older.

Unlike McGwire, he isn't doing a Greta Garbo impersonation. He's back to hitting home runs and reaching milestones. He hit homer No. 600 on Wednesday against his old team, the Cubs. It was dramatic moment for a man who has brought us quite a few of them. Yet doubts will always accompany Sosa

And unlike McGwire, Sosa has returned to play and thrive after baseball instituted steroid testing. The testing is imperfect, and Sosa is, too. Maybe he's just as guilty as McGwire. But how am I going to know that for sure? Am I going to be able to count assumption and innuendo against Sosa? Am I going to assume the worst? Tough call.