Sammy Sosa: I don't know why the Ricketts Family have a mark on me

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While relaxing in Dubai—which generally means avoiding the 111º heat—Sosa will sometimes open up about his feelings toward his former team. On his last night, after nine hours of sightseeing and photo shoots, he changes into a white polo shirt and dark blue jeans. He’s gripping another double 12-year Macallan when his pique emerges. “I passed Ernie Banks for most home runs in Chicago Cubs history,” he says. “He has a statue, and I don’t have nothing. So, what the f---?”

He expresses frustration, too, with the Ricketts family, who insist that they run a values-driven organization and who have publicly maintained a hard line toward Sosa—harder than any other owner of a club that once employed a legend of the steroid era. “They come in and buy the team and they have a mark on me, and I don’t know why,” Sosa says. Of chairman Tom Ricketts, Sosa says, “This guy never was there when I was there.” (Ricketts declined to be interviewed for this story.)

The Cubs’ mark on Sosa, though, hasn’t always been indelible. According to a source close to the club, representatives of the Cubs met with Sosa in 2014, at the behest of Dominican government officials, to discuss a possible homecoming. According to the source, Sosa agreed that he would issue an apology—that is, something to acknowledge malfeasance, but short of a total confession. The next day, Sosa backed out.

Through an email from a spokesperson, Sosa confirms this account: In an effort to put the past behind us I agreed to meet with a PR firm representing the Cubs. Everyone signed confidentiality agreements, so I do not bring this up in interviews. All I will say is that after meeting with this group, I agreed to make a statement that would heal things. Both sides agreed upon this statement. When the time came, I felt like I was being swept up in a PR machine that was moving way too fast and not adhering to the spirit of our agreement, so I pulled out. I never met with anyone from the Cubs and do not hold anything against them. I always wish them well. —Sammy

Tom Ricketts has always said that the only way for Sosa to be welcomed back to Wrigley would be for him to admit his transgressions. Sosa acknowledges that he was willing (four years ago, anyway) to concede them in such a way that he could return to the place he still calls “my house.” Semantic gymnastics typically accompany the topic of steroids in baseball, but it doesn’t require an expert to come to a judgment as to what Sosa is really saying.

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