Cubs fans were given so many great moments by Sammy Sosa that it’s hard to single out just one. He had such an incredible string of games in June of 1998 that it was almost surprising when he went to the plate and didn’t hit a home run. Every at bat was an event not to be missed. He was a true force of nature at the plate. I remember watching in disbelief and thinking that it was perhaps the most awesome stretch of play that I would ever witness by a Cub. Sammy’s 20 home run month was the pinnacle of the greatest season I’ve ever seen produced by a Cubs player. Over ten years later, I can say with confidence that the Cubs winning it all would be the only thing that could top it. Let’s just say, I don’t expect to see it surpassed any time soon.
With the announcement of his retirement, I thought not only of his great achievements on the field but of a story I heard about Sammy as a minor leaguer. Sammy was in the Rangers’ minor league system with Juan Gonzalez and they went to buy groceries. Neither one knew much English and they ended up buying canned cat food thinking that the picture of the meat on the outside of the can looked tasty. The company apparently made their product appear good enough to eat. Sammy claimed that they ate it and that it wasn’t too bad although I don’t remember him having any Fancy Feast endorsement deals. It made me wonder what it must have been like for him to come to a place so foreign to him that he wasn’t even sure what he should eat. To have come from the streets of San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic, and to rise to the heights of stardom that he did is a true success story. Only in America.
1. berselius (view all comments) — Jun 04, 2009 @ 12:04 PM
That’s a great story melissa - I haven’t heard that one before