NEWSLETTER
It isn’t one of the sunnier Sammy Sosa memories for Cubs fans – in fact, it’s one of the more bizarre moments in the last few decades of baseball – but it’s part of the history.
On this day in 2003, Sosa’s bat cracked in a game against the Rays, and things got crazy.
Sosa, who was suspended for seven games, later attempted to explain the discovered cork away by saying he inadvertently grabbed a batting practice bat by mistake. That bat was corked, Sosa said, because he liked to put on a show for the fans in BP. Few bought it, but it is worth pointing out that later scans of Sosa’s bats – from that season, and seasons prior – did not reveal additional cork.
It’s weird that this seriously troubling bit of cheating took place in that wonderful 2003 season, and you kind of never mentally connect the two things. In fact, I suspect that because it was that year, people talk about it a lot less than they would have otherwise. Really, think about how nuts it was!
