Sosa's Corked Bat

An item that is in the possession of Chi-town Collectibles is a piece of Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa's famous corked bat. Sammy Sosa played right field for the Cubs from 1992 until 2004. He was known and loved by Chicago fans for his powerful home runs. Sosa had a signature home run skip and salute (involving kissing to fingers and pressing them to his chest and pointing into the air). He hit 545 home runs in a cubs uniform and ended his career with 609 total home runs. His greatness didn't come without controversy. Sosa played during the steroid era in baseball history. If you take a look at Sammy during his rookie year with the White Sox you can see a huge muscle gain occurred during his career, plus his head grew (a side effect of steroid use) and he had to increase the size of his batting helmet. If he didn't already have speculations surrounding him being a cheater, he confirmed it on June 4, 2003. On that summer day the Chicago Cubs played the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Sammy Sosa was up to bat in the first inning with two base runners on. He swung and made contact with the ball but his bat shattered. Broken bats aren't that uncommon in baseball but this one was different. The umpire noticed something odd about the inside of the barrel. There was cork inside. Sosa was then ejected, in front of his home team fans, for tampering with the bat. Sosa did say the it was an accident, that he had grabbed the wrong bat before walking up to the batter's box. He stated that he used the bat for batting practice to excite fans with booming home runs. Although it may be the truth its hard to believe. Sosa received an eight game suspension. Chi-town Collectibles is excited to have a piece of the historical bat even though it comes with an unethical Chicago Sports past. But you can not deny the excitement Sammy Sosa brought to the North side. He brought 60 HR seasons and battles with Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals.