Among the notable names that aren’t in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Sammy Sosa’s gets lost in the shuffle sometimes. The former Cubs slugger got the cold shoulder from voters – like most players rumored or proven to have taken steroids or performance-enhancing drugs – never receiving more than 18.5% of votes in his 10 years on the ballot.
Sosa’s numbers speak for themselves, but his alleged use of PEDs will likely keep him out of the Hall of Fame forever. Two years after his chances were virtually erased, Sosa doesn’t seem to be sweating his place in baseball history.
“Whatever happens, my achievements and home runs can never be erased from the board,” Sosa said, per Hector Gomez. “Nothing and no one can erase those numbers. I want to be a Hall of Fame in heaven, not on earth.”
Sosa has continuously denied ever using steroids or PEDs despite being included in a 2009 New York Times article citing over 100 players who failed a drug test during spring training in 2003. Sosa hit 40 home runs and finished ninth in NL MVP voting that year.
The great steroid debate
Strictly looking at his numbers, it’s hard to argue that Sammy Sosa doesn’t belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He is one of nine MLB players to hit 600 career home runs and the only player with three 60-home run seasons. Incredibly, he did not lead the league in homers in any of those three seasons.
He was a seven-time All-Star, six-time Silver Slugger Award winner and won NL MVP honors in 1998.
Despite his otherworldly numbers and achievements, Sosa is not the best statistical anomaly that’s not in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Fellow 90s sluggers Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds, both of which also have steroid implications against them, failed to reach the 75 percent threshold to be inducted via the Baseball Writer’s Association of America ballot.
Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez and Rafael Palmiero are several other worthy candidates based on statistics that aren’t in due to their connection with PEDs.
Maybe these players, along with Sammy Sosa, will get their day in Cooperstown, N.Y. eventually. For now, they’re left wondering what could have been.
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