Sammy Sosa
The man. Slammin’ Sammy. Chicago’s best athlete. At first, we were just happy to get thirty homeruns and maybe thirty stolen bases out of Sammy. Then, out of nowhere, he became the greatest slugger that baseball has ever known. Sure he lost out to McGwire, then Bonds, as the single-season homerun champ, but those guys are just flash-in-the-pans over the long haul. Sammy cranks out fifty homeruns a season without effort, and he’s the only player in history to go over the sixty mark not just twice, but three times. Go ahead and argue, but we won’t waver: Sammy is the most fearsome slugger we’ll see in our lifetime, and the yardstick by which all future Chicago ballplayers will be measured.
Best of Chicago 2002
