Sosa and steroids: It is so

The idea staggered me. ... It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of 50 million people — with the single-mindedness of a burglar blowing a safe.
Nick Carraway in "The Great Gatsby," describing the Arnold Rothstein-inpsired character. Rothstein was one of the Black Sox scandal plotters.

If you are not surprised that former Major League Baseball slugger Sammy Sosa has been discovered to be a steroid user, you need to take your blinders off.

I remember him when he was a rookie--a skinny one--with the Chicago White Sox in 1989. He was hyped as the next big thing, but the only thing he excelled at was striking out a lot.

He improved his skills, after his trade to the Cubs, but was at best an above average hitter, with one All-Star game appearance to his credit.

But then came the flood.

Until 1998, Sosa never hit more than 40 home runs in a season. He hit 65 that year, and he exceeded 60 two more times.

Cub fans, a loyal lot--too loyal in this White Sox fan's opinion--began turning their back on their hero after a corked bat of his shattered during a 2003 game, which earned Sosa a suspension. A year later, Sosa went on the disabled list after a sneeze--that's right, a sneeze gave him back spasm. By then the flood of homers was over, and Sosa's accomplishments looked even more suspicious.

Shortly before the final game of that season, a disappointing one for the North Siders, Sosa decided to take himself out of the line up. By then it was clear that Sosa had not only wore out his welcome Cub fans, but also with his teammates. An unidentified Cub grabbed a bat and smashed Sosa's boom box to pieces. His Cub days were over.

Sosa limped along for two more seasons, one with Baltimore and another with Texas--an extended version of Babe Ruth's six-week swan-song with the Boston Braves.

In short, he sucked.

As for Ruth, he abused his body with too much food and excessive drinking, but the Babe was not a cheater.

It was an auspicious day for Sosa news to come out. The first game of the Crosstown Classic series--between the White Sox and the Cubs was scheduled--but the matchup was rained out.

Sox analyst Steve Stone, who had the same job with the Cubs during the Sosa era, was asked if he thought Sosa was a steroid user during his days on the North Side.

His reply was, "Do you think the sun's gonna rise in the East tomorrow?"

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