So glad that the whole thing about English being Sosa's second language was brought up. Any legal setting is the most important place to not have your words misconstrued, and one of the many, many reasons why lawyers exist is to communicate clearly on behalf of their clients in the dialect of Legal English (which you could make a solid argument is indeed a dialect from a linguistic perspective). Preparing a statement to be read by your legal counsel is fairly common practice in the court of law, and does not make Sosa a shady character as a result. Honestly, this is one of my favorite Baseball Bits so far; it strays from the usual stats-heavy approach (which I love dearly) and in doing so takes some great creative risks that I think paid off!
Especially when we already had a Spanish speaking player get absolutely dragged earlier this year for a mistake he made in an interview where he spoke English, let alone in a congressional inquiry hearing
One could argue any technical/precision language (science, engineering, mathematics, computer programming, even journalism) are dialects. The way language is used in each is far different from how they're used in common communication. There's far less slang and words are usually very precisely defined (hence "precision language") so they often don't follow regular speech. Even so call "proper English" is not as strict as they are. On the other hand, one could argue they're _anti-languages,_ since a distinguishing feature of language is that it changes very fluidly and without warning due to pop-culture osmosis and other such phenomena. The fact that most technical languages, including legalese, generally don't change much at all over time makes them quite different from "actual" language.
@@Qwertyui606 *Bernie voice* "I've been 99 since the 50's, and I'll stay 99 until the 99% get their fair share, at which point, I will dissolve into dust and blow away in the wind"
Dude when I came to the united states my tio would tell me "we speak english and love baseball." we came to chicago at the turn of the century and settled on the south side but man did i love my cubbies. one of my earliest memories was that nlds against the marlins and sammy smacked a double to right field. i just remember my tio looking at me declaring this as the so called year. watching this masterpiece youve crafted is sobering. it nurtures that inner child in me that knew that sammy did nothing wrong. thank you Mr baseball, can you foolish? youre an icon to the space
@@Roysorb But the question is, “can (he) foolish?” I suspect he can, but the jury is still out. I am a Canadian. I speak English and French and love baseball.
This isnt a video on how the 1963 Giants had Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Orlando Cepeda combined for about 100 HRs and 20 WAR and somehow missed the postseason.
@@vumassterUntil 1969, only 2. There was only the World Series, nothing else. The ‘63 Giants weren’t even runners-up in the NL, they finished third, 11 games behind the eventual champion Dodgers.
Sosa should be in the Hall of Fame simply for the fact he got not one, not two, not four, but three 60 home run seasons and didn't lead the league in homers in any of these seasons. That's rough buddy
Even better: those are the only three years in history he wouldn’t have led the NL in homers Only six 60+ homer seasons in NL history, Sosa had three of them but never led the league
I don't care if he was listed in the private MLBPA investigation, Bobson Dugnutt and his 1,238 HRs should be in the Hall of Fame. Nothing was ever proven!
"Schilling left the meeting unscathed." Disappointed that his reputation wasn't dragged through the mud, Curt decided to spend the rest of his life ruining it himself.
@@FoolishBaseball “I like OOTP so much I’ll swindle tens of millions to never complete an inferior version…and also somehow produce one of the most underrated RPGs of the last 15 years”
As someone who grew up in a Hispanic household but predominantly spoke English I can assure you that the Spanish that I know is enough to correctly order my lunch but if I tried to use that same level of Spanish in my job I would be fired because I’m just not fluent enough of a speaker to read and speak at the level my work requires of me. It’s a valid reason for Sosa to have a prepped statement while testifying.
Slammin Sammy was by far my favorite player when i moved to Chicago as a kid in '97. One of my treasured core memories is meeting him at the Cubs Convention before the 98 season and then being at his 61+62 game. He made watching baseball FUN!
I was at that game and it was hilarious. He was in SUCH a slump. Throwing like 1 strike every 12 pitches. He finally puts one in the zone and it felt crushed.
I know it's pretty well-known at this point but my favorite Sammy Sosa factoid ever is that he's the only player in MLB history to have three separate 60 home run seasons, and he was the MLB home run leader in NONE of them. Pure craziness.
As a baseball nerd, I always feel like an outcast because there's nobody in my life (except my dad) that I can talk deep baseball with. I've watched all your videos multiple times and it just feels like home. There are so many topics that you've touched on that I bring up to my dad and we just talk endlessly about it. Growing up I've always looked at him as my personal baseball encyclopedia, but because of things like Baseball Reference, Baseball Savant, Wikipedia, and Foolish Baseball, I've come to surpass his knowledge, and now I've become his personal baseball encyclopedia.
The thing about Sosa's testimony is that it doesn't mean he didn't use PEDs. His testimony was, “To be clear, I have never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs.” “I have not broken the laws of the United States or the laws of the Dominican Republic.” and “I have been tested as recently as 2004, and I am clean.” All possibly truthful statements, and all consistent with him using PEDs. Steroids were legal within the Dominican Republic at the time. So long as he used in the DR, he wouldn't take illegal PEDs, since they were legal there. He wouldn't break the laws of either country. And by 2004, he was clean and stopped using. All that said, I don't think it should bar him from the Hall of Fame.
Yes..people who were never picked in gym class..not evne last do think that cheaters should still be in the Hall of Fame. Enjoy being a virgin your entire life. Always fighting to get that Zoloft in you before the knife goes through your artery. In a life filled with nothng but disappointments, you are in for another one. Sosa, Bonds, McGwire, etc. will NEVER be in the Hall of Fame
I think the main reason Ortiz and Sosa have been treated so differently is because Sosa's numbers are more suspicious. Ortiz was just a normal good hitter with mid-tier hall of fame numbers and a bunch of very good but not unprecedented seasons. Prior to Judge's 2022, Sosa had 37.5% of all 60+ HR seasons. We more or less know the other 2 guys with 60+ HR seasons in that era were on PEDs and Sosa had as many as them combined. It just feels like he had to be on PEDs to achieve what he did. That's probably not fair, it's basically punishing him for being great, but if we can look at Bonds '01-'04 and say that no clean player could do what he did in those years, I don't think it's too crazy to look at a guy with three 60 HR seasons in 4 years and say it's suspicious. But hey, maybe Judge puts up some more 60 HR seasons and we will have to rethink what we consider realistic. Maybe Sosa really was just that good.
I think it's unfair to Sosa that he got really good in his late-20s and was labeled suspicious, while Ortiz did the same thing and managed to maintain it for a lot longer. Really, the point in comparing Sosa to Ortiz is not to bring down Ortiz though. I think Ortiz is fine. I have no problem with how he's treated. It's Sosa that's the injustice.
Papi is also a larger than life, gregarious personality. Sosa had a reputation for sullenness. Totally unfair factor, but definitely part of the equation. McGwire being white helped his eventual rehabilitation. The Rocket isn’t persona non grata to the same degree Bonds is, despite being a comparably awful human being.
@@FoolishBaseball Many of Ortiz's great seasons came after testing was in place and was frequently catching those on the juice. Sosa's career was over before that happened.
@@FoolishBaseball This is a great video and I know it wasn't meant to be exhaustive, but I think it would be fair to include that PED usage does have links to the coveted "bounce back ability" where users do in fact recover quicker than non-users. I don't mean just injuries, but simply that wear and tear is experienced differently. The day in day out nature of baseball and the need for consistently high energy and regeneration is still a major reason why users risk the potential side effects. Yes, this does make it easier to amp up a workout routine, but it makes everything easier in some respect. I'm not here to make this a science debate nor would I be even the 100,000th person on the list of most qualified to speak on this. I'm just saying there is a bit more to it and while we don't have anything perfect to utilize here with hindsight, it does seem more likely than not that Sosa benefited in ways that others did not because of his usage of something that is now banned. Would I even be the least bit upset if he was put in the HOF? Nope. Do I demand an asterisk? Nope. I simply think it's fair to note that PEDs do have some qualities that other things like a great diet and workout routine can't match and it's fair to believe that the PED usage did affect day to day performance in a game that is very much a day to day sport. We don't have to convict him of anything or be upset at him. There's just some things that don't necessarily show up in the box score or from the side by side "oh look he got jacked all of a sudden" photos, and those things are still a big deal for performance and confidence.
@user-bz9sj8mh5d A-Rod famously tested positive, and the guy running his regimen said that he wouldn't have been caught except that he made a mistake. If we take that at face value, is it that hard to believe that another player might have not made the mistake and gotten away with using his whole career? There are also studies that have found that using steroids increases what your body is capable of producing with respect to muscle mass even after you stop. If Papi was on something and then stopped, he could've still been seeing benefits without a risk of popping positive
i think the main reason why ortiz is given the benefit of the doubt and sosa isn't, is because ortiz wasn't good when there weren't drug tests, but once they started testing people, he was even better. Sosa happened to be good before the tests and once those tests were put in place he just kinda fell off. This is a great video though and I really like this perspective.
Great breakdown - I was a kid during the '98 home run race and came to love Sammy even though I was a Cardinals fan. He was a fun player to watch and made for one of the most exciting storylines of any baseball season. As someone who lives in Chicago now, would be great to see him get some love from the Cubbies.
@@FoolishBaseballI’m not a huge baseball fan (definitely more casual) so idk why the HoF is run the way it is Why do players only have a certain amount of time to get in? It seems very arbitrary and dumb
@@Shawn_Babcock My best guess is that it would overwhelm voters as every player with a notable career that can be called HoF worthy would be on the ballot, from every decade. Think about it, we have nowadays about 10 to 20 players who have a HoF worthy career, some more than others, and combine that with about the same number of players from the 2000s, 90s, 80s, and so on. Every player who gets on the ballot has 10 years worth of chances, however if you don't receive enough votes to remain relevant you're just dropped off the ballot completely. Despite that, there's always the Veteran's Committe to save the day, as it can put players thought to be "unlucky" or "misinterpreted" on the ballot straight to the HoF, like they did with Fred McGriff on the '23 class, so Sosa might as well have a chance
@@FoolishBaseball it's crazy that a guy with 600 homers, a 10 WAR season, and a major part of one of the greatest seasons in sports history won't be in the hall of fame
I am so glad you addressed the second language point. If you play baseball your whole life and mostly in a country with a different language, odds are you're gonna pick enough of the language to get through a post game interview. However, trusting your fluency enough to appear before congress, where the slightest mistake will be pounced on and magnified is a WHOLE different ballgame.
0:07 His real downfall began several months prior to the corked bat incident when he was hit in the head by a pitch from Salomon Torres. He was never the same after that at bat. It messed him up real bad psychologically. He began standing too far off the plate after that and was no longer able to reach the outside corner, as if he were afraid of being hit again.
Thank you for making this video. I was a massive Sosa fan when I was a little kid, and it's bothered me for years how he's been treated by fans, media and front office executives. I'm willing to admit there are reasons to be suspicious about those 5 peak seasons, but I hate how he gets lumped in with the guys who tested positive or those who got caught up in other PED related investigations like the Balco scandal or the Mitchell Report. I'd be thrilled if baseball (the Cubs in particular) could find a way to show him a little more respect and gratitude for what he contributed during his career. Hopefully this can move the needle for some fans out there like your video on Larry Walker.
Unsurprisingly thoughtful and well put together video. Surprisingly emotional/upsetting to think about how poorly an icon of the sport was treated for (what could very well be) nothing. Great stuff Bailey
There wasn’t a steroid scandal at all. There was merely a malicious railroading of a bunch of players who made the sport incredible amounts of money by getting people to watch, then railroading them and throwing them under the bus when a little backlash started to form. MLB laughed all the way to the bank, then trashed all the guys who helped make their paydays larger. Truly disgusting.
@@Johnfisher12345 Truth. Motherfuckers act like everyone wasn't on amphetamines, then cocaine, then 'roids, and now it's probably SARMS, and next week it will be...
@@Johnfisher12345bud they cheated stop defending cheaters who made millions off cheating and keeping non cheaters from the league. I know a guy who was an amazing college baseball player and only did not make the pros because others took steroids when he did not and saw his dream fade away no sympathy for those cheating scumbags
To be honest, it's probably the best evidence against him, but still not acceptable. Baseball players are allowed to get big muscles and lift big weights.
@@FoolishBaseball You can make the argument that it could be all circumstantial and that's certainly not impossible but it's very hard to say it's not likely he did use performance enhancing drugs there are just too many coincidences for me. Obviously Ortiz is in but I don't see that as a precedent from a performance perspective. What helped him greatly I think is that he's well-liked (and I like him too) and he's sort of an icon for the city of Boston. Idk if you can say those things about Sosa, not necessarily because he's not a good or likable guy but we just haven't gotten to know him well enough to form opinions that he is.
The other two guys who hit 60+ at that time were steroid users. Bonds only hit 60+ after he started using. I'm not saying it's the only factor, but it can definitely turn an already great HR hitter into a legendary one. Also, to be clear, I think that Sosa should be in the HOF, but I also think that bonds and Mcguire should be in there to. I'm merely saying that based on the conglomerate of evidence, I find it very difficult to believe that he wasn't on PEDs.@6393dude
I was ten years old and a huge Cubs fan when the 98 home run race was happening. Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, and Ken Griffey Jr are big reasons why I love baseball as much as I do today and Sosa especially was always my favorite player. I appreciate this video a lot more than some might understand
My great grandpa passed away around 2012. He was the biggest cubs fan and he loved Sammy Sosa more than any other player he saw in his life and he was watching from the early 50's. He was devistated whenever another cubs fan would talk shit on Sosa and because of him, despite not being a baseball fan until a couple years ago, I loved sosa as well. It's really nice to see someone defend him in this manner because it's incredible hard to find in other areas. I know if he could watch this video he'd adore it.
Ripken deserves some credit for injecting some life into baseball a few years before the HR race. Fans were pissed at MLB for the lockout and Cal breaking the consecutive games played record was a great story and everyone wanted to see him do it. After all, Cal sacrificed his offense for the sake of playing every game at shortstop, and as a tall shortstop no less. You know there were times throughout that streak where he was not completely healthy.
don't listen to the steroid apologists. The HR race did not save baseball from the player strike of 1994. Baseball was already rebounding. Sure the excitement of a HR race accelerated that rebound, but it was happening nonetheless.
The file folders at 7:20 lol. Personally, "August in Kansas City weather forecasts" I'm guessing this is related to the Ichiro quote; but it would be a fun video to see if the club plays so much better during that month becuase other teams crumble in the humidity.
Alright Mr.Foolish baseball you have changed much of what I previously thought of Sammy Sosa. Thank you for giving him his credit and showing how people have misconstrued his playing days.
As someone born in ‘03, I had never heard this side of the story. The sense I had always gotten was that Sosa was basically irrefutably a cheater and all the other stuff Foolish pushes back on here. Very interesting to see this position.
Nice video. Hopefully, this will help Sammy's chances in the Hall of Fame. I wish you would have added something about how his power surge from pre-98 to 98 wasn't as crazy as some people say. People routinely say he went from a 30 HR guy to a 60 HR guy overnight, however, in 1996, he hit 40 HRs in only 124 games. He was on pace for about 52 that season. Reporters were asking him if he was going to break Hack Wilson's Cubs record for HRs in a season, which at the time was 56. On the back of one of his baseball cards from 1997 or so, it says that he has the potential to be the first 50/50 guy in history. Also, according to his baseball cards, he was only around 200 pounds in 1998, and his weight had been gradually going up over the years, starting around '95 or so. By '96, he already had solid mass, and by '98, he wasn't much bigger. His biggest size gains came from 1999-2002, peaking around April-May 2002, after he had already hit 60 HRs three times. If you look at the 50 HR hitters throughout history, few of them were muscular. This leads me to believe that, while helpful, muscle mass doesn't have a whole lot to do with hitting home runs, and proves that it isn't a requirement. Also, I wish you would have went in depth on Sosa's changes in his approach at the plate prior to the 1998 season, which he worked on extensively with Cubs hitting coach Jeff Pentland in the offseason. He lowered his hands in his batting stance significantly, loaded his power up on his back leg with the new "toe tap" maneuver he began using, which allowed him to hit for more power, and became more selective at the plate, which lead to him swinging less at bad pitches, forcing pitchers to give him better pitches to hit, and he began hitting the ball to right field a lot. All of these things plus his likely 50+ HR capacity in 1996 makes him hitting 66 HR in 1998 not that crazy. He didn't put on a lot of muscle overnight like some people claim. That basically never happens. It was a gradual process with Sammy. His most significant size gains came after he had already hit 66 HRs. And even with steroids, significant size and strength gains made while on steroids are only possible with proper training and nutrition, meaning that he worked really hard to make the gains that he made.
Even as a diehard baseball fan, i didnt know much of this information in the video. Like the overstepping of the government investigators, all other Sammy's bats being clean, etc. I loved watching Sammy hit then hop as a kid, but also admittedly made all of the same assumptions about him being a cheater and a liar. But thanks to your video, I'll look at Sammy in a much more nuanced light as i hope we all will the further we get from the Steroid Era Also my wife watched the entire video intently, so another banger on your second channel as usual, Bailey!
Chief Keef made sure "Sosa" would never die in American culture. Also, you messed up by not making the Faneto or I Dont Like beat the background music for this entire video
as a dominican we are incredibly proud of sammy, but back in 2005-2009 he got alot of hate he doesnt even make much appearences since then , but the sammy sosa whitening cream is forever part of the dominican lore
It’s a shame they elected Ivan Rodriguez when canseco literally named him and was right about the other pure favoritism and an embarrassment to the hall pudge is in
Hey foolish idk if ur the right person to ask this question but l'd thought I might as well give it a shot but the question I have first you is; How nasty can a pitch really get? Like all the analytics of pitch movement and the human limit how nasty can a pitch really be? With spin rate, seamshifted wake, and velocity being a fluid factor what is the nastiest pitch that can be thrown with different breaks like strictly vertical or strictly horizontal or strictly diagnal. I was wondering this question if you could answer this it would be great!! If not if you think you know someone that could answer this question? U rock bro 😎🙌
Great video! I'm bummed. You're my favorite baseball channel, and I have notifications on for your videos, and yet I never get them. I only find out you post after a few days while randomly scrolling. I hope this is just a me thing.
This is really nuanced and well-done. I was born in the mid-90s, and as a result my earliest baseball memories are from the steroid era. I didn't really understand a lot of it as a child; there are many adults who, like you and the pinned comment say, do not get English legalese; but all those guys being accused of cheating really soured the game for me for years, and it wasn't until Ohtani jumped from Nippon to the MLB I started caring about the league again. I hadn't really done the homework to see what really happened, so I appreciate you sharing this. (For what it's worth, I think most the biggest names of that era should be inducted into the Hall, it is clear they would have been excellent even if not on steroids. It will probably take these guys getting really old and dying before the voters take them seriously/the current guys who were working in sports journalism retire/die)
Honestly one of my favorite baseball bits in a while. I appreciate the journalistic lens you brought to this one. I was vaguely pro Sosa into the Hall before this, but now I'm aggressively pro Sosa in general!
@@Richardtherat-t2didk averaging 30+ HRs and having a 40 HR season even if he rode those numbers from 92-03 he would easily get to or very close to the approximately 500 homers youd need to get into the hall of fame he wouldn’t be a 1st ballot kinda guy but he’d still be able to make it
I’m sold. Solid points made and great summation. I’m a Cubs fan, and unfortunately he doesn’t come up often, but I will make a case for him because of this video - and even more so if I ever end up having a conversation with Ricketts.
As a lifelong Cubs fan, Slammin Sammy deserves so much better and Ricketts acting high and mighty about it when he wasn't even owner during Sosa's tenure is gross.
I wish Cubs fans would demand the team bring him back and apologize. He WAS that team and was the only reason people like me even started watching them.
cant say i was like a die hard cubs fan but i tuned in to baseball because of sosa. i still remember lots of his teammates back then because i watched way too many cubs games. that hop after he hit a long fly ball is just unforgettable. im an angel fan btw
absolutely rejoicing that my sleeper favorite fighting baseball player, tim wakedield (in game representation of mike harkey, who else) is completely unscathed by this unfathomable news
My main takeaway from all of this is that I wanna see how the numbers of the Mitchell Report players compare to the rest of the league during their playing careers up until that point I think it might be interesting to look into
While there is plausible deniability for Sosa, his career slugging percentage before 1998 was .469. The rest of his career it was .589. He turned 30 in 1998. I have a very hard time believing he wasn’t a roid user
Two things can be true at once: Sammy was a steroid user and Sammy got railroaded, right along with a whole bunch of others who brought the game back up from its slump after the ridiculous strike of ‘94.
Late bloomers are a thing, just look at beloved hitter and hof'er Edgar Martínez, e wasn't even in the league until he was 27. Sure, he didn't have the peak of sosa, but maybe Sosa was just better
@@FoolishBaseball No one's ever said that getting big is a crime. But going from skinny to hulking in a very short span of time is reasonable evidence of juicing.
I've watched Cubs games and they don't even Mention him..Banks,Sandberg Blah Blah Blah crazy He should be in Hall of Fame.If Ortiz is in there ..Sammy should be there.
As a Cubs fan ho as a id during his peak it is wild to me that my fandom has been men in black erased of anything Sammy. You make some really good points and showcased just how nuanced this issue is.
Honestly, I kept thinking to myself the whole video that Bailey was gonna pull a switcheroo and say “this is the lesson of sports journalism, you can construe anybody as innocent or guilty.” But damn, never thought I’d see sosa in this light
To hell with language barriers. People whose only language is English and speak it fluently should lean heavily on their lawyers and keep answers minimal at a congressional hearing.
Thanks for making this video. As a cubs fan who actually watched Sosa on TV and IRL I can say this…cut the guy a break. It’s human nature to deny til you die, we all do it for self preservation. I’m not saying he’s free of any wrongdoing but cut him a break. HE almost single-handedly brought baseball back from the brink of extinction. It was him, as you pointed out in this video, that was the hype man for the HR race of 98. How many tickets did he help sell? How many jerseys? The Cubs and MLB weren’t not accepting of his contributions to their pocketbooks then but it’s easy for them to shun him now. And for Ricketts to say what he said, I’m sure he has stuff that he’s not putting out on the table as well. That just sounds like the pot calling the kettle black. Overall, SOSA did way more good than he did bad, and it’s time to allow him to come back to the Cubs family. But then again this is just my opinion. I’m just one guy.
So, I was watching baseball obsessively at the time. I was in my teens. I knew Sammy Sosa was juicing by looking at his performance. He went from a 30-40 HR guy with good speed and meh batting average TO SENDING EVERYTHING OVER THE OUTFIELD FENCE OVERNIGHT IN HIS AGE 29 SEASON. Some things are just too obvious to miss.
33, 25, 36, 40, 36, 66, 63, 50, 64, 49, 49, 35, 14 Sosa's HR totals from 1993-2005. In other words, a slow progression upwards followed by a downwards trend. Almost like it was a career peak in his late 20's... which is where most players peak. Motherfucker's acting like 29 isn't prime baseball age over here. 🤣
As a Lifelong cubs fan... his departure from the team was unfortunate in the way he left. Having said that, the cubs franchise welcoming him back is long overdue
The kicker to me as an outside spectator is how the MLB, fans, reporters, and players all basically share in responsibility for the Steroid Era. The league and press knew about it and ignored it, the players did it because duh, and the fans LOVED it.
what? How did the fans have anything to do with this? During the McGwire-Sosa race there was rampant speculation about juiced balls. The players chose to take the steroids. They chose to hide their use because they knew it was cheating. They publicly lied about their use and then their union drug their feet on testing. It was only after it was clear that public opinion was against steroid use did a testing regimen get implemented. And even then, only if the 2005 test results were kept hidden. The players are 100% at fault for their own actions.
I think about the iconic moment after 9/11 when Sammy came out to right field running with the tiny American flag. MLB and the Cubs wanted to spotlight him then but only when it's to their advantage
I’d put Sosa in the HOF even if he cheated purely for his contribution to the game in the summer of 1998. That was most magical period of baseball I’ve seen in my lifetime and it had more to do with Sosa making the game fun again then it did with McGwire breaking the record, at least for me.
Sosa absolutely looked like he was having fun when he played.. he always seemed like one of the guys who never forgot what it was like to play in the backyard when he was a kid. Way too many players completely forget that when they make the big time, and take themselves way too seriously. Adrian Beltre was also a great player who you could tell was having lots of fun out there and never forgot the sandlot.
Really awesome breakdown of the timeline of events leading to certain players being associated with juicing. All these years later, my memory had gotten hazy on the details. It's still pretty tragic that some guys got a free pass even though it's pretty certain the most prolific players of the era HAD to be juicing.
I just can't get on the Rage Train when it comes to PEDs. For two reasons: 1) MLB -- and Bud Seligman, specifically -- sat on its hands for so long. They were content to watch the money pour in and the game grow in popularity again following the disaster that was the 1994 strike. If MLB didn't view it was a problem for as long as it did, then why should I? (Especially since Selig *is* in the Hall of Fame, while so many of the players implicated are not and likely never will be. Does Bud get a pass simply for never using himself?) 2) We don't *truly* know who used and who didn't. Sure, there are guys who popped positive once testing finally came to be. Sure, some guys admitted using today. There are even guys we *think* we know used, but we really don't... and I bet there are a ton of players who used who we would be *shocked* if we ever found out. Remember, before he popped positive, no one on the planet thought Palmeiro was a PED user, and yet... he was. So I don't think we can pick and choose HOFers from that era -- we either let everyone with the credentials in, regardless of PED use, or we let no one from the era in, regardless of PED use. We can't pick and choose without concrete evidence on everyone. Oh, and who's to say guys aren't using something now? Because anyone who knows anything about this will tell you, the drugs are always ahead of the tests...
yeah, guys today are doing it against the rules and getting caught, getting a suspension, and coming back like its not big deal. And they actually are going out of their way to hide their usage and get designer, undetectable drugs and all that. Thats way worse than "allegedly" using steroids in an era where it wasnt even illegal.
So glad that the whole thing about English being Sosa's second language was brought up. Any legal setting is the most important place to not have your words misconstrued, and one of the many, many reasons why lawyers exist is to communicate clearly on behalf of their clients in the dialect of Legal English (which you could make a solid argument is indeed a dialect from a linguistic perspective). Preparing a statement to be read by your legal counsel is fairly common practice in the court of law, and does not make Sosa a shady character as a result. Honestly, this is one of my favorite Baseball Bits so far; it strays from the usual stats-heavy approach (which I love dearly) and in doing so takes some great creative risks that I think paid off!
Especially when we already had a Spanish speaking player get absolutely dragged earlier this year for a mistake he made in an interview where he spoke English, let alone in a congressional inquiry hearing
Mark McGwire got forgiven, at least in part because he eventually admitted to using. But him also being white undoubtedly helped.
@@warlordofbritannia Was he forgiven though? He still ain't in the Hall....
@warlordofbritannia Shut up with that race baiting crap
One could argue any technical/precision language (science, engineering, mathematics, computer programming, even journalism) are dialects. The way language is used in each is far different from how they're used in common communication. There's far less slang and words are usually very precisely defined (hence "precision language") so they often don't follow regular speech. Even so call "proper English" is not as strict as they are.
On the other hand, one could argue they're _anti-languages,_ since a distinguishing feature of language is that it changes very fluidly and without warning due to pop-culture osmosis and other such phenomena. The fact that most technical languages, including legalese, generally don't change much at all over time makes them quite different from "actual" language.
“My beautiful daughter poop love her very much” might be a top 5 athlete tweet
I never got to go on a Sasquatch hunting expedition with him. Maybe there is still time
CTESPN meets roid-age
A list of top 5 athlete tweets is likely identical to a list of top 5 Jose Canseco tweets, to be fair.
@@FoolishBaseballjust don't shoot your fingers off
@@FoolishBaseballIf we’re going to talk about the effects of being struck on the head then Canseco is a prime candidate.
The craziest thing about the court clips is how old Bernie Sanders is in those clips. He looks almost exactly the same and it’s been twenty years
I wasn't looking for this comment 😂
I literally said out loud, "how long has Bernie looked 100 years old"
@@Qwertyui606 *Bernie voice* "I've been 99 since the 50's, and I'll stay 99 until the 99% get their fair share, at which point, I will dissolve into dust and blow away in the wind"
@@Qwertyui606look at him when he was in his 20s protesting civil rights. He looked the same haha. The Bern is the best.
@@pewpewpandas9203 He is animated by the fighting spirit of the working class
Dude when I came to the united states my tio would tell me "we speak english and love baseball." we came to chicago at the turn of the century and settled on the south side but man did i love my cubbies. one of my earliest memories was that nlds against the marlins and sammy smacked a double to right field. i just remember my tio looking at me declaring this as the so called year. watching this masterpiece youve crafted is sobering. it nurtures that inner child in me that knew that sammy did nothing wrong. thank you Mr baseball, can you foolish? youre an icon to the space
Thank you for the kind words. I also speak English and love baseball.
@@FoolishBaseballmeanwhile I speak baseball and love English. I suspect I may have gone astray somewhere...
Mr Baseball is the new name of this channel I have decided
@@Roysorb But the question is, “can (he) foolish?” I suspect he can, but the jury is still out.
I am a Canadian. I speak English and French and love baseball.
This isnt a video on how the 1963 Giants had Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Orlando Cepeda combined for about 100 HRs and 20 WAR and somehow missed the postseason.
how many teams made it to the playoffs back in the 60s?
The original MV3
@@vumasster1
@@vumassterUntil 1969, only 2. There was only the World Series, nothing else.
The ‘63 Giants weren’t even runners-up in the NL, they finished third, 11 games behind the eventual champion Dodgers.
the 1996 rockies also had 3 players hit 40 homers (burks, castilla, Galarraga) and only won 83 games
I have a feeling the MLB won’t leave a comment on this video
They’re checking to see it Bailey is in any way affiliated with any teams so they can ban him too
Or the Cubs.
The baseball HOF is privately owned and is a separate, independent organization from MLB.
@@ron88303And they are incredibly cringe
the major league baseball
You sound like my favorite OOTP Baseball youtuber
Your favorite baseball video essayist and least favorite Oakland A's GM
@@FoolishBaseball I'm ready for the Chris Baker 2032 AL MVP campaign
@@FoolishBaseball#FireFoolish
@@FoolishBaseball We should do an annual check-in for if you had more wins than the real life Athletics
@@FoolishBaseballi know u already learned the meta, and are cooking up an insane run as a follow up
Sosa should be in the Hall of Fame simply for the fact he got not one, not two, not four, but three 60 home run seasons and didn't lead the league in homers in any of these seasons. That's rough buddy
If there is any chance he's clean, he's not just the single-season home run record holder, he holds has the top 3 seasons.
Idk why but the “not four” part of this cracked me up lol
With a juiced body and a corked bat.
@joebarr725 did you even watch the video or are you just here to hate?
Even better: those are the only three years in history he wouldn’t have led the NL in homers
Only six 60+ homer seasons in NL history, Sosa had three of them but never led the league
You'd be a damn fool if you don't show up with a lawyer to speak to congress when you're not even an American citizen
Ever time I’m really starting to miss the feeling of that sweet sweet new baseball bits, Bailey delivers
Slightly larger gap than usual between the last one and this one! Have been busy with travel, but have a little less of that coming up.
I don't care if he was listed in the private MLBPA investigation, Bobson Dugnutt and his 1,238 HRs should be in the Hall of Fame. Nothing was ever proven!
Okay but how do you deal with Mike Truk then? Surely you believe he's in as well right? No proof on him either, despite what some people say
Justice for Sleve McDichael and Dwigt Rortugal!
And this is why you are still a virgin. And why you will die by your own hand dome day because of that.
"Schilling left the meeting unscathed."
Disappointed that his reputation wasn't dragged through the mud, Curt decided to spend the rest of his life ruining it himself.
He knew what had to be done (video game development in Rhode Island)
'I'll show them who the real asshole is'.
- Curt Schilling, probably.
@@FoolishBaseball
“I like OOTP so much I’ll swindle tens of millions to never complete an inferior version…and also somehow produce one of the most underrated RPGs of the last 15 years”
@@warlordofbritannia haha yes! Kingdoms of Amalur is good!
@@FoolishBaseball
Which probably means it happened in spite of or with no direct involvement from Qurt Shitting 😂
As someone who grew up in a Hispanic household but predominantly spoke English I can assure you that the Spanish that I know is enough to correctly order my lunch but if I tried to use that same level of Spanish in my job I would be fired because I’m just not fluent enough of a speaker to read and speak at the level my work requires of me. It’s a valid reason for Sosa to have a prepped statement while testifying.
Slammin Sammy was by far my favorite player when i moved to Chicago as a kid in '97. One of my treasured core memories is meeting him at the Cubs Convention before the 98 season and then being at his 61+62 game. He made watching baseball FUN!
11:55 Chapman thinking he gave up a homerun and slamming his glove💀💀😂😂
Was good contact, as pitcher it’s the worst feeling leaving one on the plate and someone getting a good smack
I was at that game and it was hilarious. He was in SUCH a slump. Throwing like 1 strike every 12 pitches. He finally puts one in the zone and it felt crushed.
I hope in some small way this video helped recent events, either way thank you for making it.
I know it's pretty well-known at this point but my favorite Sammy Sosa factoid ever is that he's the only player in MLB history to have three separate 60 home run seasons, and he was the MLB home run leader in NONE of them. Pure craziness.
As a baseball nerd, I always feel like an outcast because there's nobody in my life (except my dad) that I can talk deep baseball with. I've watched all your videos multiple times and it just feels like home. There are so many topics that you've touched on that I bring up to my dad and we just talk endlessly about it. Growing up I've always looked at him as my personal baseball encyclopedia, but because of things like Baseball Reference, Baseball Savant, Wikipedia, and Foolish Baseball, I've come to surpass his knowledge, and now I've become his personal baseball encyclopedia.
The thing about Sosa's testimony is that it doesn't mean he didn't use PEDs. His testimony was, “To be clear, I have never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs.” “I have not broken the laws of the United States or the laws of the Dominican Republic.” and “I have been tested as recently as 2004, and I am clean.” All possibly truthful statements, and all consistent with him using PEDs. Steroids were legal within the Dominican Republic at the time. So long as he used in the DR, he wouldn't take illegal PEDs, since they were legal there. He wouldn't break the laws of either country. And by 2004, he was clean and stopped using. All that said, I don't think it should bar him from the Hall of Fame.
It also wasn't against the rules of baseball at the time if they weren't illegal.
nice analysis
Yes..people who were never picked in gym class..not evne last do think that cheaters should still be in the Hall of Fame. Enjoy being a virgin your entire life. Always fighting to get that Zoloft in you before the knife goes through your artery. In a life filled with nothng but disappointments, you are in for another one. Sosa, Bonds, McGwire, etc. will NEVER be in the Hall of Fame
Was the "TO BE DELETED - List of positives" at 8:45 from that Japanese Fighting Baseball game 😂
I think the main reason Ortiz and Sosa have been treated so differently is because Sosa's numbers are more suspicious. Ortiz was just a normal good hitter with mid-tier hall of fame numbers and a bunch of very good but not unprecedented seasons. Prior to Judge's 2022, Sosa had 37.5% of all 60+ HR seasons. We more or less know the other 2 guys with 60+ HR seasons in that era were on PEDs and Sosa had as many as them combined. It just feels like he had to be on PEDs to achieve what he did. That's probably not fair, it's basically punishing him for being great, but if we can look at Bonds '01-'04 and say that no clean player could do what he did in those years, I don't think it's too crazy to look at a guy with three 60 HR seasons in 4 years and say it's suspicious. But hey, maybe Judge puts up some more 60 HR seasons and we will have to rethink what we consider realistic. Maybe Sosa really was just that good.
I think it's unfair to Sosa that he got really good in his late-20s and was labeled suspicious, while Ortiz did the same thing and managed to maintain it for a lot longer.
Really, the point in comparing Sosa to Ortiz is not to bring down Ortiz though. I think Ortiz is fine. I have no problem with how he's treated. It's Sosa that's the injustice.
Papi is also a larger than life, gregarious personality. Sosa had a reputation for sullenness. Totally unfair factor, but definitely part of the equation.
McGwire being white helped his eventual rehabilitation. The Rocket isn’t persona non grata to the same degree Bonds is, despite being a comparably awful human being.
@@FoolishBaseball Many of Ortiz's great seasons came after testing was in place and was frequently catching those on the juice. Sosa's career was over before that happened.
@@FoolishBaseball This is a great video and I know it wasn't meant to be exhaustive, but I think it would be fair to include that PED usage does have links to the coveted "bounce back ability" where users do in fact recover quicker than non-users. I don't mean just injuries, but simply that wear and tear is experienced differently. The day in day out nature of baseball and the need for consistently high energy and regeneration is still a major reason why users risk the potential side effects. Yes, this does make it easier to amp up a workout routine, but it makes everything easier in some respect. I'm not here to make this a science debate nor would I be even the 100,000th person on the list of most qualified to speak on this. I'm just saying there is a bit more to it and while we don't have anything perfect to utilize here with hindsight, it does seem more likely than not that Sosa benefited in ways that others did not because of his usage of something that is now banned. Would I even be the least bit upset if he was put in the HOF? Nope. Do I demand an asterisk? Nope. I simply think it's fair to note that PEDs do have some qualities that other things like a great diet and workout routine can't match and it's fair to believe that the PED usage did affect day to day performance in a game that is very much a day to day sport. We don't have to convict him of anything or be upset at him. There's just some things that don't necessarily show up in the box score or from the side by side "oh look he got jacked all of a sudden" photos, and those things are still a big deal for performance and confidence.
@user-bz9sj8mh5d A-Rod famously tested positive, and the guy running his regimen said that he wouldn't have been caught except that he made a mistake. If we take that at face value, is it that hard to believe that another player might have not made the mistake and gotten away with using his whole career?
There are also studies that have found that using steroids increases what your body is capable of producing with respect to muscle mass even after you stop. If Papi was on something and then stopped, he could've still been seeing benefits without a risk of popping positive
Everyone’s favorite RUclipsr back at it
i can't be stopped. i must defend sammy sosa
New bits as I walk out the door to work. You spoil me
It was 39 days in the making
i think the main reason why ortiz is given the benefit of the doubt and sosa isn't, is because ortiz wasn't good when there weren't drug tests, but once they started testing people, he was even better. Sosa happened to be good before the tests and once those tests were put in place he just kinda fell off. This is a great video though and I really like this perspective.
I think it's also that people like Ortiz
Sosa should've simply been 27 and entering his prime in 2003 instead of 34 and exiting his prime. Skill issue.
According to the Mitchell Report it’s likely players post test just switched to HGH which is harder to detect
Ortiz did roids lollll
Ortiz tested positive but was well liked by reporters and fans and was forgiven for it.
Great breakdown - I was a kid during the '98 home run race and came to love Sammy even though I was a Cardinals fan. He was a fun player to watch and made for one of the most exciting storylines of any baseball season. As someone who lives in Chicago now, would be great to see him get some love from the Cubbies.
I love the fact that Bailey has made multiple videos trying to turn the tides in hall of fame voting. I hope that this one catches
Sadly his time on the writers ballot has passed, but maybe a Veteran's Committee (probably not though)
@@FoolishBaseballI’m not a huge baseball fan (definitely more casual) so idk why the HoF is run the way it is
Why do players only have a certain amount of time to get in? It seems very arbitrary and dumb
@@Shawn_Babcock My best guess is that it would overwhelm voters as every player with a notable career that can be called HoF worthy would be on the ballot, from every decade. Think about it, we have nowadays about 10 to 20 players who have a HoF worthy career, some more than others, and combine that with about the same number of players from the 2000s, 90s, 80s, and so on. Every player who gets on the ballot has 10 years worth of chances, however if you don't receive enough votes to remain relevant you're just dropped off the ballot completely. Despite that, there's always the Veteran's Committe to save the day, as it can put players thought to be "unlucky" or "misinterpreted" on the ballot straight to the HoF, like they did with Fred McGriff on the '23 class, so Sosa might as well have a chance
@@FoolishBaseball it's crazy that a guy with 600 homers, a 10 WAR season, and a major part of one of the greatest seasons in sports history won't be in the hall of fame
“Now, to be clear I look like this.”
That one got me.
0:57 I was expecting these guys to have 4, 5 bats tops. 76?? dang
The japanese video game names in the 2003 steroid testing file was a funny touch
Weeb. 😉
People don't give Mike Truk enough credit he only hits dingers
Does have that Baseball Stars vibe, but we customized all our player names back then so I can't remember the default. :(
Justice for Sleve McDichael and Dwigt Rortugal!
This might be your best ever video. A superb mix of history and beautifully challenging a prexisting narrative. Also aliens + poop.
Agreed! Several real LOL moments for me in this gem.
Thank you!
What sabermetrics were used?
can't say it's his best ever, but i do have to say that this is one of those videos that you're shocked it's already been 15 minutes for
Return of the King
I am the Peter Jackson of video-game themed baseball video essays
Foolish I want a trilogy!
I am so glad you addressed the second language point. If you play baseball your whole life and mostly in a country with a different language, odds are you're gonna pick enough of the language to get through a post game interview. However, trusting your fluency enough to appear before congress, where the slightest mistake will be pounced on and magnified is a WHOLE different ballgame.
0:07 His real downfall began several months prior to the corked bat incident when he was hit in the head by a pitch from Salomon Torres. He was never the same after that at bat. It messed him up real bad psychologically. He began standing too far off the plate after that and was no longer able to reach the outside corner, as if he were afraid of being hit again.
He talks about it around the 11:15 mark
Thank you for making this video. I was a massive Sosa fan when I was a little kid, and it's bothered me for years how he's been treated by fans, media and front office executives. I'm willing to admit there are reasons to be suspicious about those 5 peak seasons, but I hate how he gets lumped in with the guys who tested positive or those who got caught up in other PED related investigations like the Balco scandal or the Mitchell Report. I'd be thrilled if baseball (the Cubs in particular) could find a way to show him a little more respect and gratitude for what he contributed during his career. Hopefully this can move the needle for some fans out there like your video on Larry Walker.
If I had a nickel for every cubs mvp who got knocked in the head and started to play badly, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s sad.
And it is better than zero nickels.
Looney tunes ass baseball club
Unsurprisingly thoughtful and well put together video. Surprisingly emotional/upsetting to think about how poorly an icon of the sport was treated for (what could very well be) nothing. Great stuff Bailey
WAKE UP EVERYONE, BAILEY JUST DROPPED A BANGER
Original today, aren't we?
banger bailey. that's what they call me
Better than Bump Bailey!
@@user-jv4ro9yp7u Yeah I know right?
Never understood why Sammy Sosa was always lumped together with those proven steroid guys. Last I heard, the steroid scandal wasnt about corked bats.
He's lumped in partially because people don't know the facts, and partially because they do know the facts (but choose to ignore the nuance)
There wasn’t a steroid scandal at all. There was merely a malicious railroading of a bunch of players who made the sport incredible amounts of money by getting people to watch, then railroading them and throwing them under the bus when a little backlash started to form. MLB laughed all the way to the bank, then trashed all the guys who helped make their paydays larger. Truly disgusting.
@@Johnfisher12345 Truth. Motherfuckers act like everyone wasn't on amphetamines, then cocaine, then 'roids, and now it's probably SARMS, and next week it will be...
@@FoolishBaseball Also, PEDs were allowed, so...
@@Johnfisher12345bud they cheated stop defending cheaters who made millions off cheating and keeping non cheaters from the league. I know a guy who was an amazing college baseball player and only did not make the pros because others took steroids when he did not and saw his dream fade away no sympathy for those cheating scumbags
For me the biggest pre-existing notion in my head for his steroid use is him getting physically bigger very quickly during a suggestive era for that.
To be honest, it's probably the best evidence against him, but still not acceptable. Baseball players are allowed to get big muscles and lift big weights.
Sure, but most of the players that get bigger don't also start hitting 60+ HRs a season@@FoolishBaseball
@@denisnevsky3734 Steroids don't make you better at hitting.
@@FoolishBaseball You can make the argument that it could be all circumstantial and that's certainly not impossible but it's very hard to say it's not likely he did use performance enhancing drugs there are just too many coincidences for me.
Obviously Ortiz is in but I don't see that as a precedent from a performance perspective. What helped him greatly I think is that he's well-liked (and I like him too) and he's sort of an icon for the city of Boston. Idk if you can say those things about Sosa, not necessarily because he's not a good or likable guy but we just haven't gotten to know him well enough to form opinions that he is.
The other two guys who hit 60+ at that time were steroid users. Bonds only hit 60+ after he started using. I'm not saying it's the only factor, but it can definitely turn an already great HR hitter into a legendary one.
Also, to be clear, I think that Sosa should be in the HOF, but I also think that bonds and Mcguire should be in there to. I'm merely saying that based on the conglomerate of evidence, I find it very difficult to believe that he wasn't on PEDs.@6393dude
I was ten years old and a huge Cubs fan when the 98 home run race was happening. Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, and Ken Griffey Jr are big reasons why I love baseball as much as I do today and Sosa especially was always my favorite player. I appreciate this video a lot more than some might understand
YEAH BASEBALL BITS LETS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!
LFG
My great grandpa passed away around 2012. He was the biggest cubs fan and he loved Sammy Sosa more than any other player he saw in his life and he was watching from the early 50's. He was devistated whenever another cubs fan would talk shit on Sosa and because of him, despite not being a baseball fan until a couple years ago, I loved sosa as well. It's really nice to see someone defend him in this manner because it's incredible hard to find in other areas. I know if he could watch this video he'd adore it.
Ripken deserves some credit for injecting some life into baseball a few years before the HR race. Fans were pissed at MLB for the lockout and Cal breaking the consecutive games played record was a great story and everyone wanted to see him do it. After all, Cal sacrificed his offense for the sake of playing every game at shortstop, and as a tall shortstop no less. You know there were times throughout that streak where he was not completely healthy.
don't listen to the steroid apologists. The HR race did not save baseball from the player strike of 1994. Baseball was already rebounding. Sure the excitement of a HR race accelerated that rebound, but it was happening nonetheless.
And you know how Ripken was able to accomplish his streak? Almost certain. But nobody wants to talk about it.
The file folders at 7:20 lol. Personally, "August in Kansas City weather forecasts" I'm guessing this is related to the Ichiro quote; but it would be a fun video to see if the club plays so much better during that month becuase other teams crumble in the humidity.
Alright Mr.Foolish baseball you have changed much of what I previously thought of Sammy Sosa. Thank you for giving him his credit and showing how people have misconstrued his playing days.
As someone born in ‘03, I had never heard this side of the story. The sense I had always gotten was that Sosa was basically irrefutably a cheater and all the other stuff Foolish pushes back on here. Very interesting to see this position.
Nice video. Hopefully, this will help Sammy's chances in the Hall of Fame.
I wish you would have added something about how his power surge from pre-98 to 98 wasn't as crazy as some people say. People routinely say he went from a 30 HR guy to a 60 HR guy overnight, however, in 1996, he hit 40 HRs in only 124 games. He was on pace for about 52 that season. Reporters were asking him if he was going to break Hack Wilson's Cubs record for HRs in a season, which at the time was 56. On the back of one of his baseball cards from 1997 or so, it says that he has the potential to be the first 50/50 guy in history.
Also, according to his baseball cards, he was only around 200 pounds in 1998, and his weight had been gradually going up over the years, starting around '95 or so. By '96, he already had solid mass, and by '98, he wasn't much bigger. His biggest size gains came from 1999-2002, peaking around April-May 2002, after he had already hit 60 HRs three times. If you look at the 50 HR hitters throughout history, few of them were muscular. This leads me to believe that, while helpful, muscle mass doesn't have a whole lot to do with hitting home runs, and proves that it isn't a requirement.
Also, I wish you would have went in depth on Sosa's changes in his approach at the plate prior to the 1998 season, which he worked on extensively with Cubs hitting coach Jeff Pentland in the offseason. He lowered his hands in his batting stance significantly, loaded his power up on his back leg with the new "toe tap" maneuver he began using, which allowed him to hit for more power, and became more selective at the plate, which lead to him swinging less at bad pitches, forcing pitchers to give him better pitches to hit, and he began hitting the ball to right field a lot. All of these things plus his likely 50+ HR capacity in 1996 makes him hitting 66 HR in 1998 not that crazy.
He didn't put on a lot of muscle overnight like some people claim. That basically never happens. It was a gradual process with Sammy. His most significant size gains came after he had already hit 66 HRs. And even with steroids, significant size and strength gains made while on steroids are only possible with proper training and nutrition, meaning that he worked really hard to make the gains that he made.
I'm ready to hear why, Foolish Baseball. Enlighten me!
have you considered that he has a nice smile
As someone from Kansas City, the weather forecast for August is always just mind-meltingly HOT, no need to save and file the forecast.
Ah, the asterisk. As a baseball purist, I do love a good asterisk
Even as a diehard baseball fan, i didnt know much of this information in the video. Like the overstepping of the government investigators, all other Sammy's bats being clean, etc. I loved watching Sammy hit then hop as a kid, but also admittedly made all of the same assumptions about him being a cheater and a liar. But thanks to your video, I'll look at Sammy in a much more nuanced light as i hope we all will the further we get from the Steroid Era
Also my wife watched the entire video intently, so another banger on your second channel as usual, Bailey!
Chief Keef made sure "Sosa" would never die in American culture. Also, you messed up by not making the Faneto or I Dont Like beat the background music for this entire video
as a dominican we are incredibly proud of sammy, but back in 2005-2009 he got alot of hate he doesnt even make much appearences since then , but the sammy sosa whitening cream is forever part of the dominican lore
honestly the book juiced deserves a retrospective of its own
It’s a shame they elected Ivan Rodriguez when canseco literally named him and was right about the other pure favoritism and an embarrassment to the hall pudge is in
Favorite video of yours so far bailey. Great and noble work here
Hey foolish idk if ur the right person to ask this question but l'd thought I might as well give it a shot but the question I have first you is; How nasty can a pitch really get?
Like all the analytics of pitch movement and the human limit how nasty can a pitch really be? With spin rate, seamshifted wake, and velocity being a fluid factor what is the nastiest pitch that can be thrown with different breaks like strictly vertical or strictly horizontal or strictly diagnal. I was wondering this question if you could answer this it would be great!!
If not if you think you know someone that could answer this question? U rock bro 😎🙌
pitching ninja maybe
Great video! I'm bummed. You're my favorite baseball channel, and I have notifications on for your videos, and yet I never get them. I only find out you post after a few days while randomly scrolling. I hope this is just a me thing.
3:39 Bernie Sanders looked that old in 2005??
Funny he was the guy during that ruckus
This is really nuanced and well-done. I was born in the mid-90s, and as a result my earliest baseball memories are from the steroid era. I didn't really understand a lot of it as a child; there are many adults who, like you and the pinned comment say, do not get English legalese; but all those guys being accused of cheating really soured the game for me for years, and it wasn't until Ohtani jumped from Nippon to the MLB I started caring about the league again. I hadn't really done the homework to see what really happened, so I appreciate you sharing this. (For what it's worth, I think most the biggest names of that era should be inducted into the Hall, it is clear they would have been excellent even if not on steroids. It will probably take these guys getting really old and dying before the voters take them seriously/the current guys who were working in sports journalism retire/die)
7:20 Those file names are pure gold.
I wouldn't have noticed without you. Thanks!😂😂😂
Thank you for the videos! I have started doing videos a few weeks back, and I have been watching some of your videos. Thanks for the inspiration!
Jose Canseco has a top 5 twitter account for insane tweets lol
Thx for getting it foolish, i cant believe u and Maxo Kream cook these up together
we were in the studio for weeks
The infamous Sleve McDichael squad makes its sneaky appearance once again.
Honestly one of my favorite baseball bits in a while. I appreciate the journalistic lens you brought to this one. I was vaguely pro Sosa into the Hall before this, but now I'm aggressively pro Sosa in general!
Sosa and Bonds should both be in the Hall of Fame. 'nuff said.
Bonds yes Sosa no bonds was already a hall of famer before PEDS
@@Richardtherat-t2didk averaging 30+ HRs and having a 40 HR season even if he rode those numbers from 92-03 he would easily get to or very close to the approximately 500 homers youd need to get into the hall of fame he wouldn’t be a 1st ballot kinda guy but he’d still be able to make it
I’m sold.
Solid points made and great summation. I’m a Cubs fan, and unfortunately he doesn’t come up often, but I will make a case for him because of this video - and even more so if I ever end up having a conversation with Ricketts.
When 2001 Atlanta Braves member Foolish Baseball goes out of his way to defend a member of the NL Rival Chicago Cubs, you know he’s gotta be innocent.
OG Foolish Baseball community joke
Hey, this video suddenly feels relevant
Babe wake up….
he’s been dead since 1948, its gonna be hard to get him swinging and i cant imagine his power is at quite the same level
new bits
@@kai615kaccording my uncle, he’ll hit more homerun than Luis Arraez
Funny how the MLB won’t comment on these types of baseball bits but will proudly comment and promote others
As a lifelong Cubs fan, Slammin Sammy deserves so much better and Ricketts acting high and mighty about it when he wasn't even owner during Sosa's tenure is gross.
I wish Cubs fans would demand the team bring him back and apologize. He WAS that team and was the only reason people like me even started watching them.
cant say i was like a die hard cubs fan but i tuned in to baseball because of sosa. i still remember lots of his teammates back then because i watched way too many cubs games. that hop after he hit a long fly ball is just unforgettable. im an angel fan btw
I dont think anyone would be surprised if guys like Beltre and Adolis are on the roids
somehow managed to read “adolis” as arod for a sec and i was about to say boy, do i have some news for you
This was so well done. As a Cubs fan, thanks man!
7:30 I see the Fighting Baseball reference. _Very_ good, sir.
"Bobson Dugnutt" was always my favorite
how can Mike Truk win back all the fans he's lost with this revelation
absolutely rejoicing that my sleeper favorite fighting baseball player, tim wakedield (in game representation of mike harkey, who else) is completely unscathed by this unfathomable news
My main takeaway from all of this is that I wanna see how the numbers of the Mitchell Report players compare to the rest of the league during their playing careers up until that point
I think it might be interesting to look into
bro my beautiful daughter poop is officially the guiness record for the most hilarious typo ever typed
it's a good day when Foolish Baseball drops. It makes for an enjoyable afternoon.
While there is plausible deniability for Sosa, his career slugging percentage before 1998 was .469. The rest of his career it was .589. He turned 30 in 1998. I have a very hard time believing he wasn’t a roid user
I hear what you're saying, but sometimes guys really do just figure it out with a swing change. Could do the same splits with Justin Turner.
@@FoolishBaseball JT didn’t have 4 seasons of 60 home runs
@@TheBaseballArchaologist that could be explained with saying that Sosa was better than Turner
Two things can be true at once:
Sammy was a steroid user
and
Sammy got railroaded, right along with a whole bunch of others who brought the game back up from its slump after the ridiculous strike of ‘94.
Late bloomers are a thing, just look at beloved hitter and hof'er Edgar Martínez, e wasn't even in the league until he was 27. Sure, he didn't have the peak of sosa, but maybe Sosa was just better
7:32 made me so happy. one of my favourite youtube videos
Sosa's doping status is solidly believed because his body changed so drastically.
Well now that having big muscles is illegal, I'll be on my way
@FoolishBaseball 🤣
@@FoolishBaseball No one's ever said that getting big is a crime. But going from skinny to hulking in a very short span of time is reasonable evidence of juicing.
@@saurondpit really isn’t hard to build muscle quickly without juicing.
@@saurondp Agreed. But it's evidence; not proof.
Ong this one of your best videos, Foolish.
I've watched Cubs games and they don't even Mention him..Banks,Sandberg Blah Blah Blah crazy He should be in Hall of Fame.If Ortiz is in there ..Sammy should be there.
As a Cubs fan ho as a id during his peak it is wild to me that my fandom has been men in black erased of anything Sammy. You make some really good points and showcased just how nuanced this issue is.
Incorrect, Sammy Sosa played for the Cubs and made Cubs fans happy.
Thats two very wrong things
let’s go. amazing video and a perspective people should listen to more
May Curt Schilling's life continue to be nothing but scathes.
Honestly, I kept thinking to myself the whole video that Bailey was gonna pull a switcheroo and say “this is the lesson of sports journalism, you can construe anybody as innocent or guilty.” But damn, never thought I’d see sosa in this light
To hell with language barriers. People whose only language is English and speak it fluently should lean heavily on their lawyers and keep answers minimal at a congressional hearing.
Thanks for making this video. As a cubs fan who actually watched Sosa on TV and IRL I can say this…cut the guy a break. It’s human nature to deny til you die, we all do it for self preservation. I’m not saying he’s free of any wrongdoing but cut him a break. HE almost single-handedly brought baseball back from the brink of extinction. It was him, as you pointed out in this video, that was the hype man for the HR race of 98. How many tickets did he help sell? How many jerseys? The Cubs and MLB weren’t not accepting of his contributions to their pocketbooks then but it’s easy for them to shun him now. And for Ricketts to say what he said, I’m sure he has stuff that he’s not putting out on the table as well. That just sounds like the pot calling the kettle black. Overall, SOSA did way more good than he did bad, and it’s time to allow him to come back to the Cubs family. But then again this is just my opinion. I’m just one guy.
So, I was watching baseball obsessively at the time. I was in my teens. I knew Sammy Sosa was juicing by looking at his performance. He went from a 30-40 HR guy with good speed and meh batting average TO SENDING EVERYTHING OVER THE OUTFIELD FENCE OVERNIGHT IN HIS AGE 29 SEASON. Some things are just too obvious to miss.
33, 25, 36, 40, 36, 66, 63, 50, 64, 49, 49, 35, 14
Sosa's HR totals from 1993-2005. In other words, a slow progression upwards followed by a downwards trend. Almost like it was a career peak in his late 20's... which is where most players peak.
Motherfucker's acting like 29 isn't prime baseball age over here. 🤣
You know that players can improve dramatically for reasons other than steroids, right?
Age 29 is literally one of your peak years in terms of the mix of athletic ability and technical ability, so I don't understand your argument.
Age 29 is literally one of your peak years in terms of the mix of athletic ability and technical ability, so I don't understand your argument.
As a Lifelong cubs fan... his departure from the team was unfortunate in the way he left. Having said that, the cubs franchise welcoming him back is long overdue
hiiiiiiiiiiiii bailey
The kicker to me as an outside spectator is how the MLB, fans, reporters, and players all basically share in responsibility for the Steroid Era.
The league and press knew about it and ignored it, the players did it because duh, and the fans LOVED it.
what? How did the fans have anything to do with this? During the McGwire-Sosa race there was rampant speculation about juiced balls. The players chose to take the steroids. They chose to hide their use because they knew it was cheating. They publicly lied about their use and then their union drug their feet on testing. It was only after it was clear that public opinion was against steroid use did a testing regimen get implemented. And even then, only if the 2005 test results were kept hidden. The players are 100% at fault for their own actions.
Steroids didn’t ruin baseball, the Mitchell report did.
this is some chiraq propaganda
I think about the iconic moment after 9/11 when Sammy came out to right field running with the tiny American flag. MLB and the Cubs wanted to spotlight him then but only when it's to their advantage
I’d put Sosa in the HOF even if he cheated purely for his contribution to the game in the summer of 1998. That was most magical period of baseball I’ve seen in my lifetime and it had more to do with Sosa making the game fun again then it did with McGwire breaking the record, at least for me.
Sosa absolutely looked like he was having fun when he played.. he always seemed like one of the guys who never forgot what it was like to play in the backyard when he was a kid. Way too many players completely forget that when they make the big time, and take themselves way too seriously.
Adrian Beltre was also a great player who you could tell was having lots of fun out there and never forgot the sandlot.
Really awesome breakdown of the timeline of events leading to certain players being associated with juicing. All these years later, my memory had gotten hazy on the details.
It's still pretty tragic that some guys got a free pass even though it's pretty certain the most prolific players of the era HAD to be juicing.
I just can't get on the Rage Train when it comes to PEDs. For two reasons:
1) MLB -- and Bud Seligman, specifically -- sat on its hands for so long. They were content to watch the money pour in and the game grow in popularity again following the disaster that was the 1994 strike. If MLB didn't view it was a problem for as long as it did, then why should I? (Especially since Selig *is* in the Hall of Fame, while so many of the players implicated are not and likely never will be. Does Bud get a pass simply for never using himself?)
2) We don't *truly* know who used and who didn't. Sure, there are guys who popped positive once testing finally came to be. Sure, some guys admitted using today. There are even guys we *think* we know used, but we really don't... and I bet there are a ton of players who used who we would be *shocked* if we ever found out. Remember, before he popped positive, no one on the planet thought Palmeiro was a PED user, and yet... he was. So I don't think we can pick and choose HOFers from that era -- we either let everyone with the credentials in, regardless of PED use, or we let no one from the era in, regardless of PED use. We can't pick and choose without concrete evidence on everyone.
Oh, and who's to say guys aren't using something now? Because anyone who knows anything about this will tell you, the drugs are always ahead of the tests...
yeah, guys today are doing it against the rules and getting caught, getting a suspension, and coming back like its not big deal. And they actually are going out of their way to hide their usage and get designer, undetectable drugs and all that. Thats way worse than "allegedly" using steroids in an era where it wasnt even illegal.