SAMMY SOSA DAY

Tonight is the night, the Chicago Cubs home run king returns to our televisions sets in a 30 for 30 that covers all the ins and outs of the 1998 Home Run chase. What especially excites me about this is getting to see an in depth look at what the impact of this summer had on the Cubs and Major League Baseball as a whole. For context, I was born in the summer of 1997, so I turned one year old during this chase, so safe to say I don't remember shit about this. Only what I've read and seen on the internet about it, so to say I'm personally looking forward to this doc is an understatement. 

My first baseball memories come from the 2003 season. Sammy and the 2003 Cubs made baseball my first love. The Cubs finished 88-74 and had a loaded lineup going into that postseason that consisted of the likes of Aramis Ramirez, Kenny Lofton, Moises Alou among others. But of course batting 3rd every night, the king of the fucking castle that is Wrigley Field, came to the dish. Even 6 year old me can remember the pure electricity in the crowd as Sammy approached the plate. The slow walk up, the big dig in, the stare-down at the mound. I get goosebumps thinking about it still... and I was only 6. I can only imagine the pure energy as he came up to bat in September of 1998.

I don't know what Wrigley was like Pre-1998. What I do know is MLB was still reeling from the strike in 1994 and the Cubs hadn't made the postseason since 1989 and actually have only made it twice since the god damn 1945 World Series. But seeing clips of what Wrigley was like in 1998, it's what I remember from my childhood. The standing room only bleachers, the shitty fence behind the bleachers to keep the drunk assholes from jumping onto Waveland, the red roof, the ball shaggers standing on Waveland for 3 hours on Tuesdays afternoon sweating their tits off with their shirts tied around their heads, just hoping Sammy pops one. Wrigley today isn't Wrigley without Slammin' Sammy.

Seeing the details of the summer of 1998 is going to be a treat. An absolute treat. Especially in a year Major League Baseball can't get their shit together. Going to be great to see Sammy muthafuckin Sosa drag his nuts all over Wrigley Field to claim it as his.