Vowing to win over Baltimore’s fans, Sammy Sosa arrived Tuesday night, ready to be introduced Wednesday as the newest Oriole.
“It’s a great place for me to come here and win the crowd like I’m going to do and be happy again,” Sosa told the Baltimore Sun. “I like the situation in Baltimore. They have a great ballpark. I think I’ll be perfect here.”
Sosa arrived at a downtown hotel in a black stretch limousine. Waiting until his luggage was unloaded, he emerged from the limo, shaking hands with hotel staff members while heading into the empty lobby. He then spoke with reporters from the Baltimore Sun for a few minutes in the hotel restaurant before ordering a late dinner.
Though his departure from the Cubs follows a season in which his popularity plummeted, Sosa didn’t criticize the fans.
“I loved the people in Chicago,” Sosa said, pausing during the brief interview to perform the familiar home run kiss and chest-pound routine for the benefit of a hotel restaurant patron. “Chicago was the place I wanted to be all my life. I wanted to finish my career there. I’ll always keep Chicago in the bottom of my heart because they gave me an opportunity. All those beautiful fans, everybody in general was great to me. I don’t have anything bad to say about Chicago.”
Sosa will undergo an extensive physical examination Wednesday before the trade can be finalized.
More Top Picks Best Sensory Brushes For Therapy
Charles E. Silberstein, the Orioles’ longtime orthopedic surgeon, will handle part of the examination that is expected to take up much of the day and finish with the completion of the Cubs’ trade of their all-time leading home run hitter.
“We are trying to treat this like a regular physical exam for any other player we acquire. No more, no less,” Orioles spokesman Bill Setka said.
The examination, one of the final hurdles for the deal, will check out Sosa from head (where he suffered neck soreness after being hit by a pitch) to toe (where he had to have surgery because of a detached nail) and everywhere in between, including his back (which went into spasms a violent sneeze caused).
“We do a comprehensive medical examination,” Silberstein said Tuesday. “A complete physical by an internal medicine doctor. And we do a comprehensive orthopedic physical that covers everything from head to foot. We do any appropriate image studies or X-rays during the course of our discussion. Then we have an [eye] examination.”
The 36-year-old Sosa was sidelined for 36 games last season. The violent sneeze caused back spasms that put him on the disabled list for a month. He also missed time because of an inflamed hip.
“We use the same type of evaluation regardless of who the player is,” said Silberstein, who has been associated with the Orioles since 1966.
If all goes as planned, the Orioles will have Sosa’s welcoming news conference Wednesday evening at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
For now, Baltimore management is keeping quiet until the deal is official. In fact, general managers Jim Beattie and Mike Flanagan were not even in town Tuesday. Beattie was in Wyoming on a family ski vacation and Flanagan was in Florida, participating in a fantasy baseball camp.