Sammy Sosa tries so hard to be what we want him to be that he has been branded a major phony and run out of Chicago.
Barry Bonds tries so hard not to be what we want him to be that he has become the symbol of all that is wrong with professional athletes.
I’m starting to wonder if it’s not really about who they are at all, but about who we are and what we expect of our heroes. How else to explain that we hate Bitter Barry for being too real and fault Savvy Sammy as not real enough?
Sosa arrived in Baltimore a few weeks ago and thoroughly charmed the Orioles’ organization and its fans, but his critics tell you what you see is not necessarily what you get.
So, depending on whom you ask, he’s either a guy who wants so badly to be loved that he waived a huge option clause to get out of Chicago, or he’s a fraud. Maybe both.
If that means the Orioles have to put up with the occasional diva moment to turn 2005 into an exciting season, Sammy can dance “Swan Lake” around the bases for all I care.
“I think it’s great,” said manager Lee Mazzilli. “I don’t want him to fit in. I told him I’m looking for him to be Sammy … to be who you are.”
No doubt, the Giants are content with what Bonds brings to the table too, but anyone who watched Tuesday’s news conference from Scottsdale, Ariz., has to be wondering if Barry has now crossed into his own little world for good.
Bonds has gone from sapling to science project over the past decade or so, and was the subject of steroid whispers long before the BALCO scandal went public. So, who are you supposed to believe, Barry or your eyes?
Sosa has been the subject of the same kind of whisper campaign but has chosen to handle it much differently. He denies any steroid use and welcomes the opportunity to disprove those rumors on the field during the first year of baseball’s new, tougher anti-steroid program.
I don’t know who’s telling the truth, but I do know one thing. Bonds may be the game’s greatest player, but Sosa is the one who really knows how to play the game.