Sammy Sosa Does a Solid

From "Father of Isla Vista victim knows he has to keep speaking out" at the LA Times:

[Richard Martinez, father of UCSB shooting victim Christopher Michaels-Martinez] talked about guns in some of the interviews. Other times he talked about Christopher — the little boy who hit so many home runs in Little League that he earned the nickname "Mini Sammy Sosa." A few days later, wedged between interviews, Martinez received a phone call from an unfamiliar number.

It was Sammy Sosa.

The former major league slugger said he heard about Christopher's nickname on the news. When he watched Martinez cry, he couldn't help but think of losing one of his six kids. At the end of their 25-minute conversation, Sosa told Martinez that he planned to donate $5,000 to a memorial fund.

"I was touched," Sosa said. "I hope Mr. Martinez and the effort he's doing doesn't go away for a long time. He's a fighter."

Sosa hasn't had an easy go of it lately, so it's nice to see him in a positive light. God job, Sammy.

Here's One Power Bat Over Which We Passed...

Congratulations to Sammy Sosa for becoming only the fifth person in major league history to hit 600 home runs. In the fifth inning, Sammy took a Jason Marquis pitch out, helping lead his Rnagers to a 7-3 victory over Sammy's old team, the Chicago Cubs. Sosa joins Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and some other guy as the only players to have hit 600 or more homers.

And no matter how you slice it, this is a pretty significant achievement for old Corky. Once one of the faces that captivated baseball's attention, Sosa's accomplishment last night eclipses some, if not all, of the less savory episodes surrounding Sosa--leaving the Cubs' clubhouse early, leading to a pummeling of Sosa's boombox by a teammate; slumping at the plate and moping as he was dropped in the lineup by Dusty Baker, who never met a player he didn't defend; cratering in a brief stint in Baltimore where he continued his cancerous clubhouse ways.

But in a season where the Dodgers are in desperate need of a power bat, let's consider this:

• Sosa has 12 HR this season. That's three more than Dodgers' team leader Jeff Kent (9), or a 33% premium.
• Sosa now has 52 RBI. That's nine more than Dodgers' team leader Russell Martin (43).
• Sammy was picked up by the Rangers for a one-year deal for $500,000. We could have picked up 98 Sosas for one Schmidt.

Apologies for the C+C Music Factory Reference, but this is clearly a thing that makes you go hmmmmmm.

Congrats, Sammy.

photo illustration by espn.com

This Just In: Sammy Sosa Is Not a Jehovah's Witness

In other slugger-of-dubious-authenticity news, Sammy Sosa officially signed a minor league deal with the Rangers (AP/ESPN.com):

Sosa said Tuesday that there has always been speculation but "never any evidence [of steroid use]."

"I am not going to go to every fan's home and knock on the door and say to them: 'Believe in me,' " he said. "This is not my style."

See, I think they truncated Sammy's quote:

"I am not going to go to every fan's home and knock on the door and say to them: 'Believe in me,' " he said. "This is not my style. I am more of a doorbell ringer."

Home Run Leaders Graph (Version 2.0)

I've amended my earlier home run graph (from my earlier post) to show the following:

the most home runs hit by anyone at that age;

titles on both axes; and

changed the color for the Sammy Sosa data.

What is interesting to me is that, even though many of the leader marks at older ages are claimed by the top ten home run hitters (such as Sosa, Mark McGwire, Ken Griffey Jr., and Barry Bonds), all of the early leader marks are claimed by other players (names like Jimmie Foxx, Hank Greenberg, Mel Ott, and Joe DiMaggio). It's not like the modern-era players didn't get early starts either; most were playing by age 21 and in Griffey's case, by age 19. But all of them saw increases in productivity in later ages that defied earlier standards.

Could this increase in productivity be the product of just healthy diets and good conditioning? Well, maybe. I guess it's not [the] clear (or the cream) to me.

Sammy Smells Money

AP/ESPN.com: Sammy Sosa begins training for return to big leagues

An aging slugger with a history of pouting and cheating? Sorry, Barry Bonds is already taken.