Baseball Whiffs but Sosa Shows Why He’s Special

The world has changed for Sammy Sosa.

More exciting, more hectic, more rewarding.

The bodyguards, those have only been around for about a week. They were with him Monday when he made his way to the indoor batting cage at Qualcomm Stadium. The interview requests have picked up too. Chicago Cub media relations director Sharon Pannozzo rattled them off as she walked alongside him. ESPN wants him for a Sunday Conversation.

“And there’s a woman from Univision,” she said. “She wants to get about 15 minutes with you.”

Doesn’t everybody?

The world has changed for Sammy Sosa.

Sosa changed too, although not lately. His changes brought about the notoriety, not the other way around.

He used to be a batter who swung at everything the pitcher offered. He used to be a guy who stole bases to suit his own statistical goals, not the team’s needs.

This year was different. Sosa said he knew the Cubs could make this a special season after they made off-season acquisitions like closer Rod Beck and outfielder Henry Rodriguez. That’s what motivated him.

“When you play on a winning team and you want to make it to the playoffs, you have to play better,” he said last week in Chicago. “You have to go out there and play every day.”

So he did it for the team and wound up with one of the great individual seasons of all time.

Do the right things and the right things happen to you. He’s a little less selfish on the baseball field, the same fun-loving guy off it, and now he’s a star.

“It doesn’t make a difference if the people put me high or low, I’m still the same guy,” Sosa said. “I know who I am. I know that everything has happened, but I haven’t taken it to my head. That’s why I’m the same person every day.”

He didn’t get carried away when he hit his 61st and 62nd home runs of the season on Sunday. When asked if it was the best day of his life, he reserved that honor for the day he was born. On Monday, he was asked who was his idol. He said God.

So he stands serenely while the rest of the world scrambles to catch up to him. He passed Roger Maris and tied Mark McGwire before everyone had a chance to fully recover from McGwire’s 62nd.

There were no special markings for the balls he hit out of Wrigley Field that set off a small melee. There was no special ceremony.

Only baseball could blow it on something so good. Sosa had 60 home runs on Sunday. All Commissioner Bud Selig had to do was drive about 90 minutes south from his Milwaukee home to get to Wrigley Field. Instead he made his comments to Sosa by phone.

Major League Baseball, which handled the media for games leading up to the record-breaking home run, dropped off the scene after McGwire hit his 62nd. They didn’t anticipate the interest increasing, not decreasing.

So it was up to Padre public relations director Glenn Geffner to handle an inch-high stack of credential requests sitting on his fax machine Monday morning, and he and his staff had to accommodate about 150 extra people as reporters from around the country flew into San Diego.

Sosa’s news conference served as a reminder that Sosa has brought more than just competition to the home run race. He has broadened its appeal.

Most of the world doesn’t care who hits how many home runs. It’s like cricket to Americans; you probably don’t know what the most cherished record is, let alone who holds it.

But baseball is huge in Latin America and Sosa, from the Dominican Republic, is helping the Spanish-speaking countries share in the fun. Half the questions he fielded Monday were in Spanish. A little bit belated, the accolades from around the sports world and beyond came trickling in on Monday. Selig issued a statement congratulating Sosa.

Sosa got a phone call from President Clinton, although these days that sounds more like a punch line than an honor.

McGwire, who could probably beat Clinton in an election right now, also called.

Barry Bonds sent a fax consisting of one word, congratulations, in Spanish.

The Padres did the best they could. Before the game the scoreboard flashed “Congratulations Sammy” and San Diego’s deputy mayor gave Sosa an award.

The fans gave him a standing ovation for every at-bat.

For him, that was sufficient. After keeping pace in the Great Home Run Race, Sosa doesn’t feel the need to match McGwire ceremony for ceremony, magazine cover for magazine cover.

“The attention I’ve had, it’s been enough for me,” Sosa said. “For me, I’m just so happy to be playing in the United States and to be the person that I am. I’m not looking to make some more friends. I’ve got enough right now, and I’m happy with what I have.”

He has made his adjustments. Now it’s up to the rest of us to accommodate him. And just so you’re ready, 63 in Spanish is sesenta y tres.