The Case for/against Sammy Sosa

With Sammy hitting his 600 HR this week, there has been much discussion concerning whether or not this number will be enough to get him into the Hall of Fame. Without any evidence (other than the circumstantial) connecting him to the steroids hullabaloo, there seems to be little reason to keep him out.

Yes, Sammy became bigger. Yes, Sammy hit his home runs during an era with a not-so-small cloud over it. And yes, he claimed not to speak English during the Senate hearing. And was caught with a corked bat. But here are some numbers:

1. From 1993-2004 Sosa averaged close to 49 HR per season, and over his 18year career has averaged over 33 HR per season. Sammy remains the only player to hit over 60 HR's three times. For comparison, Bonds has hit over 50 only once with his 73 in 2001.
   
2. From 1995-2003 he averaged over 127 RBI's per season. For his career? Over 90 RBI's per year.
3. His OBP is an excruciatingly low .344 for someone with that many HR's. He walked over 100 times only twice.
4. His SLG percentage is even worse: .535 for his career ranks him 39th, behind Jim Thome and Jason Giambi and just ahead of Jim Edmonds.

Sosa was never considered a fantastic defensive player, so one can discount that aspect. He never had a truly bad batting average until the last couple of years (.273 overall). The real sticking point is, obviously, how genuine are these stats? He needs to be judged against those in his era, and I'm not paying the $29.99 to sort all those stats for you.

My gut reaction is he should be in, though he most likely will not make it on the first ballot judging by the vote Mark McGwire received this past go-round. That's fine, I understand the strange phenomena that claims, "Well, he's a Hall of Famer, but not a first ballot Hall of Famer." Whatever, it's not like the guys are getting better in retirement (unless you're Phil Rizzuto).

Put him in. Or just add a little asterisk room for Bonds, Sosa, and McGwire-but remember-steroids were not a banned substance in baseball back then (of course, they were illegal...) There are plenty of cheaters in the Hall of Fame (Gaylord Perry anyone?), and as Whitey says, "If you aren't cheatin' you ain't trying to win."

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