So it looks like Sammy Sosa will be retiring, now that he rejected the Nationals’ lowball contract offer. Sosa’s production fell off a cliff last season, so perhaps this was a propitious time for him to hang ’em up. Unfortunately for him, his public image and relationship with the press has also declined dramatically of late. Jay Jaffe takes a look and rightly concludes that Sammy is getting shafted. Check it out.
Meanwhile, Barry Bonds says this will be his last season.
“I’m not playing baseball anymore after this,” Bonds was quoted by USA Today in a story posted on its Web site Sunday. “The game (isn’t) fun anymore. … I want to play this year out, hopefully win, and once the season is over, go home and be with my family. Maybe then everybody can just forget about me.
“Records aren’t a big thing to me. It’s a great honor to pass Ruth, but it means more to baseball than it does to me.”
Looks like Bonds has changed his tune a bit regarding his place in baseball’s record books versus The Babe’s. Fine by me. I’m not a Barry-hater, but it’ll also be fine by me if he’s still in Hank Aaron’s rearview mirror when he finishes up. Somehow, that would just be right.
I feel a bit bad for Sosa, but I’d rather see him retire too early than pull a Steve Carlton, and I suspect he was on the verge of doing that.
As for Bonds, I’m a Giants fan and I’ve had the good fortune to see Bonds play in person a few times, even got to see #58 the year he broke the record.
Bonds and Sosa are totally different guys. Sosa seems like a genuinely nice guy, while Bonds is, well, not so much. As a Giants fan, I’d love to see a Giant break the record. There’s enough questions about Bonds and steroids, though, that I’d just as soon not have to deal with the whole “did he or didn’t he?” issue.