In yet another of its “all-time greatest . . . ” promotions, Major League Baseball is asking fans to vote for the single greatest player from every organization.
Each team has submitted a list of its five best players, and fans have until Sept. 17 to vote for the greatest hero of your favorite team.
Sounds like a simple promotion, but for the Cubs, it raises a hornet’s nest of questions.
Why is Sammy Sosa, who trails only Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays on the career home run list, not one of the five greatest Cubs in history?
Says who? Say the Cubs, who submitted the list for the promotion.
While it’s hard to argue against Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Ryne Sandberg and Fergie Jenkins, it’s also hard to argue against the inclusion of Sosa, unless the speculation over his late-career body morphing is taken into consideration. A spokesman for the promotion assured me fans could write in Sosa’s name if they wanted, which was basically another way of saying “go talk to the Cubs.”
The criteria used for the selection of players, according to an MLB news release, are “on-field contributions (including but not limited to: overall statistics, postseason performance, All-Star Game appearances, awards, longevity and Hall of Fame credentials) . . . character and leadership.
Sosa meets all of the criteria, except of course for the character and leadership part. But are those enough to keep him off the ballot? Wasn’t he one of the greatest five players in Cubs history, at least until he’s proved guilty of committing crimes against baseball?
No matter what anyone thinks of Sosa, he deserves a chance to be recognized as one of the top Cubs in history. The Cubs decided otherwise, and MLB did not intercede.
Needless to say, that’s the last time Bud Selig will be invited to one of Sosa’s birthday parties.
