Yeah, and it would take a cardinal fan (or a white sox fan) to ignore the whole story.
Sosa had just come off of the DL. There were rumors that he would be rehabing in AAA. Sosa didn't want to go to AAA and he took BP when the cubs were in houston memorial day weekend. Sosa absolutly CRUSHED the BP balls hitting one of them off of the train tracks in left field (a HUGE shot, even in ten-run.)
So Sosa used a corked bat in BP to impress the cubs staff and to let him back on the major league club. If that was the case it was stupid not to get rid of the bat.
Now, all 76 of his bats were inspected and they were clean (of course they were clean, you don't need more than one corked bat, if it breaks you're screwed anyway) but they checked the bats in the hall (they sawed open his 498th home run bat) and that was clean too.
Is sosa guilty: Yes
Did he mean to use a corked bat in the game: Probably
Sosa had been booed after striking out 6 times before getting the game winning hit in the 16 inning astros game on sunday. He probably felt he needed something to pick him up in the short term.
Sosa is a showmen, if there's anyone who would use a bat like that in BP for the fans it would be him. If anyone could have an honest mistake like this it's him. That being said he most likely knew what he was doing. It shouldn't affect his past and I'm glad he got caught when he did.
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