Larry Brown Sports

Much like the case of Roberto Alomar Jr. who was alleged to have HIV, the blog world is now abuzz about the recent pictures of Sammy Sosa that have emerged. Midwest Sports Fan via Sports by Brooks has recent photos of Sosa at an appearance during the week. Let me just say the guy does not look healthy. Check out some of the before and after pics below to judge for yourself.

Also credit Big League Stew for some of the pictures. Obviously I’m not a medical expert, but let me just inject my humble opinion here and say that Sammy Sosa probably put a lot of sketchy performance-enhancing substances into his body and I’m not in the least bit surprised to see him having health issues this quickly. This is going to be a trend, not an exception, for players that played in the ’90s and ’00s. Believe me. As for what’s going on, many people are theorizing that he has vitiligo — the same condition that caused the skin color issues with Michael Jackson. That could very well be the case.

I haven’t watched MLBTV since college. Man, those were the days. There were like a half dozen hardcore baseball fans on my dorm floor all playing fantasy baseball so we used to try and catch the at-bats by our players in between classes and studying. Best part was we all shared the same login info and password, and it came from some guy I had never even met whose email address was like @ wisconsin.edu. Gotta love that. One kid registers for the pass and half the dorms at a school 1500 miles away are using it. Anyway, back when I was watching, MLB.tv used to show the commercials as seen on the local telecast. Now I think they go with some generic, MLB.tv produced commercials. You would think I would know these things since I wrote for them last season, but I have no clue. Anyway, Deadspin points out to me that MLB is ignoring Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa in a commercial that promotes Ken Griffey Jr.’s pursuit of 600 home runs. Here’s how the screen apparently looks:

“Willie Mays, September 22, 1969…600.
Babe Ruth, August 21, 1931…600.
Hank Aaron, April 27, 1971…600.”

Then the screen flips to Griffey, who sits at 599, and he says, “Ken Griffey Jr…. keep watching.”

Obviously there are two other players who belong in that group — Bonds and Sosa. I’ve already shared my thoughts on Sosa — that he’s a complete fraud, and I choose not to acknowledge Bonds’ triumphs. So while I’m not buying the legitimacy of either of their records, I don’t feel MLB media should be practicing “revisionist history.” It’s not their place to be doing that, regardless of how their employees feel.

From the FanHouse:

I am so sick and tired of watching the media fall back in love with Sammy. This love affair is disgusting. If there has ever been a player whose career achievements reeked more of performance-enhancement, I have yet to see him. Sammy Sosa is the biggest fraud in baseball. He puts Barry Bonds to shame. He buries McGwire. He embarrasses Brady Anderson and Bret Boone alike. And he has no place in the present day Hall of Fame.

Check out the rest of the post at FanHouse.

(photo courtesy AP/Tim Sharp)