: With Cubs vying for wild-card berth, home run record takes a back seat.
This was back, way back in May; way back, almost 50 home runs and more than 120 tomorrows ago in this most remarkable baseball season, when six weeks into the season Sammy Sosa was muddling along with seven homers in 39 games. Colorado Rockies outfielder Dante Bichette intended to gently kid Sosa, not give him a lasting message about hitting home runs.
Bichette recalled the moment recently for the Rocky Mountain News. He remembered kidding Sosa; he remembered thinking Sosa wasn't listening because he didn't smile; and Bichette remembered the punch line to his joking: "I said, 'Don't worry about it. . . . They come in bunches.' "
Sosa? He has banged line drive after line drive over the fence while mixing a sheer joy for the game with a wry sense of humor. Try this: On the night he hits his 55th home run--in a victory, by the way--to tie [Mark] McGwire on the brink of Hack Wilson's National League record, Sosa takes a moment to poke fun at the tempest in a teapot over McGwire's use of the over-the-counter diet supplement androstenedione.
"This is what I use," he says, holding up a box of Flintstones vitamins. Actually, his supplement of choice is the herb ginseng, but the point isn't missed. Sammy is having fun, on the field and off.
BY : BOB HILLE
SOURCE : The Los Angeles Times; Los Angeles, Calif
DATE : Sep 13, 1998
1998.09.13
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