Monday, April 12, 1999
Struggling Sammy happy to be home
The Associated Press
CHICAGO — They've spruced up Wrigley Field, given the scoreboard and flagpole a touch of paint, replaced some old seats with more comfortable ones and erected a statue outside the ballpark in memory of Harry Caray.
The familiar ivy may still be dead-of-winter brown and the air will be chilly when the Chicago Cubs open their home season today against the Cincinnati Reds, but no one will be happier to return to “The Friendly Confines” than struggling Sammy Sosa.
“It will be good not only for me but for everybody,” Sosa said, looking to his first home appearance since winning the 1998 National League MVP. “Opening day is always big. It's going to be fun to go back there. Even though we've been playing for a week, home is home. That's always special.”
Sosa will sprint from the third-base dugout just before the first pitch, head straight to the right-field bleachers and then veer off to the left at the last second like a jet. The fans will cheer, bow and chant his name, just before he blows his familiar kiss.
What the bleacher bums will really be looking for is a Sosa homer. And so far in 1999, they have not been plentiful. Sosa hit his first homer Sunday against the Pirates, but is just 2-for-21 this season.
“I'm swinging much better. It's going to come,” Sosa said. “I never get down on myself. I've been here before. This isn't the first time it happened to me. I got 600 at-bats to catch up.”
April has never been a big month for Sosa. After his homer Sunday, he'd hit 29 of his 274 career homers in the season's first month. Last year he set a major-league record with 20 in June, seven more than he had in April and May combined.
Still, he will be the center of attention today, and that's how he likes it.
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