By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Cubs' Sammy Sosa takes batting practice at Great American Ball Park Tuesday. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

Sammy Sosa's suspension is over, but the ramifications from his bat-corking incident are likely to follow him for years.

"It's something that I'll have to deal with the rest of my life, no question," Sosa said during a brief Tuesday press conference. "But I'm only human. I'm not the only guy in this world that made a mistake. Hopefully they'll forget and just let me continue to make people happy and play my game."

Sosa will play right field and bat third tonight when the Cubs play the Reds at Great American Ball Park. He's hitting .290 with six home runs and 29 RBI, pedestrian numbers for a man who on April 4 became the 18th player to reach the 500-home run mark in his career.

The Cubs went 3-4 during his suspension. They also played without him from May 10-30 while he was on the disabled list after having the nail on his right toe removed.

"He's been working hard," said Cubs manager Dusty Baker. "He's been getting ready for this. With the 24 or 25 games he's missed, I think that's really going to keep his strength up big-time for the remainder of the season and the second half. I think he might have one of the best second halves of all time."

Sosa began serving a seven-day suspension June 11 after umpire Tim McClelland discovered cork in a bat Sosa shattered in a June 3 game against Tampa Bay. Sosa said the bat was corked only for batting practice and home run exhibitions and that he had used it in the game by mistake.

He referred to his transgression Tuesday as "the accident."

Reds General Manager Jim Bowden laughs it up with Sammy Sosa before Sosa took batting practice. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

"When the accident happened, I saw that a lot of people were against me," Sosa said. "But on top of that, there were a lot of good people that were behind me. That doesn't mean that everybody is going to like me, but there are some people who really appreciate everything that I've done for the game."

Baker wouldn't predict how Sosa will react if fans in visiting ballparks begin to castigate him over the bat-corking incident. Sosa has always been a beloved figure in baseball. This is the first time he has been cast as a villain.

"It's going to be tough, but it comes with the territory," Baker said. "Hopefully it helps him focus even more and makes him want to beat them even worse and increase his concentration even better."

Sosa seems to carry the scars from the criticism directed his way when the cork was discovered.

"At the beginning, it was very tough for me to see all the things they wrote about me only because of a simple mistake," Sosa said. "I mean it. It was a mistake. I didn't kill nobody. They got me out there like I'm a criminal."

Former Red Lenny Harris, a Cubs utility player, said the fallout stung Sosa sharply.

"When he put his head down, he had some tears in his eyes," Harris said. "I knew he was upset about it, the way they kept carrying on like he was a criminal. That's the way he was feeling, but I said, 'Hey, when you screw up in life, you pay a penalty.' I just let him know you're human like everybody else. You're big for the game, but they'll get you. You're a guy who set a mark in history. It's something to write about. That's big news."

Harris and his teammates hope the furor over Sosa's corked bat will begin to subside soon, but that's not very likely, especially when the Cubs are on the road.

"People are going to bring it up no matter what," Harris said. "He just has to overlook it and bounce back and start where he left off, and that's to keep hitting home runs."

Sosa says that's exactly what he's prepared to do, more prepared than he was when he came off the disabled list.

"I feel more in shape," Sosa said. "I'm very happy that I'm going to start tomorrow. I'm very excited."

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E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com