Posted on 06/05/2003 7:28:41 AM PDT by presidio9
A Florida minor league baseball team plans to poke fun at Sammy Sosa by giving away pieces of cork to the first 505 fans through the gate at its game Thursday night.
The Fort Myers Miracle, Minnesota's Class A affiliate in the Florida State League, also will hand out Cubs hats during the game, and will offer free admission to anyone whose name includes the words "Sammy," "Sosa" or "Corky."
"I think it makes light of the situation," Miracle spokesman Sean Aronson said. "If this were something more major, it would be a different story. We're not doing anything so outrageous that it's putting him in a bad light."
Umpires ejected Sosa after finding cork inside his bat in the first inning of Chicago's 3-2 win over Tampa Bay on Tuesday night. Sosa's bat split open on a groundout, and he later insisted that he meant to use the bat only for practice. Sosa's other 76 bats were X-rayed Wednesday and showed no signs of cork.
While the episode is raising questions about Sosa's prolific home-run numbers in recent years, the Fort Myers team sees nothing wrong with making light of it.
The team also is giving away mini cork bats to the 21st, 66th and 505th fans to enter Hammond Stadium. Those numbers represent Sosa's jersey number, the number of home runs he hit in 1998 during his chase for the record with Mark McGwire, and his career home-run total, respectively.
"Sosa's a great player. No one's going to deny him that," Aronson said. "We're not trying to kick a guy when he's down. It's just our way of trying to make light of this situation."
Next year we finally get a AA team here in Montgomery -- get this - The MONTGOMERY BISCUITS!!!! Check em out at www.biscuitsbaseball.com
So what does their catcher chant?
Hey, Butta, Butta, Butta, Butta!
A batter uses a corked bat and he is scum. A cheat. Desecrating the great game of baseball. A pariah. A crook. A thief. His records, accomplishments, achievements are questioned from the very beginning of his career. And if he ticks me off I get to throw at him and receive a warning.
A pitcher doctors the ball with a nail file, a belt buckle, sandpaper, spit, vaseline, mudpatch he's a crafty veteran. A wiley competitor. A craftsman. A determined hurler. At worst he is just looking for an edge. And if I tick him off he throws his bat at me and gets immediately tossed from the game and fined.
What a great game....until it came my turn to bat (National Leaguer)
So you are giving away cork, to "505" people, then you claim its not putting him in a bad light?
How pathetic. Be a man Sean, stop rationalizing this crass publicity stunt and just say you are putting him down. Why lie about it?
I hope there are alot of Dominicans in FL that show Mr Aronson how believeable his spin is.
That's funny.
Not that, since it makes no sense.
The only thing that's funny is the way you sports-dorks pile on when spiteful sportswriter's lead you to the sacraficial lamb. If it wasn't a viable, how in the WORLD would all the other 76 bats not have cork in it?
Yeah that's believable.
If a guy's going to cork a bat, which he did no matter what your level of denial, of course he'd only cork one at a time. Or do you really think he'd cork them all?
Get over it. Your hero's a cheat.
If Gary Sheffield's bat cracked open and cork fell out, you would laugh at the ridiculous gullibility of anybody who believed him when he lied, "I didn't know!"
But it's different with Sammy. Sammy would never lie to us. Sammie would only use a corked bat for noble purposes. To help children and such. He's been wronged!
My God you are a cynical, bitter little person. How did he get to be my hero all of a sudden? Because I dared argue with you? What is your obsession with smearing this man? Other than the obvious need to put others down for minor things to make yourself look pious, how pathetic.
He had used it before, in batting practice. Ironically the bat boy said that he probably put it in with the other bats by being distracted when Sosa came back in, and was stopped by people wanting autographs. Course you won't believe that because you've already passed your judgement on Sosa. Yeah I do think he is a genuinely good guy, and I trust my ability to judge character better than your's, random internet hero. This witch hunt betrays a pathetic need in this culture to knock down and ridicule the ultra successful by the little people.
The only one that needs to get over anything is you dead.
That's pathetic.
Oh wait, I forgot, it was the bat boy's fault. BTW, why does Sammy take batting practice with an illegal bat? For the kids, I guess. LOL.
Oh wait, I forgot, it was the bat boy's fault.
Called that. Boy are you embittered little people are nothing if not predictable.
Do you even know what a "witch hunt" is?
Generally, it does not involve the accused being caught red-handed when nobody was even looking for evidence of his crimes.
Gee wiz Wally, you're just a jovial guy. Coving up for the bitterness "LOL" all over the place, nice effort. You get a cookie. Still can't come up with an explanation for you passion on Sosa's admitted mistake? You have no idea how transparent you are.
I think I know what a witch hunt it, but I dunno, I was wanting to check with you about it, cuz like I respect you and all.
I don't care about Sammy Sosa. He seems like a nice enough guy, for a cheater.
I guess because I call a guy who was caught cheating a "cheater" you somehow think that makes me bitter.
That sounds like the logic of somebody who calls something a witch hunt, even though it involves no overly aggressive hunter (unless you think the umpire was wrong to notice Sammy's cork-filled bat), no burning at the stake (he's looking at a ten-game suspension or so, because he cheats), and no innocent victim (he took a cork-filled bat to the plate and attempted to hit with it, making him guilty of the crime of cheating.)
I guess if I just said, "Sammy must have forgotten that he filled his bat with cork!" you would think I was somehow a less bitter person. I think such gullible, starstruck, doe-eyed stupidity would make me look more like a person who cannot deal with the undeniable facts on the table.
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