Corked Bat

CHICAGO - The Chicago Cubs are scheduled to arrive in Baltimore tonight and open a three-game interleague series against the Orioles tomorrow night, but it appears likely Sammy Sosa will not play more than one of the three games. Sosa, who appealed the eight-game suspension levied on him last week for using a corked bat, is expected to have his appeal hearing in the Baltimore area tomorrow, a baseball source said. The hearing could lead Major League Baseball officials to reduce the suspension by a game or two, but Sosa would have to begin serving it as soon as there is a ruling on his appeal.

WITH THE sunrise, two little boys, Maiky and Jabao, clad in colorless rags older than they are, arrive in the park. They run around together all day long, shining shoes, washing cars, selling newspapers and going on errands for tips. With the sunset they straddle a bench, facing each other, their bare little feet dangling, as if horseback riding, sharing the coins they've earned that day. Such was the life of Maiky and Jabao, loyal team players in the game of survival. I often used their services across from HIBS Radio Dial, where I started my journalistic career in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.

Chicago Cubs superstar Sammy Sosa is almost certain to be fined and suspended for using an illegally altered bat in a game Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, but the implications of Major League Baseball's latest cheating scandal reach far beyond whatever disciplinary action is announced over the next few days. Sosa is widely regarded as one of the greatest power hitters in baseball history. He is one of the most popular players of his generation. He has cultivated a happy-go-lucky, good-guy image that also has made him one of the most marketable personalities in sports.

BARRY BONDS is 26 home runs shy of Babe Ruth's career total. He is also caught up in a steroids scandal that hasn't touched him but is veering awfully close. Let's say, for the sake of discussion, that he passes the Babe and also eventually is found to have used banned steroids. What happens to his home run statistics and the rest of his records? Are they wiped out? Tagged with asterisks? Or do they stand, leaving the Babe and every slugger other than career leader Hank Aaron ranked behind a drug cheat?

CHICAGO - With one swing, Sammy Sosa shattered a bat and, perhaps, his image last night. In the first inning of the Chicago Cubs' 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Sosa's bat splintered as he hit a ground ball to second base. Tampa Bay catcher Toby Hall retrieved the pieces and showed them to plate umpire Tim McClelland. After huddling with his crew and inspecting the shards, McClelland ejected the Cubs superstar for using an illegally corked bat, igniting a controversy that figures to linger for quite some time.

Enough is enough on bashing of Sosa Why is it that we can't resist the urge to kick a man when he's down? Sammy Sosa has been caught cheating and was punished accordingly. But for some, that doesn't seem to be enough. In the wake of his being caught using a corked bat, the accomplishments of his entire storied career have come under question. More than 80 of his bats from the past and present have been X-rayed, including those used during the most significant at-bats of his career that were later donated to the Baseball Hall of Fame to be used in its museum's exhibits.

WITH ONE CRACKED bat Tuesday night, Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa's entire major league career was tarnished. Regardless of what happens with any further investigations by Major League Baseball into possible corked bats, there is always going to be that little nugget of a doubt about whether Sosa has always cheated. It's going to be there if he hits 600 home runs, and it's going to be there if he hits 700. We'll all enjoy those magical moments, just like the fun ride Sosa has given us so far in his career, but there is always going to be that moment when we wonder, did he or didn't he?

HOUSTON - The Orioles reacted with surprise and disappointment yesterday to the news that Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa had been caught using a corked bat. "It's a shame for Sammy, and it's a shame for baseball," Orioles manager Mike Hargrove said. "It casts a shadow on all of us, I think." There was one upshot for the Orioles, however. They are scheduled to play a three-game series against the Cubs at Camden Yards, beginning Tuesday. Assuming Sosa gets suspended, he might have to miss that series.

Suddenly, the terrific offensive numbers that Cleveland Indians outfielder Albert Belle put up during the first half of the 1994 season seem as hollow as the corked bat that he allegedly used to produce them.Belle, who received a 10-day suspension Monday for using an illegal bat, is the first major-league player since 1987 to be caught trying to obtain an unfair advantage at the plate, but corking apparently has been a common practice for many years.Just ask Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, who said that he experimented with a corked bat during pre-game workouts in 1968.

As Cleveland Indians outfielder Albert Belle goes about trying to clear his name after being suspended 10 games for using a corked bat, the identity and fate of the person who stole the piece of lumber may forever remain a mystery."

The Arizona Diamondbacks have lost two of the top starting pitchers in baseball and several other key players to time-consuming injuries, so it isn't difficult to see why they are looking way up at the other big dogs in the National League West. With seven players on the disabled list, it isn't a pretty picture. In fact, about all the D'backs have to fall back on right now are the hollow truisms that are the last refuge of an underachieving team: It's still early. It isn't over until it's over.

Enough is enough on bashing of Sosa Why is it that we can't resist the urge to kick a man when he's down? Sammy Sosa has been caught cheating and was punished accordingly. But for some, that doesn't seem to be enough. In the wake of his being caught using a corked bat, the accomplishments of his entire storied career have come under question. More than 80 of his bats from the past and present have been X-rayed, including those used during the most significant at-bats of his career that were later donated to the Baseball Hall of Fame to be used in its museum's exhibits.

The Sammy Sosa controversy should have been a relatively simple affair. Sosa, for reasons only he knows for certain, used a corked bat and violated baseball rules. He is serving a seven-game suspension that is at the low end of the range of punishment that has been meted out for similar offenses in the past. That would be that, if several other players - including superstar pitcher Pedro Martinez - had not turned it into something much more complicated and troublesome. Martinez intimated that African-American and Latin players are treated differently from white players.

Late Orioles game: Last night's game between the Orioles and Chicago Cubs at Camden Yards was delayed by raln in the ninth inning and ended too late to be included in this edition. A complete report can be found in later editions or on the Internet at http://www. sunspot.net. CHICAGO -- Sammy Sosa didn't have much to say after Major League Baseball heard the appeal of his suspension. He added no new information and declined to take questions. Yet Sosa wanted to say one more time that he was sorry --or the Chicago Cubs wanted him to, anyway -- so they trotted him out before the assembled media in Baltimore on Tuesday.

Mike Hargrove voiced some support for Sammy Sosa yesterday, which is not to say the Orioles manager had any desire to see Sosa play his first game at Camden Yards. Hoping to have his eight-game suspension reduced, Sosa had his appeal heard in downtown Baltimore before arriving at the ballpark. "I'm not torn at all," Hargrove said. "If I was sitting in the stands as a fan, I'd be bummed out if I didn't get to see him. As a manager, I'd just as soon see him not play." Sosa did play and he did hit, but he wasn't the biggest reason the Chicago Cubs defeated the Orioles, 4-0, before 32,484 at Camden Yards last night.

Chicago Cubs superstar Sammy Sosa pleaded his case before Major League Baseball chief operating officer Robert DuPuy in a hearing yesterday at the Marriott Waterfront to appeal his eight-game suspension for using a corked bat last week. DuPuy is expected to announce today whether he will reduce the penalty, and Sosa likely will be out of the Cubs' lineup for the rest of the series against the Orioles at Camden Yards. For obvious reasons, the Cubs are hoping the suspension will be reduced enough to allow Sosa to play at least one or two games of next week's series against the National League Central rival Cincinnati Reds.

CHICAGO - Major League Baseball disciplinarian Bob Watson left town without interviewing Sammy Sosa yesterday, but a highly placed Chicago Tribune baseball source said the announcement of a seven- to 10-day suspension for Sosa for using a corked bat in Tuesday's game could come today. "We have precedents on this," the source said, predicting a suspension of at least seven but no more than 10 days. "I can't say for sure what Bob is going to do, but we definitely take precedents into consideration.

CHICAGO - The Chicago Cubs are scheduled to arrive in Baltimore tonight and open a three-game interleague series against the Orioles tomorrow night, but it appears likely Sammy Sosa will not play more than one of the three games. Sosa, who appealed the eight-game suspension levied on him last week for using a corked bat, is expected to have his appeal hearing in the Baltimore area tomorrow, a baseball source said. The hearing could lead Major League Baseball officials to reduce the suspension by a game or two, but Sosa would have to begin serving it as soon as there is a ruling on his appeal.

WHEN A PIECE of cork flew out of the splintered bat of popular baseball superstar Sammy Sosa in a game Tuesday, it meant more than a smudge on his heretofore glowing reputation and likeability. It also cast light on the dark issues in baseball that threaten the integrity of the game - issues that the owners and players, who now self-rule the sport without an independent commissioner, seem ever-determined to ignore. As with the spring training death of Orioles' pitching prospect Steve Bechler, reported to be associated with his use of a dietary supplement containing the stimulant ephedrine, the Sosa corked bat episode is not about one player and a single incident.