Word: sosa
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...also got a lot to remember when you're responsible for a whole country. Sosa shined shoes as a kid to help pay for the two-room apartment he lived in with his widowed mom and six siblings in the Dominican Republic. When a major league representative saw him play, he thought Sosa was amazingly talented and a little malnourished. But since he became a professional ballplayer nine years ago, he has funneled money south. He has lavished three houses on his mother, bought businesses for his sisters, sent computers to schools, donated ambulances to hospitals, handed out so many...
...Sosa is different now. When asked about his 30-30 medallion, he laughs with embarrassment, saying it has been retired to a drawer in the Dominican Republic. "Oh, it was big," he says, using his large hands to illustrate an ostentatious circle. "Sometimes you do some things, and it's just a situation. And after a while you think, 'Wow, I shouldn't have done that.'" Now, he deflects compliments by calling McGwire--and just about everybody else...
...part of the reason he can relax is that he can safely put his entire family's financial nightmares behind him. He can play for those nobler causes--team and honor--that we Americans are rich enough to have invented. Sure, Sosa was looking out for himself--trying to impress his boss--but was that really so bad? And is he really different now, or are we just more tolerant because he's delivering? Isn't humility just the moment when accomplishment outweighs cockiness...
...learning more and more about how to play the game the right way," says Mark Grace, who hits cleanup after Sosa. "I think he realizes, 'I've done enough individual stuff, let's go out there and win as a team.'" Unlike McGwire's Cardinals, Sosa and the Cubs are vying for a play-off spot, and every home run could mean that the Cubs get a chance to win their first World Series since 1908 and make up for what the fans like to call "a bad century." And while Sosa's 62nd homer didn't technically break Maris...
...Sosa smiled through it, pshawing any accusations of America's racism and enjoying the Chicago fans' McGwire-worthy celebration. Maybe that's because he knows that the celebration in the Dominican Republic when he returns after his season ends will make the scene in St. Louis look like an Amish wedding. Maybe it's because he knows a burst of fame isn't worth worrying about when immortality is on the line. Or maybe it's just because Sosa is such a nice guy. Either way, when he hit 61 and 62, Chicago fans threw him a little party, Dominicans...