Hall of Fame countdown: Sammy Sosa not yet set for disappearing act on ballot
Paste BN Sports is counting down the top 24 candidates on the 2018 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot in advance of the Jan. 24 election results. The countdown is based on voting by our power rankings panel, which includes five Hall voters.
No. 14: Sammy Sosa
Sosa transformed from serviceable power hitter to historic slugger, his 66 home runs in 1998 challenging Mark McGwire all the way to the final week of the season. Both passed Roger Maris' record of 61, though McGwire finished with 70.
That year, he set career highs in all three slash categories with a .308/.377/.647 line on his way to the NL MVP honors.
The entertaining right fielder thrilled the fans at Wrigley during a 13-year career with the Chicago Cubs from 1992-2004. He also played with the Texas Rangers (1989, 2007), Chicago White Sox (1989-91) and Baltimore Orioles in 2005.
He is a seven-time All-Star, six-time Sliver Slugger, received MVP votes in nine seasons and ranks in the top 20 among right fielders over his 18-year career.
The case for: Why not? Sosa hit 609 home runs -- ninth all-time -- and drove in 1,667 runs -- 29th all-time. Three times in a four-year stretch from 1998 to 2001 he surpassed Maris' mark of 61 homers.
THE COUNTDOWN
In 2007, he became just the fifth player to reach the 600-homer milestone after Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds.
And in 2001, Sosa's 425 total bases are the most in the majors since Hall of Famer Stan Musial had 429 in 1948.
The case against: His legacy will be forever tied to McGwire and linked to PEDs, with a reported positive test during 2003 survey testing. In 2005, he was called to testify before Congress, along with McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and several others. His testimony did little to dispel the notion his sudden rise was chemically enhanced.
No one can deny how dominant he was from 1998-03. But more than half of his home runs and nearly half of his RBI were during that span. Exclude those seasons from his career and Sosa .batted .254 and averaged 23 homers and 71 RBI over 12 seasons. While decent, not quite a Hall of Fame resume.
X-factors: Between 1998-03, Sosa was perhaps the game's most feared slugger. He slugged 332 home runs, almost 50 more than the next closest player. He drove in 808 runs and had a slash line of .302/.391/.635. For some, this six-year span is a career.
Consensus: This is Sosa's sixth time on the ballot. In his 2013 debut, he received 12.5% of the vote, and his support dipped to 7.2% in 2014 to 6.6% in 2015. There was a slight uptick in the last two ballots from 7% in 2016 to 8.6% last year, but not enough to show any promise. According to the latest results from Ryan Thibodaux's online Hall of Fame tracker, Sosa will last another year, currently with 12.6% of the vote. But it's far from a guarantee he'll stay above the 5% minimum to fulfill all 10 years of eligibility.
Gallery: 2018 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot