1990 Publications International Stickers (Large) - Sam Sosa

When I first received this in a trade recently, it looked familiar but I had no clue as to what it was. Was it a photo? Was it a sticker? I couldn't tell. The only thing that I knew was that it had been hand cut.

My dad always reminds me that I was a fan of Sammy Sosa when he was on the White Sox. This is mostly true. I am a fan of everyone that comes through the organization. Good or bad. When Sammy was with the White Sox, he was bad.

Sammy struck out a lot, which is something he never really solved. He couldn't hit a home run to save his life. Not that they were flying out of the park at that time, they weren't hit by anyone on a regular basis until Frank Thomas came along. Sosa made mistakes and didn't really do anything spectacular to make up for them.

I remember being at new Comiskey Park in 1991 when Sammy was in right field. It was a game against the Royals. How do I know this? We always saw the Royals for some reason. Whenever my family would find the time to go to the park, the Royals were always in town. It still baffles me to this day.

The entire section behind Sammy would yell at him while he was in the field. S-A-M-M-Y-S-O-S-A, WAKE UP!! This went on every half inning. I thought he was a bad fielder, but I didn't think he deserved that. Could that moment be the deciding factor in his "ahem" future home run performance? I don't know. I often wonder about that.

The weird thing about this sticker besides the size of it, is the name. Sam Sosa. I've never seen that on a card or a sticker before. It makes me smile a little. Maybe he didn't want to be called Sammy. Maybe it was forced on him by the media or his agent. Maybe he always longed to be called Sam. It's a more respectable variation of Samuel.

Sammy reminds me of a child. That's exactly what he turned into later on in life. There was still hope left for Sam when this photograph was taken. There were subtle differences to tell Sam from Sammy.

Sam could speak English. Sammy forgot how. Sam would give his best and try but ultimately fail. Sammy would take every advantage to get ahead, which made for some interesting news stories involving such things as cork and drugs. Sam was a team player. Sammy was a selfish SOB.

This sticker reminds me of a ballplayer, not a media darling who acted like a sideshow freak. I guess that's the difference between Sam and Sammy. I could like Sam, but Sammy wouldn't let me.