According to
Sports Illustrated's website, 76 of Sammy Sosa's personal bats were taken by
baseball officials in order to be examined after the events on the 3rd of June, 2003.
Sammy Sosa's explanation of events is that he, mistakingly, grabbed the bat he uses at practice to please the thousands of fans just waiting to watch him hit a
home run. This is understandable, as the majority of any professional baseball players bats are similiar, in order to share wear evenly. The bats that were taken from him were X-rayed for foreign substances.
"The bats were clean and had no foreign substances in them. That is consistent with Sammy's explanation of the incident last night."
- Sandy Alderson, executive vice president of baseball operations in the commissioner's office.
The media hype generated by this story is unsurprising. As a society, individuals who excel are lifted up to unimaginable status, and at the same time, unimaginable standards. We tend to forget that they are normal humans as well, and make mistakes. Take bicyclist
Lance Armstrong. After battling near-fatal
cancer, he rebounded and proceeded to win four back-to-back wins at the
Tour de France. Yet, everytime his name is mentioned, whispers of illegal substance enhancements are heard. Why is it so hard to just let a person remain great, without the very people who put him there trying to constantly bring him down?