Sammy Sosa, who once compared himself to Jesus because of Chicago’s treatment of him, thinks anyone who questions him about his skin color just might be Satan.
The PED-tainted slugger, whose home-run duel with Mark McGwire captivated Major League Baseball in 1998, has a much-publicized paler complexion these days, an oddity that he once attributed to a bleaching cream without explaining its necessity.
In a sit-down with NBC Sports Chicago, Sosa addressed the curious critics, saying it’s best their words don’t settle in his ears.
“They don’t know me. They don’t put food on my table. They don’t pay my bill,” Sosa said, when asked to address the detractors of his new look. “… You don’t need negative in life. You need positive.
“Why do you want to listen to people who ruin your day? That’s impossible. I stay away from that. You know what I mean? That’s the devil talking,” he said with a laugh.
Sosa told Univision in 2009 that he uses a cream that whitens his tone, but, “I’m not a racist, I live my life happily.”
And he lives his life in Miami Beach, Fla., far from where he became a superstar. Sosa had a bitter divorce from the Cubs following the 2004 season with PED allegations abounding, a corked-bat incident and refusing to play the season’s last game.
Since then, Sosa has been ostracized from the place he was once adored. After Sosa complained about the team ignoring the player who was once the face of the franchise, the Cubs ruled out a heart-warming Sosa return, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Sosa is not begging for one, but there is a reason his door is open.
“If one day I come back to Chicago, I’d come back for the fans,” Sosa said. “I owe those people something.”