Sammy Sosa's Wrigley Field Redemption

Sammy Sosa is a likable phony who flim-flammed Cubs owner Tom Ricketts into welcoming him back into the good graces of the organization and putting him in the Cubs' Hall of Fame.

And it's all good, as evidenced by the conquering-hero reception Sosa received Friday from Ricketts, current Cubs and especially Cubs fans when Sosa returned to Wrigley Field for the first time since 2004 to watch the Cubs-Mariners game. Times change, even if people don't.

It's so typical that this uplifting chapter of the Sosa-Cubs story started with Sammy being Sammy — a public statement he released in December in which he apologized, but not for the only transgression Tom Ricketts wanted him to apologize for.

"There were times I did whatever I could to recover from injuries in an effort to keep my strength up to perform over 162 games. I never broke any laws, but in hindsight, I made mistakes and I apologize," Sosa said in the statement.

Ricketts had publicly insisted on an apology from Sosa for his PED use ("I think we have to be sympathetic to that era ... but the players owe us some honesty too," Ricketts said at the Cubs Convention in 2018. "The only way to turn that page is to put everything on the table.")

Ricketts ended up settling for a non-apology apology.

"We appreciate Sammy releasing his statement and for reaching out. No one played harder or wanted to win more. Nobody's perfect but we never doubted his passion for the game and the Cubs," Ricketts said in response to Sosa's "apology." "It is an understatement to say that Sammy is a fan favorite. We plan on inviting him to the 2025 Cubs Convention and, while it is short notice, we hope that he can attend. We are all ready to move forward together."

But when pressed on his statement apologizing for mistakes, Sosa said he was not referring to PED use. “No, I’m not referring [to PED use], for example,” Sosa said. “Look, 21 year out. I had the fans that loved me very much. I had to apologize to them because I mean […] they see me play so many years.”

Whatever. Ricketts relented and so have most baseball fans, judging by the reception Sosa received Friday at Wrigley Field. It was a matter of time, as the generation offended by Sosa's PED use dies off and those who grew up more with the current game than the previous era dominated the conversation.

Today, the majority of baseball fans not only doesn't castigate Sosa for being part of the steroid era, but celebrates him for the "entertainment" he provided, however illicitly. That it cheated players who didn't give in to the temptation — like costing Frank Thomas another MVP award — doesn't seem to matter anymore.

That's a shame, but not surprising, as time marches on and attitudes change from one generation to the next. Sports now embraces the gambling it once treated as poison. Paying college athletes used to be a major crime that cost coaches their jobs and put programs on probation. Now it's literally an integral, accepted, undeniable part of the game.

I have no qualm with that part of it. And credit to Sammy Sosa for opening the door to his redemption by being a likable guy — which helps make the argument that he was just driving 90 mph in a 65 mph zone because everyone else was seem plausible.

The younger generation always wins these debates by attrition. Just remember, 30-40 years from now there's going to be a new generation nipping at the heels of this one about some debatable issue — accusing you of being out of touch or the old man yelling at the cloud and mocking you for being the "get off my lawn" guy. What goes around comes around.