The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #82 Sammy Sosa

Next up at #82 is Sammy Sosa. Slammin’ Sammy’s 10-year stretch with the Cubs from 1995 to 2004 produced the greatest home run barrage Major League Baseball has ever seen, literally. Sosa’s 479 home runs over that period are the most ever over 10 years. In fact, Sosa also holds the records for most home runs over a 5-year, 6-year, 7-year, 8-year, and 9-year stretch. Sosa is the only player in history with three seasons of 60+ home runs. He also shares the record for the most 50-home run seasons with four. He’s the only player in history with more than 60 home runs and 140 runs in a single season. He’s the only player to have more than 65 home runs, 150 RBIs, and 130 runs in a single season. He’s the only player in history with a season of at least 64 home runs and 155 RBIs and he did it twice. Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, and Rafael Palmeiro are the only three players in history with nine consecutive seasons of 35 home runs and 100 RBIs. He was the NL MVP in 1998 and the runner-up in 2001. Remarkably, Sosa led the league in home runs twice, but not in any of his 60-home run seasons.

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Hi (hopefully) awesome reader! I welcome your comments. However, please be aware that I make all of my arguments using facts, statistics, and logic. Unfortunately, the average comment on a top-100 list goes something like this:

"UR StooPid. (Insert player) is trash. I've watched (pick a sport) for (pick a number of years) and (pick a player) is better than everyone. UR DUMB. HAHA6969."

–Some Jabroni

As cognitively stimulating as this species of comment is, it ends up being a missed opportunity to share a nuanced perspective. I reply to all comments that show even the most basic levels of thought and humility. The people who make the comments like the example above are under the assumption that the three seconds of thought that popped into their brains after reading the list is more than the 1000s of hours that I put into creating and maintaining the lists. I would be happy to defend any placement, or make an adjustment if one is warranted. If you are a jabroni, like the one above, then your comment will die in the lonely void of the unpublished comments section.

For everyone else, I look forward to your comments!

P.S. The theme of this site and the top-100 lists is that athletes from previous generations have historically been grossly overrated by sports publications in a way that is statistically improbable. Click on the "About" dropdown menu to see just how badly the average top-100 list disproportionately favors athletes from older generations when leagues were smaller, race quotas existed, and globalization wasn't a thing. Also, please consider reading "The History" section of the sport you are commenting on.

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