Over the weekend, the Chicago Cubs hosted the 38th annual Cubs Convention in downtown Chicago.
The event brought fans, players, and franchise legends together to celebrate their favorite sports franchise.
One of the weekend’s most significant selling points was the return of Sammy Sosa.
Sosa played for the Cubs from 1992 to 2004 before being traded before the 2005 season. Since then, Sosa and the Cubs have been estranged.
In addition to Sosa receiving a hero’s welcome, Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts had a major announcement. Sosa and former Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee would be enshrined in the Cubs Hall of Fame later this season.
Just Baseball’s Ryan Herrera shared Ricketts’s announcement and fans’ reaction on his X account.
Here’s the reaction in the room as Tom Ricketts announced Sammy Sosa and Derrek Lee as the new Cubs Hall of Famers pic.twitter.com/y3AvUkVtZV
— Ryan Herrera (@ryan_a_herrera) January 18, 2025
In his 13 seasons with the Cubs, Sosa hit 545 of his 609 career home runs. He is the franchise’s all-time home run leader and is one of nine Cubs to win National League MVP. Sosa’s slugging prowess, energetic style of play, and larger-than-life personality continue to resonate with Chicago fans today.
While the Cubs regularly finished in the lower half of the playoff race annually, Sosa was a constant highlight for fans. HFrom 1995-2004, Sosa hit at least 35 home runs each season.
He is perhaps most remembered for his 1998 season when he competed with St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire to see who would break the single-season home run record of 61. While McGwire finished with 70 to Sosa’s 66, the Cubs star still walked away with the league’s MVP.
When Lee was traded to the Cubs before the 2004 season, some fans were upset with the move.
Lee was traded to the Cubs from the Florida Marlins. A few weeks earlier, the first baseman helped Florida eliminate the Cubs from the 2003 NLCS. Once Lee donned the Cubs uniform, though, all was forgiven.
The first baseman spent the next six-and-a-half seasons with the Cubs before being dealt to the Atlanta Braves at the 2010 trade deadline.
His Cubs career speaks for itself. Highlighted by a 2005 season that saw Lee flirt with the National League’s triple crown before finishing the year first in batting average (.335), second in home runs (46,) and seventh in runs batted in (107), he slugged 179 home runs and hit .298 in nearly 1,000 games with Chicago.
Sosa and Lee will be honored at Wrigley Field later this season. The date has yet to be announced.
The news sent social media into a frenzy.
Sammy is essentially the reason I became a hard-core Cubs fan. The homerun race in 1998 grabbed ahold of me and I never let go.
Derrek Lee holds a special place in my heart because ARam and Dlee became my obsession. https://t.co/pnwFKvgI2H
— Optimistic Cubs Fan (@HotStoveCubbies) January 18, 2025
Sammy was obvious after the reconnection but I am PUMPED for Derrek Lee.
Absolute legend of my childhood fandom and certainly one of the reasons I am as big of a Cubs fan as I am today. https://t.co/cBaqZRHnjm
— Corey Freedman (@corey_cubs) January 18, 2025
Sammy Sosa and D Lee
My childhood. Phew.
— Alex Patt (@chifanpatt2) January 18, 2025
It’s a big Cubs Hall of Fame weekend for the kid version of me that imitated Derrek Lee’s leg kick and Sammy Sosa’s home run hop
— Greg Huss (@OutOfTheVines) January 18, 2025
