Sammy Sosa Will Appear at Cubs Con 2025 After Apologizing for 'Mistakes'

The Chicago Cubs announced Sunday that seven-time All-Star Sammy Sosa will appear at their Cubs Con event in January.

Relations between the franchise and Sosa had been frayed for some time. That changed when the 1998 National League MVP released a statement this month in which he appeared to admit to using performance-enhancing substances.

"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," he said. "I never broke any laws, but in hindsight, I made mistakes and I apologize."

Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts pointed toward a thawing of the cold war with Sosa after the statement and said the organization hoped to include him at Cubs Con.

Sosa is the franchise's all-time leader in home runs with 545, and his prodigious slugging helped excite the fanbase amid a relative fallow period for the Cubs. Chicago made the playoffs just twice in his 13 seasons in the Windy City.

Like so many other stars from that period, however, the specter of PED usage has cast a cloud over Sosa's achievements. The 56-year-old denied using banned substances during Congressional testimony in 2005 but reportedly had a positive test two years before that.

The Ricketts family didn't purchase the Cubs until 2009, long after Sosa played for the franchise. His last year in Chicago was in 2004 and he was subsequently gone from MLB altogether after the 2007 season.

Still, Sosa's prolonged exile from the Cubs spoke volumes about how ownership viewed him and his alleged indiscretions.

At Cubs Con in 2023, Ricketts answered a fan question on Sosa and remained noncommittal about any official reunion.

"I'd like to get it behind us as well," the team executive said, per The Athletic's Patrick Mooney. "But I just want to be thoughtful about it and do it in a way that's respectful of both the people that love Sammy as a player, as I did, and people that respect the game, too. I think there's a balance in there somewhere, and maybe we'll find that at some point."

Even under normal circumstances, Sosa would court a warm reception from fans. His Cubs Con appearance is likely going to garner a raucous reaction given what it symbolizes.

Andre Dawson, Kerry Wood and Billy Williams are among the other Cubs legends who have been confirmed for next month's three-day festivities.