Best MLB players not in the Hall of Fame: Chicago Cubs, Sammy Sosa
WAR value: 58.8
The case of Sammy Sosa is a fascinating one. Here we have someone who was beloved as a member of the Chicago Cubs when he was hitting well over 60 home runs per year on several different occasions. He even won an MVP award and was named to seven All-Star Games.
Yet Sosa, who retired with 606 career home runs, remains out of the Hall of Fame. He maintained his innocence for years, but the connection to PEDs has been too much for voters to overcome. That is a sharp contrast to the way he was looked at during his exciting career in Chicago.
That is the sad case of those connected to PEDs. Fans love seeing the players mash home runs and the league promotes the players as their top stars. Then all of a sudden, the narrative changes and they are ostracized from the game they helped promote.
Sosa remains different from someone like Barry Bonds because it truly was the home runs that put him on a pedestal. He was not elite in any other category, even though he does rank sixth all-time in Cubs history for WAR. And that came in only 13 years with the club.
Under normal circumstances, Sosa’s home runs would earn him automatic enshrinement. But throw in the PED allegations along with the fact he was not a perennial MVP or All-Star and it is easy to see where excuses may come from when voters are asked about his case.