Salute to Sammy Sosa, Dominican and American Hero
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Celebrating a Dream Come True; Salute to Sammy Sosa, Dominican and American Hero New York Times article by GINGER THOMPSON Published: October 18, 1998 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9406E5DF163DF93BA25753C1A96E95826 0&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all Elena Tejada, a retired seamstress who lives in Washington Heights, prefers quiet weekends at home. But yesterday, she got her 5-year-old grandson up early and headed to City Hall. On the No. 1 train, she was joined by dozens of her neighbors, immigrants from the Dominican Republic. They carried Dominican flags and wore Chicago Cubs baseball shirts, and they were all going to the same place. ''It's not every day we get to see dreams come true around here,'' Ms. Tejada said, ''especially for people like us.'' In a celebration usually reserved for astronauts, war heroes and heads of state, New York City bestowed its greatest honor on Sammy Sosa, the Dominican-born baseball star who rose from desperate poverty to grab a piece of home run history. Under a brilliant autumn sky, Mr. Sosa rode a float along the Canyon of Heroes on lower Broadway and then was handed the keys to the city by an exuberant Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. Speaking to a crowd of thousands, Mr. Giuliani called Mr. Sosa ''a Dominican hero, an American hero, a hero around the world.'' Over the last season, as Mr. Sosa and the St. Louis Cardinals' Mark McGwire chased Roger Maris's record of 61 home runs in a season, they won fans around the world. And yesterday people from as far away as London, Cuba and Venezuela lined the parade route to cheer for Mr. Sosa, who ended the season with 66 homers to Mr. McGwire's 70. For many residents of Washington Heights, which has the largest community of Dominicans outside the Dominican Republic, the celebration seemed made just for them -- a rare opportunity to join with the rest of New York in cheering the accomplishments of one of their own. They cheered even though they could hardly hear what Mr. Sosa was saying. And those who were too far away to see the podium simply closed their eyes and breathed in deep, as if they were soaking the whole experience in. ''I am more proud that I was born in the Dominican Republic today than any other day, because Sammy Sosa was born there,'' gushed Fernando Cruz, 40, who wore a T-shirt with Mr. Sosa's jersey number, 21. ''He was born poor, like me. My life was his life.'' Guillermo Linares, the Dominican-born City Councilman who represents Washington Heights, said: ''We have been struggling for the last 30 years to make our experience here as positive as possible and to fulfill the American dream. And whenever we have someone who has broken the barriers that are often set for immigrants, that translates to a monumental feeling of pride. ''To have one of our own reach the level of being a national hero is only a dream come true.'' Searching for words to express his gratitude, Mr. Sosa was moved to tears. For a brief moment he struggled to express himself in English. ''I am a man of the people, that's all I am,'' Mr. Sosa, dressed in an elegant black suit, said just above a whisper. Then he took off his gold-rimmed spectacles, took a breath to try to stop the tears and switched to Spanish, promising that he would visit Washington Heights before leaving New York. The crowd erupted. ''The keys to the city that I was given today do not belong to me,'' he said. ''They belong to you. You are the people of New York. You are my people.'' Before all the hoopla in lower Manhattan yesterday, Sammy Sosa the baseball star took a back seat to Sammy the humanitarian, as Gov. George E. Pataki and Jackie Robinson's widow, Rachel, saluted him as the first recipient of the annual Jackie Robinson Empire State Freedom Medal. The bronze medal was given to Mr. Sosa in a ceremony at St. Clare's Hospital and Health Center in Manhattan in recognition of his efforts to aid the victims of Hurricane Georges, which devastated parts of the Caribbean late last month, killing about 250 people and injuring more than 500 in the Dominican Republic alone. Mr. Sosa ended the evening at Yankee Stadium, where he threw out the first pitch of the opening World Series game between the Yankees and the San Diego Padres. He showed a humorous side last night as he sat down at a lectern for an interview at the stadium and said, ''Hello, I'm El Duque.'' The real El Duque -- the Yankee pitcher Orlando Hernandez -- followed Mr. Sosa into the interview room, but the comment caused reporters to explode with laughter. Mr. Sosa's good humor and humility, at a time of such success, resonate vividly among the people of Washington Heights, where poverty remains a daily struggle for most, one that they would love to conquer and forget. On Dyckman Avenue, a street crowded with one-room fruit and vegetable stores, pharmacies, money transfer counters and used-clothing shops, Tony Arias stood outside the electronics store he manages and explained why he and thousands of other neighborhood residents had celebrated in the streets when Mr. Sosa surpassed Roger Maris's home run mark. ''He is a humble person, who came from a very poor family,'' Mr. Arias said. ''He didn't have shoes. He washed cars and shined shoes to make a living. Now he is at a level all of us want to be.'' Others from the community gathered around and began giving examples of Mr. Sosa's generosity. The stories they told were the stuff of legend. One man said that every time Mr. Sosa hit a home run, the people in his hometown would kill a goat and prepare a feast, all paid for by the Cubs player. Another said that each time Sosa returns home, he pays for sick people in his hometown to get the medicines and operations they need to get well. ''He is a person with a good and noble soul,'' said Julian Garcia. ''He knows what it's like to live poor, unlike so many, and he tries to help.'' Photo: Sammy Sosa greeted his New York fans yesterday at a parade in his honor up the Canyon of Heroes on lower Broadway. (Associated Press) Sammy Sosa's Biography http://www.sammysosa.info/biography/ Copyright © 2006 SammySosa.info. Samuel Sosa Peralta was born on November 12, 1968 in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. His parents Lucrecia and Bautista were not well off and Sammy had a hard childhood, with his father passing away when he was just seven. His family lived in an abandoned hospital while Sammy sold oranges on the street and shined shoes to make ends meet for his mother and six siblings. He started playing baseball at fourteen, but had to use a branch instead of a bat, an old milk carton for a baseball glove and a sock rolled up as a ball. The Early Years His natural talents for the game were very evident at an early age. When he was just fifteen, the Philadelphia Philles attempted to sign him but were disallowed as Sammy was younger than Major League Baseball's minimum age of sixteen. He instead went on to play in some local leagues and a year later in 1985 while working out at the Toronto Blue Jays camp, a Texas Rangers scout by the name of Omar Minaya signed him to his first contract with the Rangers. Sosa was described as "malnourished" in his initial scouting report, but that changed as he began working his way through the Rangers minor league system. Sammy made his major league debut on June 16, 1989 against the New York Yankees and hit is first major league homerun five days later against Roger Clemens and the Boston Red Sox. His time in Texas was short as on July 29, 1989 Sosa was traded by the Rangers along with Scott Fletcher and Wilson Alvarez to the Chicago White Sox for Harold Baines and Fred Manrique. Sammy Sosa spent parts of the next three seasons with the Chicago White Sox and their minor league teams. In March of 1992, he was traded once again - this time with Ken Patterson to the cross-town Chicago Cubs in exchange for George Bell. By the 1993 season, it was clear that the Cubs had pried away a jewel from the White Sox. In his first full season with the Cubs, Sammy became the first 30-30 player in the team's long history. As history would tell us later on, Sammy was just getting warmed up. He played in his first All-Star Game on July 11, 1995 in the home stadium of his former team (Rangers) in Arlington, Texas. He completed his second 30-30 campaign with the Cubs and became the first player in the 20th century to lead the Cubs in homers and steals for three straight years. The Home Run Derby By the mid-1990s, Sammy had become a consistent 30- 40 home run player. In 1997 he signed a four year $42.5 million dollar contract with the Cubs but the real special show began in 1998. That year saw Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa go head-to-head to see who could hit more home runs. McGwire had the early lead but by late August, they were going back and forth.