Samuel Sosa Peralta (born November 12, 1968 in San
Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic) is a
designated hitter and right fielder in Major League
Baseball and is currently a free agent. Caught up in
the era of Major League Baseball's steroid scandal,
Sosa's reputation has taken a hit. The 2007 Mitchell
Report did not name Sosa in its list of players
identified in the course of the investigation,
although Sosa was mentioned in a related affidavit
by Federal Agent Jeff Novitzky dealing with the use
of amphetamines. Sosa's Major League career began
when he broke in with the Texas Rangers in 1989. In
the intervening years, he has played for the Chicago
White Sox, Chicago Cubs and Baltimore Orioles. He
ended the 2005 season with 588 career home runs,
placing him fifth on the all-time home run list. In
early 2007, however, he signed with the Rangers in a
comeback attempt and made the team as its designated
hitter. While playing for the Rangers on June 20th,
2007 against the Cubs, his former team, Sosa hit his
600th home run, becoming the 5th player in
professional baseball to achieve that mark. He is
also the all-time home run leader among foreign-born
Major League Baseball players.
Sosa wears number 21 in honor of his childhood hero,
Roberto Clemente.
Sosa is known to family and friends as "Mikey". His
maternal grandmother, who had suggested his birth
name of Samuel, also came up with his nickname:
"[She] heard the name on a soap opera she liked and
decided from that moment on I would be Mikey."
(Sosa: An Autobiography, Sammy Sosa and Marcos
Bretón, Time Warner, 2000, p.16)
In his autobiography, Sosa states that although his
officially registered birthplace is San Pedro de
Macorís, he was actually born in Consuelo, and that
San Pedro de Macorís was "the largest town nearby."
Both Consuelo and San Pedro de Macorís are in San
Pedro de Macorís Province.
