Sammy Sosa #21

Married, wife's name is Sonia...The have 4 children, daughters Keysha and Kenia, and sons Sammy Jr. and Michael...In addition to his on-field honors, he was selected with Mark McGwire as the 1998 Sportsmen of the Year by both Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News...Also in 1998, he was chosen the 1998 Roberto Clemente Man of the Year by Major League Baseball...He was honored by his fellow players as the 1999 Players Choice Man of the Year...In 1998, he won the Gene Autry Courage Award, honoring athletes who have demonstrated heroism in the face of difficulty or adversity, overcoming hardships to inspire others...One of his brothers, Jose, played in the Cubs' minor league system.

2005

Sosa's much ballyhooed first season in Baltimore ended in disappointing fashion as he finished the last month on the disabled list with a lesion under his right big toe. Sosa did pass Frank Robinson for fifth on the All-Time home run list with a solo shot off Texas' Chris Young on July 27.

2004

Moved up to 7th on baseball's all-time home run list and 38th on the all-time RBI list. Recorded his 12th straight season with 20 or more homers and 10th straight with 30 or more, despite spending a month of the season on the disabled list with a sprained ligament in his lower back. Broke his own major league record for most home runs over a 10-year span, hitting 479 roundtrippers from 1995-2004. Homered twice off Cincinnati's Paul Wilson on April 18 to tie and break Ernie Banks' record of 512 homers in a Cubs uniform...Finished the season with 545 homers as a Cub. Tied and broke Banks'Wrigley Field home run record on September 15...Hit a 1st-inning solo homer off Pittsburgh's Oliver Perez, then hit a grand slam in the 8th off Mark Corey in the 13-5 Cubs win...Has hit 293 homers at Wrigley, while Banks hit 290. Was named to the National League All-Star team for the 7th time in his career and made his 5th start...Had an RBI-single off the AL's Mark Mulder, going 1-for-2 in the game. Homered 10 times in July, the 21st double-digit homer month of his career. Hit his 10th career game-ending home run on July 1 vs. Houston, a 10th-inning solo shot off Brad Lidge to give the Cubs a 5-4 win...Hit 8 game-winning homers in his Cubs' career. Had three 2-homer games, giving him 66 multi-homer games in his career...Ranks 4th on baseball's alltime list, one shy of tying Mark McGwire. In addition to April 18 vs. Cincinnati and September 15 vs. Pittsburgh, also went deep twice off the White Sox' Esteban Loaiza on June 27. 190 Had 5 RBI on July 11 at St. Louis, hitting a 3-run homer off Chris Carpenter and later adding a basesloading single...Recorded his 19th career 5-RBI game on September 15 vs. Pittsburgh, hitting 2 home runs, including his 8th career grand slam. Made his 15th career Opening Day start, 13th as a Cub...Made his 12th straight start in right field for the Cubs, a club record. Was on the disabled list, May 19-June 18, with a sprained ligament in his lower back...Hit .291 (39-134) prior to going on the disabled list and .241 (82-340) after his return. Saw his string of 6 straight 40-homer seasons end...Only Babe Ruth (7) and Alex Rodriguez (6, also ended in 2004) have had as many.

2003

Sammy had another solid season at the plate, batting .279 with 40 homers and 103 RBIs...on April 4, he became the 18th member of the prestigious 500-homer club when he went deep off Cincinnati's Scott Sullivan at Great American Ball Park...on August 22 at Arizona, he became the 10th player in major league history to record 500 homers with one club when he homered off Curt Schilling ... in the process, he reached the 30-homers mark for the ninth consecutive season...homered a big league-high 13 times in July - the 20th double-digit homer month of his career...hit his ninth career game-ending walkoff homer (and seventh as a Cub) on September 2 vs. St. Louis - a 15th-inning 2-run shot off Jeff Fassero to give the Cubs a 4-2 win in the first game of a doubleheader. hit a 10th-inning homer May 1 off Tim Worrell in the Cubs' 5-1 victory at San Francisco (career homer No. 505) ... it was his first extra-inning roundtripper since August 3, 1997, when he connected for a game-winning 12th-inning shot off Los Angeles' Todd Worrell (homer No. 194). his 9th-inning homer off Philadelphia's Turk Wendell July 2 at Veterans Stadium was the game's only run in the Cubs' 1-0 victory. on August 3, his 7th-inning 2-run homer off Oscar Villareal gave the Cubs a 2-1 win over Arizona...had five 2-homer affairs, giving him 63 multihomer contests for his big league career. homered twice off Los Angeles' Kevin Brown August 10 - driving in all 3 runs in the Cubs' 3-1 victory. went deep twice off Arizona's Curt Schilling August 22, knocking in 3 of the club's 4 runs in a 4-1 win. also had 2-homer games June 24 vs. Milwaukee, July 11 vs. Atlanta and September 25 at Cincinnati...made his 14th career Opening Day start, his 12th as a Cub and his club record-setting 11th in a row in rightfield...recorded the 2,000th hit of his big league career June 8 - a run-scoring single off the Yankees' Juan Acevedo ... played in his 2,000th game September 14 vs. Cincinnati...in 92 games from June 18 - the day he returned from the suspended list - through the end of the season, he batted .273 (97-355) with 34 homers and 76 RBI. was on the Major League Baseball suspended list from June 11-June 17 (7 games) ... was ejected from the Cubs' June 3 contest vs. Tampa Bay by crew chief Tim McClelland after his shattered bat contained cork. returned to the lineup June 18 at Cincinnati and hit a 2-run shot off Jimmy Haynes - his first homer since May 1 ... went 68 at-bats between home runs...hit at least 1 homer in 12 straight series from June 30-July 3 (at Philadelphia) through August 8- August 10 (at Los Angeles)...was on the disabled list May 10-May 30 after having the nail on his right big toe removed in a surgical procedure ... had been suffering from chronic irritation of the nail for the previous month..had a 10-game hitting streak April 11-April 20 (14-35, 4 homers, 14 RBI) - his 11th career double-digit hitting streak ... left the April 20 affair in Pittsburgh after getting hit near the left ear flap by a Salomon Torres pitch...was selected as the National League's co-Player of the Week (with Colorado's Shawn Chacon) for the week ending April 20 - the 11th Player of the Week honor of his big league career ... in 7 games, he went 10-for-24 with 4 homers and 14 RBI.

2002

500-HOMER CLUB: On April 4, Sammy Sosa became the 18th member of the prestigious 500-homer club when he went deep off Cincinnati's Scott Sullivan at Great American Ball Park.

510 of his 539 big league homers have been hit in a Cubs uniform - leaving him 2 behind Ernie Banks (512 homers with the Cubs) on the club's all-time homer list ...tied Banks' career roundtripper total July 5 when he connected for a 2-run shot off St. Louis' Matt Morris.

on August 22 at Arizona, he became the 10th player in big league history to record 500 homers with one club when he homered off Curt Schilling ...in the process, he reached the 30-homers mark for the ninth straight season.

ended the year with 539 career homers - the 10th-highest total in major league history.

Sammy had another solid season at the plate, finishing the year with 40 homers, 103 RBI and a .279 average.

became the first player in National League history to put together six straight 40-homer seasons and nine straight 100-RBI seasons - and is just the third player in big league history to have nine consecutive 35-homer/ 100-RBI campaigns, joining Jimmie Foxx (1932-1940) and Rafael Palmeiro (current - since 1995).

with his 40 home runs, he now has gone deep 469 times since 1994 - surpassing Babe Ruth's 10-seasonhomer record of 467 hit from 1920-1929 ...is the major league recordholder for 5-year, 6-year, 7-year, 8-year and 9-year time spans - and the N.L. recordholder for the 3-year and 4-year periods.

homered a big league-high 13 times in July - the 20th double-digit homer month of his career.

had five 2-homer games, giving him 63 multi-homer contests for his big league career - tying him with Willie Mays for the 4th-highest total in big league history.

on June 24 vs. Milwaukee, he went 3-for-3 with 3 runs scored, a double and a pair of homers.

as part of a 4-hit game July 11 vs. Atlanta (his 18th career affair with at least 4 hits), he hit a pair of solo shots off Mike Hampton.

homered twice off Los Angeles' Kevin Brown August 10 - driving in all 3 runs in the Cubs' 3-1 victory.

went deep twice off Arizona's Curt Schilling August 22, knocking in 3 of the club's 4 runs in a 4-1 win.

had a fifth 2-homer affair September 25 at Cincinnati.

hit his ninth career game-ending walkoff homer (and seventh as a Cub) on September 2 vs. St. Louis - a 15th-inning 2-run shot off Jeff Fassero to give the Cubs a 4-2 win in the first game of a doubleheader.

hit a 10th-inning homer May 1 off Tim Worrell in the Cubs' 5-1 victory at San Francisco (career homer No. 505) ...it was his first extra-inning roundtripper since August 3, 1997, when he connected for a game-winning 12th-inning shot off Los Angeles' Todd Worrell (homer No. 194).

his 9th-inning homer off Philadelphia's Turk Wendell July 2 at Veterans Stadium was the game's only run in the Cubs' 1-0 victory.

on August 3, his 7th-inning 2-run homer off Oscar Villareal gave the Cubs a 2-1 win over Arizona.

in 92 games from June 18 - the day he returned from the suspended list - through the end of the season, he batted .273 (97-355) with 34 homers and 76 RBI.

was on the Major League Baseball suspended list from June 11-June 17 (7 games) ...was ejected from the Cubs' June 3 contest vs. Tampa Bay by crew chief Tim McClelland after his shattered bat contained cork.

returned to the lineup June 18 at Cincinnati and hit a 2-run shot off Jimmy Haynes - his first homer since May 1 ...went 68 at-bats between home runs.

recorded the 2,000th hit of his major league career June 8 - a run-scoring single off the Yankees' Juan Acevedo.

played in the 2,000th game of his major league career September 14 vs. Cincinnati.

hit at least 1 homer in 12 straight series from June 30-July 3 (at Philadelphia) through August 8-August 10 (at Los Angeles).

was on the disabled list May 10-May 30 after having the nail on his right big toe removed in a surgical procedure ...had been suffering from chronic irritation of the nail for the previous month ...it was his first trip to the disabled list since 1996 - as he missed just 24 games during the 1997-2002 campaigns.

had a 10-game hitting streak April 11-April 20, batting .400 (14-35) ...during his 11th career double-digit hitting streak, he had 4 homers, 6 doubles and 14 RBI.

left the April 20 affair in Pittsburgh after getting hit near the left ear flap by a Salomon Torres pitch.

was selected as the National League's co-Player of the Week (with Colorado's Shawn Chacon) for the week ending April 20 - the 11th Player of the Week honor of his big league career ...in 7 games, he went 10-for-24 with 4 homers and 14 RBI.

2001

Sammy became the first player in major league history to have a trio of 60-homer seasons, going deep 64 times while batting .328 with 160 RBI ... finished 2nd in the National League Most Valuable Player voting.

set club records for total bases (425), extra-base hits (103) and slugging percentage (.737), topping the marks established by Hack Wilson in 1930 (423 total bases, 97 extra-base hits, .723 slugging percentage).

led the majors in RBI, total bases, runs scored (146) and intentional walks (37) ... among N.L. batters, he ranked:

2nd in homers, slugging percentage and walks (116) ... tied for 2nd in sacrifice flies (12).

3rd in on-base percentage (.437) and extra-base hits.

8th in batting average ... tied for 8th in hits (189) and games played (160).

over his final 48 contests, he batted .385 (70-182) with 24 homers and 55 RBI.

beginning with a 2-homer affair June 16 vs. Minnesota, he had 47 homers and 103 RBI in his last 98 games -- including a trio of 3-homer contests (August 9 vs. Colorado, August 22 vs. Milwaukee, September 23 at Houston) and six 2-homer affairs.

after the season, he won his fifth Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award and was named to The Sporting News' all-star team for the fifth time.

2000

Sammy won his first home run title, finishing the year with a M.L.-best 50 roundtrippers ... batted .320 with 138 RBI -- the 2nd-highest total in the N.L.

was the first Cub to lead the N.L. in homers since Ryne Sandberg in 1990 (40) ... hit his 50th homer September 16 off St. Louis' Gene Stechschulte into Big Mac Land at Busch Stadium.

with 193 hits, he had the eighth 50-homer/190-hit season in big league history -- and the second of his career.

hit his fourth grand slam April 20 off Montreal's Miguel Batista.

reached the 1,000-RBI mark for his M.L. career June 16 vs. Montreal -- on the 11th anniversary of his big league debut.

recorded the 1,500th hit of his career June 22 at Atlanta, a single off Terry Mulholland.

won the N.L. Player of the Month Award for July after hitting .337 in 26 games with 11 homers and 24 RBI.

was selected to the N.L. All-Star Game starting lineup for the second straight year and went to the Midsummer Classic for the fourth time.

won the All-Star Game's Home Run Derby competition, hitting 26 homers in 56 swings and defeating Ken Griffey Jr. in the finals.

when he missed the Cubs' September 19 game with low back stiffness, it snapped his consecutive games-played streak at 388 (dating back to July 9, 1998).

after the season, he won his fourth Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award and was named to The Sporting News' all-star team for the fourth time.

1999

Sammy won the first National League Hank Aaron Award -- Major League Baseball's first new major award in more than 30 years -- as he had 63 homers, 180 hits and 141 RBI for a league-high 384 points ... batters receive 1 point for each homer, base hit and RBI ... once again, he fell just short in his race with Mark McGwire for the N.L. homer title (65-63) ... led the league in extra-base hits (89) and total bases (397) and ranked 3rd in RBI and slugging percentage (.635) ... became the first player in major league history to reach the 60-homers mark in two different seasons ... hit his historic 60th roundtripper September 18 -- a solo shot to centerfield off Milwaukee's Jason Bere at Wrigley Field ... reached the 50-homer mark for the second straight year August 21 when he connected off Colorado's John Thomson ... the only other big leaguers with consecutive 50-homer campaigns are Babe Ruth, McGwire and Ken Griffey, Jr. ... reached the 40-homer mark for the third time during his career July 31 (New York's Dennis Cook) ... the only other player in Cubs history to have more than one 40-homer campaign is Ernie Banks (five times--1955, 1957-1960) ... reached the 30-homer mark for the sixth time June 30 by hitting a game-winning shot off Milwaukee's David Weathers with President Clinton in attendance ... the only player in Cubs history to have more 30-homer seasons is Banks (seven years) ... had six 2-homer games, giving him 39 career multi-homer contests (38 with the Cubs) ... during a 2-homer affair May 17 at Florida, he hit estimated shots to straight-away centerfield of 451 feet (off Ryan Dempster) and 465 feet (off Braden Looper) ... also went deep twice June 24 at Colorado, July 31 vs. New York, August 15 at St. Louis and August 20-August 21 vs. Colorado ... hit his 300th career homer June 26 at Wrigley Field, an estimated 465-foot shot to centerfield off Philadelphia's Robert Person ... recorded his 300th homer as a member of the Cubs September 1 at San Diego ... the solo shot off Sterling Hitchcock gave the Cubs a 1-0 victory ... hit a pair of game-ending homers, giving him 9 last at-bat game-winning roundtrippers with the Cubs ... on May 26 vs. Florida, he ended the Cubs' 6-4 victory with a 2-run homer off Braden Looper in the bottom of the 9th ... on June 2 vs. San Diego, his 3-run 9th-inning homer off Trevor Hoffman gave the Cubs a 9-8 come-from-behind win ... had a career-high 18-game hitting streak May 26-June 15, going 26-for-72 (.361) with 7 homers and 19 RBI ... won his third N.L. Player of the Month Award in May after hitting a M.L.-high 13 homers during the month with a .321 average, 27 RBI and 26 runs scored ... was the N.L.'s leading votegetter for the All-Star Game (2,315,204 votes), going to the Midsummer Classic for the third time ... the last Cub to lead the N.L. in votes was Ryne Sandberg (1990-1992) ... homered a M.L.-high 32 times during the first half, surpassing the 30-mark prior to the All-Star Game for the second straight year (33 in 1998) ... in 77 games after the All-Star break, he had 31 homers and 67 RBI.

1998

Sammy won the N.L.'s Most Valuable Player Award, earning 30 of the 32 first-place votes after batting .308 with 66 home runs, 158 RBI and 134 runs scored ... his postseason honors included being named N.L. Most Valuable Player by Baseball Weekly and Player of the Year by The Sporting News and Baseball Digest ... won his second Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award and was selected to The Sporting News, Associated Press and Baseball America postseason all-star teams ... also was the first recipient of a Humanitarian Award at The Espys ... established career highs in batting, homers, RBI, runs scored, hits (198) and total bases (416) ... his RBI total led the majors and was the 4th-highest total in N.L. history ... also led the majors in runs scored and total bases ... when he homered for the 56th time September 2 off Cincinnati's Jason Bere, he tied Hack Wilson's 1930 club mark ... became the Cubs' single-season homer leader September 4 with a solo shot off Pittsburgh's Jason Schmidt ... hit his 60th homer September 12 off Milwaukee's Valerio De Los Santos in the Cubs' 149th game ... Babe Ruth homered for the 60th time in 1927 in the Yankees' 154th contest ... hit his 61st and 62nd homers September 13 vs. Milwaukee in the Cubs' 150th contest ... tied Roger Maris' 1961 total with his first homer, a 2-run shot off Bronswell Patrick ... hit homer No. 62 off Eric Plunk ... had 57 homers and 127 RBI in his last 110 games after beginning his homer barrage May 25 in Atlanta -including his second career 3-homer contest (June 15 vs. Milwaukee) and 10 two-homer affairs ... his 11 multi-homer games tied the M.L. single-season mark previously reached by Detroit's Hank Greenberg in 1938 ... was named to the N.L. All-Star team for the second time during his career, but did not play in the Midsummer Classic due to left shoulder stiffness ... was the N.L. Player of the Month for June and earned N.L. Player of the Week honors three times (weeks ending June 7, June 21 and September 12) ... established club records with 35 homers at Wrigley Field and 31 on the road ... in a 6-2 victory July 27 at Arizona, he drove in all 6 Cubs runs with a pair of homers - a game-tying 2-run shot off Willie Blair in the 6th inning and a game-winning grand slam off Alan Embree in the 8th ... the grand slam was the first of his career-and his 247th big league roundtripper ... the record for most homers at the start of a career without a grand slam had been held by Bob Horner (209) ... the next night (July 28), he hit another grand slam, this time off Arizona's Bob Wolcott ... the 2 grand slams came in a 4 at-bat sequence-after he had gone without a grand slam in his first 4,428 M.L. at-bats ... was the first Cub to hit grand slams in back-to-back games ... it was the 18th time in M.L. history that a player had hit bases-loaded roundtrippers in consecutive contests ... hit his third grand slam of the campaign September 16 off San Diego's Brian Boehringer (homer No. 63), driving in 6 runs in the contest ... became the first Cub to hit 3 grand slams in a season since Ernie Banks' club-record 5-grand slam campaign of 1955 ... hit at least 1 homer in 15 consecutive series July 22-July 23 vs. Montreal through September 4-September 6 at Pittsburgh ... the only player in M.L. history to have a longer streak was Mark McGwire, who went deep during 20 straight series while playing for Oakland in 1996 ... homered 12 times against Milwaukee, the most by a player against one club since 1961, when the Yankees' Roger Maris hit 13 homers against the White Sox and the Giants' Willie Mays went deep 12 times against the Braves ... homered 8 times during the Sunday-Saturday week of June 14-June 20, tying the N.L. record set by Pittsburgh's Ralph Kiner in 1947, Cincinnati's Ted Kluszewski in 1956 and San Diego's Nate Colbert in 1972 ... hit 10 homers in a 9-game span twice - May 25-June 7 (driving in 23 runs) and June 13-June 21 ... also tied club marks by homering in 5 straight games June 3-June 8 and hitting 5 homers over a 3-game span June 19-June 21 ... recorded his 250th M.L. home run August 5 at Wrigley Field, a 2-run shot off Arizona's Andy Benes.

1997

Was once again among the N.L.'s top power hitters, finishing 7th in the league in homers (36) and tying for 6th in RBI (119) ... played in all 162 games (161 starts), tying for the league lead ... had his first career 6-RBI affair May 16 vs. San Diego ... was named the N.L.'s Player of the Week for the week ending May 18 after hitting .348 in 6 games with 4 homers, 2 triples and 12 RBI ... on May 26 at Pittsburgh, he hit the first inside-the-park homer of his M.L. career in the top of the 6th inning off the Pirates' Francisco Cordova ... just moments later, the Pirates' Tony Womack hit an inside-the-park homer of his own ... it was the first time in almost 11 years that 2 inside-the-park homers were hit in the same game (October 4, 1986-both by Minnesota's Greg Gagne) ... recorded his 1,000th big league hit August 20 at Florida, a single off the Marlins' Livan Hernandez ... hit his 200th M.L. homer August 24 off Montreal's Steve Kline ... fanned a club-record/league-high 174 times.

1996

Was leading the N.L. in homers when his season was cut short August 20 ... finished the year with 40 homers (the 5th-highest total in the league), 100 RBI and a .273 batting average in 124 games ... was injured when he was hit by a pitch thrown by Florida's Mark Hutton and went on the disabled list with a fractured pisiforme bone in his right hand ... underwent surgery August 26 to have the fractured bone removed ... the surgery was performed by Dr. Dan Nagle ... on May 16 against Houston, he became the first player in Cubs history to hit 2 homers in an inning ... led off the 7th inning with a homer off Jeff Tabaka ... later added a 2-run shot off Jim Dougherty in his second at-bat of the inning ... recorded his first career 3-homer contest June 5 vs. Philadelphia ... his second homer of the game (off Terry Mulholland) was his 150th in the majors ... was selected as the N.L. Player of the Month for July after batting .358 in 26 games with 10 homers and 29 RBI ... was the N.L.'s Player of the Week for July 22-July 28, batting .400 with 4 doubles, 4 homers and 10 RBI.

1995

Became the first player in the 20th century to lead the Cubs in homers (36) and steals (34) in three consecutive campaigns ... joined the 30-homer/30-steal club for the second time ... tied for 2nd in the N.L. in homers and for the league lead in games (144) ... finished 2nd in RBI (119) and 7th in stolen bases ... went to the All-Star Game for the first time, going 0-for-1 in the July 11 Midsummer Classic in Arlington, TX ... hit his 100th M.L. homer May 14 off San Diego's Trevor Hoffman ... on May 21 at Los Angeles, he homered in the top of the 13th inning to give the Cubs a 2-1 win-and their 9,000th victory ... slugged the 10,000th home run in Cubs franchise history August 14, a 2-run shot off Los Angeles' Tom Candiotti ... was twice named the N.L.'s Player of the Week (August 14-August 20, August 28-September 3) ... hit 7 homers and recorded 18 RBI over a 7-game span August 17-August 24 ... homered in 4 straight games August 17-August 20, driving in 11 runs over the stretch ... slugged 10 homers in a 13-game span August 17-August 30 ... after the season, he won his first Lousivlle Slugger Silver Slugger Award and was named to The Sporting News' N.L. all-star team.

1994

Won the Cubs' Triple Crown, batting .300 with 25 homers and 70 RBI in the strike-shortened season ... was the first player to lead the Cubs in all three Triple Crown categories since Bill Buckner in 1981 ... homered leading off the Cubs' May 4 contest vs. Cincinnati's Tom Browning and the club's May 29 affair off Atlanta's Tom Glavine.

1993

Became the first player in Cubs history to record a 30-homer/30-steal campaign ... finished the season with 33 homers, 93 RBI and 36 stolen bases ... hit his 30th homer September 2 off New York's Josias Manzanillo ... joined the 30/30 club September 15 with a 6th-inning stolen base in San Francisco ... went 6-for-6 on July 2 at Colorado after hitting safely in his final 3 at-bats June 30 at San Diego ... the 9 consecutive hits established a Cubs record, while the 6-hit performance was the first by a Cub since Jose Cardenal on May 2, 1976 ... was the N.L.'s Player of the Week for June 28-July 4 ... in 6 games, he hit .538 (14-26) with 2 homers and 6 RBI ... tied a club record with 4 stolen bases September 29 at Los Angeles.

1992

Was limited to 67 games in his first season with the Cubs due to a pair of stints on the disabled list ... hit .260 with 8 homers and 25 RBI ... hit .211 in his first 24 games with 1 RBI ... his only RBI during that stretch occurred on Opening Day ... drove in his second Cubs run May 5 ... hit his first Cubs homer two days later off Houston's Ryan Bowen ... had his second career 2-homer contest - and his first with the Cubs - June 10 at St. Louis ... in his next game, he was hit by a pitch thrown by Montreal's Dennis Martinez which broke the fifth metacarpal in his right hand ... was on the disabled list June 13-July 27 ... in his first at-bat off the DL, he homered on the first pitch he faced against Pittsburgh's Doug Drabek ... was 15-for-39 in his first 9 games off the disabled list with 3 homers ... in the 10th game after his return, he fouled a pitch off his left ankle, fracturing it ... went on the DL August 7 and missed the rest of the season.

1991

Struggled during his final season with the White Sox, batting .203 in 116 games ... also spent one month at Vancouver (AAA), hitting .267 with 3 homers ... had 2 homers and 5 RBI Opening Day at Baltimore.

1990

Played his first full M.L. season and hit .233 with 26 doubles, 10 triples, 15 homers, 70 RBI and 32 stolen bases ... was the only American League player to reach double figures in doubles, triples, homers and steals ... joined Lance Johnson and Ivan Calderon in becoming the first White Sox trio to steal 30 bases apiece since 1902.

1989

Saw his first M.L. action, appearing in 25 games for Texas and 33 games for the White Sox ... opened the year with Texas' Tulsa (AA) farm club and batted .297 with 7 homers and 31 RBI in 66 games ... was recalled by the Rangers June 16 and made his M.L. debut that day vs. New York, going 2-for-4 ... his first hit came off the Yankees' Andy Hawkins ... hit his first home run June 21 off Boston's Roger Clemens ... was batting .238 when he was optioned to Oklahoma City (AAA) July 20 ... was traded to the White Sox's organization July 29 and was assigned to Vancouver, where he hit .367 in 13 games ... was recalled by the White Sox August 22 ... in his Pale Hose debut that night at Minnesota, he went 3-for-3 with a homer, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored.

1988

Spent the season at Charlotte, FL (A), and led the Florida State League with 12 triples while stealing a career-high 42 bases.

1987

Batted .279 with a club-high 73 runs scored at Gastonia (A) ... was a midseason South Atlantic League all-star.

1986

Made his professional debut at Gulf Coast (Rookie) ... led the Gulf Coast League in doubles (19) and total bases (96).

2004

Sammy won his second National League homer crown in three years, hitting 49 roundtrippers to increase his career total to 499 ... the only other Cubs to sit atop the N.L. leaderboard more than once are Frank Schulte (1910, 1911), Hack Wilson (1926, 1927, 1928, 1930), Bill Nicholson (1943, 1944) and Ernie Banks (1958, 1960).

was just the third player in N.L. history to put together five consecutive 40-homer campaigns -- joining Hall of Famers Ralph Kiner (1947-1951) and Duke Snider (1953-1957) ... in major league history, only Babe Ruth (seven seasons from 1926-1932) has a longer streak.

had 108 RBI and a league-best 122 runs scored to go with his .288 batting average ... became just the third player in N.L. history to record eight straight 100-RBI seasons, joining Hall of Famers Mel Ott (1929-1936) and Willie Mays (1959-1966).

joined Texas' Rafael Palmeiro in putting together an eighth consecutive 35-homer/ 100-RBI campaign ... the only player to have a longer streak is Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx (9 years, 1932-1940).

finished 1st in the N.L. in runs scored for the second straight year and for the third time during his career ... since the 1880s -- when George Gore and King Kelly accomplished the feat -- the only other Cub to lead the N.L. in runs scored in back-to-back seasons was Ryne Sandberg (104 in 1989 and 116 in 1990).

made his 13th career Opening Day start, his 11th as a Cub and his club record-setting 10th in a row in rightfield.

had a pair of double-digit homer months, going deep 11 times both in May and August.

had a 12-game hitting streak August 6-August 17 -- the 10th double-digit hitting streak of his career ... homered 10 times over the stretch, batting .468 (22-47).

had one of the top 2-game stretches in big league history August 10-August 11 at Colorado, going 6-for-9 with 4 homers and 14 RBI ... the 14 RBI set a N.L. 2-game record.

on August 10, he hit 3-run homers in the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings to give him 9 RBI for the game -- tying the club record set by Heinie Zimmerman on June 11, 1911, vs. Boston ... it was the sixth 3-homer game of his career, tying the big league mark set by Johnny Mize ... his blasts in three consecutive innings also tied a big league record (accomplished four other times, most recently by Colorado's Andres Galarraga on June 25, 1995) ... was just the second player in big league history to hit a trio of 3-run homers in a game (also Cincinnati's Walker Cooper on July 6, 1949).

followed up that performance by driving in 5 runs in the August 11 affair, including a grand slam off Justin Speier -- the seventh of his big league career.

the 2 games were part of a week in which he went 14-for-25 (.560) with 6 homers and 19 RBI ... for his efforts, he won N.L. Player of the Week honors for the 10th time during his career.

went deep again in his next contest August 12 vs. Houston -- as his 5 homers in 3 games tied a club mark.

also had a trio of 2-homer games -- giving him 58 multi-homer efforts for his big league career.

the six-time All-Star went 1-for-2 in the annual Midsummer Classic with a single off American League starter Derek Lowe ... led all N.L. players in votes for the second time (2,062,038) en route to making his fourth All-Star start.

won his sixth Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award and was named to The Sporting News' all-star team for the sixth time.