Sammy Sosa- Texas Rangers, 1989, 2007
Oh Slammin’ Sammy, a Texas Ranger product through and through. Sosa was signed by the Rangers out of the Dominican Republic in 1985. Just four years later, he was in the bigs and played all of 25 games with Texas before getting dealt to the White Sox for Harold Baines.
A career filled with controversy over PED usage, he became one of the league’s greatest power hitters in the early 90’s and 2000’s.
The 7x All-Star, MVP and Home Run Derby champion had a career .273 average, 609 homers and even stole 234 bases. He was everything you could ask for in a player, and then some.
Those 609 homers are best for ninth all-time.
As for his time in Texas, Sosa’s most memorable moment was blasting his 600th career home run in 2007 for the team that gave him his first opportunity. A pretty remarkable way to put an exclamation point on his career.
But the downside for Sammy Sosa is he has never eclipsed 20% of the BBWAA votes and is in his 10th and final season on the ballot. Last season, he received 17% of the votes, which is the highest vote total he has ever received. However, 58% of the votes will be a tough hill to climb in one season.
Unfortunately, Sammy Sosa’s Hall of Fame chances are looking bleak, but he’ll always be remembered as one of the greatest sluggers to set foot on the baseball field.