Whether Sammy Sosa will ever make it to the Cubs Hall of Fame is up to the Ricketts family. I’m not sure reversing course and welcoming Sosa back into Cub nation, will earn the Ricketts any respect from fans that hate them. I’m not sure that every Cub fan will be able to reconcile some of his actions. Every fanbase prides itself on a certain exclusivity of membership in their halls, rings of honor, walls of fame etc.
Over the years the number of sports franchises that have created halls of fame, rings of honor, walls etc. have done nothing but benefit from these honors. Some teams have specific criteria for enshrinement, others have different levels or tiers of recognition. They all have one thing in common-celebrating former players, coaches, managers and staff that mean something to the franchise and its fans.
Even when a team has a lousy year (decade or century), they can use the honor as a positive means of connecting with that fanbase and the particular honoree. Finding out that Shawon Dunston will be honored during the upcoming season (with Mark Grace) makes me happy and I’d love to be there when they are honored.
It’s unfortunate that the Sox couldn’t figure something like this out and bring fans together this winter to celebrate instead of hiding behind an awful season.
Shawon was Mom’s favorite Cub of that era and would appreciate that he’s getting his due.
I'd rather be sitting in a ballpark. 
One response to “You say potato, I say tomato”
I love Shawon but I can tell you from being at a Cubs game late last season that the “ceremony” lasted about two seconds and was complete anti-climactic. The publicity in the days leading up to the game was much more comprehensive and this is coming from someone (me) who was right there when all of the living legends entered the park at the left-field foul line gate. The guys greeting each other after not seeing each other in sone cases for a long time and their guards were down —- now THAT was fun to see. The actual pre-game “honoring” was quick and quite unexciting. See I wouldn’t be so quick to spend my hard-earned money to be there in person. You might be better off watching Marquis TV. The next time that I have an alcoholic beverage I will raise my glass to your beloved mother who had good taste in ballplayers, among other things.
Shawon is an even better person than he was as a baseball player. The Shawon-O-Meter forever!
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