Sosa Open to Repairing Relationship With Cubs

In webchat, former slugger said he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame

Sammy Sosa heard that Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts was open to repairing the relationship between the slugger and the team and had a single message to that regard on Wednesday: call.

"I saw that the owner said he wanted to reach me, speak to me,'' Sosa said in a 10-minute webchat on Ustream from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "I don't have any problem with that. They know where I am. If they want to find me, they have to call me. I'm always available.''

With a poster of himself on the wall behind him, Sosa said he still follows the team where he spent 13 seasons of his career.

Sosa was a fan favorite during his time in the Windy City but his popularity took a dive after a corked bat incident and after he made a list of players who failed tests for performance-enhancing drugs.

The Ricketts family took over the team in 2009, five years after Sosa parted ways with the Cubs.

"It's a great question," Ricketts said Saturday at the Cubs Convention when asked if he'd reach out to Sosa. "Maybe we should revisit that. ... When we got here there wasn't much communication, and we really haven't focused on it. ... Maybe it's an issue we pick up this year."

Whatever call does come from the Cubs, Sosa said he isn't open to coaching.

"My life, my career has been such a great career that I believe that my ability is not to be a coach. No offense. Maybe one day, we never know. But right now, I have two beautiful companies with Riverhead Homes and Injex 21, which is moving forward very strongly."

No. 21 did say, however, that despite his past issues, he believes he and Mark McGwire belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

"I think so. I'm not going to come here and say anything that is going to jeopardize my future, but definitely time will determine everything," Sosa said. "Right now, whatever it is, it is. I'm not anybody to go out there and say anything that I don't have to say. I'm waiting for my time. I'm not that type of person, I don't like controversy. I'm going to wait here, but definitely time will determine everything."

The former Cubbie received 12 percent of the vote for the Hall of Fame this year, the first he was on the ballot. The Baseball Writers' Association of America earlier this month failed to elect a single player to the 2013 class.

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