| ATLANTA -- Step aside Junior, Sammy's the man.
Slammin' Sammy Sosa ended Ken Griffey Jr.'s two-year reign as
Home Run Derby champion, hitting the longest, loudest and largest
number of shots at Turner Field on Monday night.
Sosa beat Griffey 9-2 in the finals and hit 26 overall,
including a pair of 508-foot shots -- one to the 755 Club in the
left-field upper deck and one that came to rest atop the second
green batter's backdrop in straightaway center, below the
scoreboard.
|  | | Three-time Home Run Derby champ Ken Griffey Jr. homered only twice in the final. |
"I came here to put on a show. I didn't necessarily come here
to get the win, but I guess I got the win," Sosa said.
"I know I have people behind me, who support me and love me,"
Sosa said to the crowd of 50,118.
With injuries to Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Mike Piazza and
Manny Ramirez, there wasn't nearly the drama of last year, when
Griffey won but McGwire conquered the Green Monster at Fenway Park,
with hundreds of fans filling Lansdowne Street to catch the balls.
Before Monday's competition, scalpers were dumping tickets with
$50 face value for $10 each.
"Mark McGwire is one of the guys everybody is looking at,"
Sosa said. "Because he was not here today, I came here to
represent him."
But what started off as a listless, humid night sparked up
immediately when Sosa started swinging.
|
Home Run Derby winners
(All-Star Game site in parentheses)
|
|
2000: Sammy Sosa, Cubs (Turner Field)
1999: Ken Griffey Jr., Mariners (Fenway Park)
1998: Griffey, Mariners (Coors Field)
1997: Tino Martinez, Yankees (Jacobs Field)
1996: Barry Bonds, Giants (Veterans Stadium)
1995: Frank Thomas, White Sox (The Ballpark in Arlington)
1994: Griffey, Mariners (Three Rivers Stadium)
1993: Juan Gonzalez, Rangers (Camden Yards)
1992: Mark McGwire, Athletics (Jack Murphy Stadium)
1991: Cal Ripken, Orioles (SkyDome)
1990: Ryne Sandberg, Cubs (Wrigley Field)
|
"Sammy made it look easy," said Griffey, who has won the derby
three times overall. "When people in the first couple of rows of
the upper deck are looking up, that's power. I didn't hear oohs and
aahs for my wallscrapers. I heard them for Sammy's upper-deck
shots."
Sosa, who lost out to McGwire 70-66 for the home-record record
two years ago and 65-63 for last year's title, made flashbulbs
sparkle and fireworks explode in the night.
In the semifinals, Sosa beat Everett 11-6 and Griffey topped
Carlos Delgado 2-1. Then, Griffey and Sosa were tied 2-2 in the
first round of the finals, which was split into two rounds with
each player allowed five non-homer swings each.
Sosa, practicing his swing in the runway between rounds, then
went ahead with a 429-foot homer to left, took a pitch, and
connected on four straight swings -- hard, long shots of 476, 488,
477 and 443 feet. He added two mores, at 460 feet and 508, while
fans stood clapping, chanting his name and bowing, much like the
Wrigley Field bleacher bums pay homage to him back home in Chicago.
After Sosa finished, he high-fived Griffey and both players
hugged.
Sosa thanked his pitcher, Chino Cadahia, the Atlanta Braves'
minor league field coordinator.
"He used to be my manager when I was in the minor leagues in
Texas (Gastonia in 1987). He knows where I like the ball," Sosa
said. "He was throwing me some cookies today. I have to thank him
for that."
Griffey, who won the titles in 1994 at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers
Stadium, 1998 at Denver's Coors Field and last year, then failed to
homer in five straight swings.
Last year, Sosa bombed out at Fenway, hitting just one home run.
"I came here the last three years and I didn't do anything,"
he said. "I came here today with a different plan. I went up there
trying to give myself an opportunity. I took a few pitches."
For a night, Sosa put aside his contract squabble with the Cubs,
who wouldn't extend his contract and then, at the request of their
star, tried to trade him to the New York Yankees.
"I don't want to talk about a contract right now because I want
to wait until the year's over and relax," Sosa said. "Whatever
happens from there, happens. I would love to stay in Chicago. This
is the city I want to stay with. But if it doesn't work out, you
know, if I have to go, I don't have a choice."
He didn't know if his performance would cause Cubs president
Andy MacPhail and general manager Ed Lynch to give him the
extension he wants.
"One thing for sure," Sosa said. "They were watching
tonight." | |
ALSO SEE
Going deep in the derby
Change of heart: Sosa tells Cubs not to trade him
Johnson, Wells will start on mound in All-Star Game
Stark: All-Star plague reaches epidemic status
Monday's All-Star notebook
John Smoltz's scouting report
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Sammy Sosa says his Home Run Derby win means a lot to him.
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