Sammy Sosa was born in the small city of Consulo in the Dominican Republic to a family with six other children.  At the age of seven his father passed away so Sammy had to help his mother out a great deal.   He was always interested in playing baseball, but coming from a poor family he never had the opportunity to play at a young age.  It wasn’t until his mid-teen years that he first picked up a real bat, as opposed to a stick, and got his first baseball glove.  Sammy was a natural and was recruited by American baseball teams by the time he was in his late teens. After playing several years in the minor leagues he finally made his Major League Baseball debut in 1989, although the Cinderella story was not yet complete(11). 

Sosa's first few years in the Major Leagues were plagued with poor batting averages and multiple trades.  Starting out with the Texas Rangers and then moving to the Chicago White Sox, it didn’t seem like Sammy was cut out for the big leagues. Suddenly, things changed when he made his way to the north side of Chicago to play for the Cubs.  In no time at all he was putting up All-Star numbers.  In 1998, the legendary homerun race between Sammy and Mark McGuire drew more attention to baseball than anything else in recent memory.   Roger Maris’ record had not been beaten in decades and Sammy beat it two years in a row ultimately making him one of the best and most famous Latino players to ever play.