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<font color=green>Emerald Angel<br><font color=mag
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FORT MYERS, Fla. - A Florida minor league baseball team plans to poke fun at Sammy Sosa by giving away pieces of cork to the first 505 fans through the gate at its game Thursday night.
The Fort Myers Miracle, Minnesota's Class A affiliate in the Florida State League, also will hand out Cubs hats during the game, and will offer free admission to anyone whose name includes the words "Sammy," "Sosa" or "Corky."
"I think it makes light of the situation," Miracle spokesman Sean Aronson said. "If this were something more major, it would be a different story. We're not doing anything so outrageous that it's putting him in a bad light."
Umpires ejected Sosa after finding cork inside his bat in the first inning of Chicago's 3-2 win over Tampa Bay on Tuesday night. Sosa's bat split open on a groundout, and he later insisted that he meant to use the bat only for practice. Sosa's other 76 bats were X-rayed Wednesday and showed no signs of cork.
While the episode is raising questions about Sosa's prolific home-run numbers in recent years, the Fort Myers team sees nothing wrong with making light of it.
The team also is giving away mini cork bats to the 21st, 66th and 505th fans to enter Hammond Stadium. Those numbers represent Sosa's jersey number, the number of home runs he hit in 1998 during his chase for the record with Mark McGwire, and his career home-run total, respectively.
"Sosa's a great player. No one's going to deny him that," Aronson said. "We're not trying to kick a guy when he's down. It's just our way of trying to make light of this situation."
The Fort Myers Miracle, Minnesota's Class A affiliate in the Florida State League, also will hand out Cubs hats during the game, and will offer free admission to anyone whose name includes the words "Sammy," "Sosa" or "Corky."
"I think it makes light of the situation," Miracle spokesman Sean Aronson said. "If this were something more major, it would be a different story. We're not doing anything so outrageous that it's putting him in a bad light."
Umpires ejected Sosa after finding cork inside his bat in the first inning of Chicago's 3-2 win over Tampa Bay on Tuesday night. Sosa's bat split open on a groundout, and he later insisted that he meant to use the bat only for practice. Sosa's other 76 bats were X-rayed Wednesday and showed no signs of cork.
While the episode is raising questions about Sosa's prolific home-run numbers in recent years, the Fort Myers team sees nothing wrong with making light of it.
The team also is giving away mini cork bats to the 21st, 66th and 505th fans to enter Hammond Stadium. Those numbers represent Sosa's jersey number, the number of home runs he hit in 1998 during his chase for the record with Mark McGwire, and his career home-run total, respectively.
"Sosa's a great player. No one's going to deny him that," Aronson said. "We're not trying to kick a guy when he's down. It's just our way of trying to make light of this situation."
