Blame Sosa's New Look on 'Cleansing': Pal

Sosa says he's not purposely bleaching his skin

(NEWSER) - Sammy Sosa attributes his newly lightened skin to three things: facial cream, all those baseball games he played out in the sun, and, of course, those pesky camera flashes, which “made my skin look lighter” at an event last week, he tells Univision. He wouldn’t divulge the name of the cream, but says he is in talks to market it, the New York Daily News reports. More»

Blogosphere abuzz, but no word what's up with ex-slugger

(NEWSER) - The sports blogosphere is abuzz over some new photographs of Sammy Sosa in which the former performance-enhanced Chicago Cubs star looks much, much lighter-skinned than we’re used to. Seems nobody’s been able to reach Sosa yet, and nothing in the captions of photos from Tuesday’s event in Las Vegas yields clues, either. Some speculate it could be vitiligo, a skin disease that allegedly afflicted Michael Jackson; others see a bad makeup job. More»

(NEWSER) - Bad news for Sammy Sosa's Hall of Fame hopes: The Cubs slugger is among the players who tested positive for doping in 2003, the New York Times reports. The retired Sosa, sixth on the all-time homer list, has long been suspected of taking steroids but has never admitted it. The new development, courtesy of unnamed lawyers familiar with the 2003 results, is the first time he's been linked to a positive test. More»

Cubs fan Rich Cohen wants to raze arguably the most beloved park in America

(NEWSER) - Ah, Wrigley Field. It's one of the oldest, most beloved parks in baseball... And Rich Cohen wants to destroy it—and yes, he means utterly, with whatever explosives necessary. "That pile of quaintness has to go," he writes in the Wall Street Journal . "Then the ground itself must be salted," and maybe covered with a housing project or "Stalinist monolith." Why? Because before the Cubs moved to Wrigley, they were a powerhouse. Now they're the Cubs. More»

Induction comes roughly a year after his death

(NEWSER) - Ron Santo is getting a place in Cooperstown at last—almost exactly one year after his death . The Veterans Committee ushered the Cubs great into the Baseball Hall of Fame today, with 15 of its 16 members giving him the nod, the Chicago Tribune reports. Santo was the only candidate up for consideration to get the requisite 12 votes for induction; Jim Kaat came in second with 10 votes, followed by Minnnie Minoso and Gil Hodges with nine each. More»