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American Morning
Sosa in Tonight's Lineup
Aired June 05, 2003 - 09:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A little bit of a standing ovation that Sammy Sosa got at Wrigley Field last night. A Major League baseball official is scheduled to conduct interviews today at Wrigley in Chicago. Those interviews could be a factor as the League decides how Sammy Sosa will be punished for using a cork filled bat in a game on Tuesday night.
Our Gary Tuchman is live at Wrigley with more on the story -- Gary, good morning.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning to you.
The Cubs play here this afternoon and once again Sammy Sosa will be in the lineup. But he could find out as early as today what his punishment will be, how many games he'll be suspended for. And last night, as you said, when he went to the plate for the first time after this incident, most of the 33,000 fans here at Wrigley Field gave him a standing ovation. In all fairness, not all of them totally believe Sammy Sosa, but he's a hero here and they want to believe Sammy Sosa.
The incident happened Tuesday night. Sosa up to bat, hits a ground ball in the first inning that scored a run. But the run was taken away. Sosa was kicked out of the game after it was found out he had cork inside the bat. Sosa said the cork was used because it was a practice bat that he used during batting practice. He meant not to use it during the game, but he did use it during the game.
Major league baseball took 76 of his bats and x-rayed them for cork.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDY ALDERSON, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: Those X-rays were negative. That was conducted by a trained radiological technician. We believe that the X-ray process was sufficient to determine the state of those bats and we're very confident that all of those bats were clean and had no foreign substances within them.
SAMMY SOSA, CHICAGO CUBS: You know, it's a mistake. We're all human and we all made a mistake. Nobody's perfect in this world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Last night with a bat we presume was not cork, Sammy Sosa struck out the first three times up. He did, though, hit a single in the ninth inning, in a losing effort for the Chicago Cubs -- Daryn, back to you.
KAGAN: Gary, I know there's some concern there's a huge series there this weekend with the Yankees coming to town, that Sammy would be suspended during that.
TUCHMAN: Well, that's right. That's right, the Yankees haven't been to Wrigley Field since the 1930s when they played the Cubs in the World Series. So, the possibility is Sosa could get a suspension today for anywhere from five to 10 games. But he could appeal the suspension, which would delay it. So if he wanted to play against the Yankees, he probably would be able to.
KAGAN: I bet that will happen.
Gary Tuchman in Chicago, thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 5, 2003 - 09:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A little bit of a standing ovation that Sammy Sosa got at Wrigley Field last night. A Major League baseball official is scheduled to conduct interviews today at Wrigley in Chicago. Those interviews could be a factor as the League decides how Sammy Sosa will be punished for using a cork filled bat in a game on Tuesday night.
Our Gary Tuchman is live at Wrigley with more on the story -- Gary, good morning.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning to you.
The Cubs play here this afternoon and once again Sammy Sosa will be in the lineup. But he could find out as early as today what his punishment will be, how many games he'll be suspended for. And last night, as you said, when he went to the plate for the first time after this incident, most of the 33,000 fans here at Wrigley Field gave him a standing ovation. In all fairness, not all of them totally believe Sammy Sosa, but he's a hero here and they want to believe Sammy Sosa.
The incident happened Tuesday night. Sosa up to bat, hits a ground ball in the first inning that scored a run. But the run was taken away. Sosa was kicked out of the game after it was found out he had cork inside the bat. Sosa said the cork was used because it was a practice bat that he used during batting practice. He meant not to use it during the game, but he did use it during the game.
Major league baseball took 76 of his bats and x-rayed them for cork.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDY ALDERSON, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: Those X-rays were negative. That was conducted by a trained radiological technician. We believe that the X-ray process was sufficient to determine the state of those bats and we're very confident that all of those bats were clean and had no foreign substances within them.
SAMMY SOSA, CHICAGO CUBS: You know, it's a mistake. We're all human and we all made a mistake. Nobody's perfect in this world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Last night with a bat we presume was not cork, Sammy Sosa struck out the first three times up. He did, though, hit a single in the ninth inning, in a losing effort for the Chicago Cubs -- Daryn, back to you.
KAGAN: Gary, I know there's some concern there's a huge series there this weekend with the Yankees coming to town, that Sammy would be suspended during that.
TUCHMAN: Well, that's right. That's right, the Yankees haven't been to Wrigley Field since the 1930s when they played the Cubs in the World Series. So, the possibility is Sosa could get a suspension today for anywhere from five to 10 games. But he could appeal the suspension, which would delay it. So if he wanted to play against the Yankees, he probably would be able to.
KAGAN: I bet that will happen.
Gary Tuchman in Chicago, thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
