Sports
Sammy Sosa Looks Unrecognizable in Rare Public Appearance, Years After Changing Looks Made Headlines
Sammy Sosa made a rare public appearance this week.
According to a report Us Weekly published on Thursday, August 20, Sosa, 57, was spotted the previous day at The Pump Group’s VIP Summer Soiree, held at the Gravitas social club in Beverly Hills. The baseball legend was all smiles as he flashed a peace sign for photographers at the event.
However, the Dominican Republic native looked noticeably different from his appearance at Miami’s Art Basel in 2017, when he was photographed with a much lighter complexion.
According to the outlet, questions about his changing appearance began years earlier, when the former Chicago Cubs player attended the 2009 Latin Grammys with noticeably lighter skin than he had during his baseball career. He had played his final MLB game two years earlier, in 2007.
Per the report, Sosa told Univision’s Primer Impacto the change came from “a bleaching cream that I apply before going to bed and whitens my skin some.” Sosa continued, “It’s a cream that I have, that I use to soften [my skin], but has bleached me some. I’m not a racist, I live my life happily. What happened was that I had been using the cream for a long time and that, combined with the bright TV lights, made my face look whiter than it really is. I don’t think I look like Michael Jackson.”
Sosa’s son, Sammy Jr., offered his own perspective to Sports Illustrated in 2018, saying, “It doesn’t affect him, but I’m sure he feels a certain way. Like, ‘Man, I gave so many years and so much hard work for you guys, and now you want to undermine all that because of some decisions I’m making — some personal decisions that don’t affect you at all?'”
He added, “He’s a really closed-off person, even with me. He doesn’t mean to be. There are some things I don’t know about my dad that I wonder about.”
Whatever the attention surrounding his appearance, Sosa’s place in baseball history remains significant. According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, he ended his 18-season career with 609 home runs and seven All-Star selections.
