Sammy Sosa has a pinterest page (and Twitter). I heard rumors about it this morning and then I saw Deadspin’s post that it has been confirmed as him.
Nothing but a wall of photos of Sosa posing in his home. There’s Sammy in a suit! There’s Sammy in a nice sweater! So carefree! So happy! And every single photo has the same caption:
“Sammy Sosa. Yes, I’m the real Sammy Sosa, and this is my Pinterest.”
“Sammy Sosa. Yes, I’m the real Sammy Sosa, and this is my Pinterest.”
“Sammy Sosa. Yes, I’m the real Sammy Sosa, and this is my Pinterest.”
Everybody is very entertained by it as the overt attempts at getting back into the good graces of the public and media could not be more blatant than if he walked around outside Wrigley on Opening Day wearing a sandwich board that said, “Sammy Sosa. Yes, I’m the real Sammy Sosa, and I’d REALLY like to be in the Hall of Fame, buddy.”
But when you stop and think about Sammy’s career and his constant self-promotion, isn’t this just the Sammy Sosa-est thing that ever Sammy Sosa-ed? Is anyone actually shocked at how over the top this is?
In 1998 as Mark McGwire started getting all pissy with all the constant media attention, there was Sammy Sosa ready to jump in front of the cameras as McGwire’s comrade. When McGwire hit his record-breaking HR, who was there to give him hugs and exchange the McGwire-patented forearm and stomach “punch”? Sammy Sosa.
He trotted out the Flinstones vitamins line constantly when the occasional reporter would ask about performance enhancers and it would show up in all the papers the next day.
After 9/11, Sammy hit a homerun in the Cubs first game back after the attacks and all of a sudden he had a little American flag in his hands as he rounded the bases. Somehow, he managed to turn a nation mourning terrorist attacks into the Sammy Sosa Show. And we loved it.
It seemed there was nothing the man wouldn’t do to make sure the cameras were on him.
So while his Pinterest page is hilarious, he has managed to accomplish what just a couple of days ago seemed damn near impossible. We’re all talking about Sammy Sosa again.
So that sandwich board on Opening Day suddenly seems plausible. Maybe he’ll skydive in a Cubs uniform from a blimp that has a giant picture of his own face on it. Maybe he’ll somehow donate profits from his investments in a needle-free injection company to the Ricketts so that they can open the Sammy Sosa Triangle Building.
When you are talking about Sammy Sosa, there really is nothing you can say that would be considered too outlandish.
Comments
I saw something about this on twitter today and didn’t even bother looking. I think it’s silly that many of the athletes use social media. Some of them use it well, but I’d say that most don’t. I’m not surprised that Sammy isn’t using it well and I’m also certain even if he was leaving the greatest tweets and pinterest stuff ever people would still be making fun of it. After all, he’s Sammy Sosa and he walked out on the cubs on the final day of a season!
Good point about him being a media hog, which as a fan I loved. I wanted to hear what he said unlike when Theriot would throw himself in front of the camera.
dmick89Quote Reply
aside: http://obstructedview.net/news-and-rumors/luis-valbuena-avoid-arbitration-with-cubs.html
dmick89Quote Reply
Overt in the sense of covert, seeing as no one knew about them until the day AFTER the HOF votes were announced. I;m enjoying the amateurish fail aspect.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
I want to believe that he’s just trolling all of us, and that this is just some supremely brilliant piece of performance art. I doubt that’s the case, but it would be pretty spectacular.
uncle daveQuote Reply
I don’t know what Sammy is selling, but I’d buy it.
GBTSQuote Reply
Suburban kid wrote:
It would not surprise me that the timing of the “reveal” was planned to come out right after the Hall of Fame vote announcement. They want to self-promote without seeming like they are desperate to self-promote (which, of course, they are), so you do it after the HOF vote when Sammy’s name is already at least kind of out there as one of the HOF “locks” that didn’t come close to getting in to gain maximum exposure. Then he lays a little low knowing that he has a shit ton of people who have opted in to following him and then he starts a pro-Sammy crusade with the final intent of making an argument for his election to the Hall of Fame.
A smart PR guy had to know Sammy had no shot in hell on this first ballot so why blow your wad before that shot gets fired? Start working on the 2nd ballot, improve the chances and try to gain momentum from there. he’s got almost nowhere to go but up from here.
Aisle424Quote Reply
Aisle424 wrote:
That did occur to me, but if there really was some professional PR stategery behind this, the Pinterest page (I haven’t seen the tweets) wouldn’t look exactly like Sammy or his seven year old child set up the page.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Colin’s piece about the HOF is now available to non-subscribers: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=19348
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Incidentally, his fantasy HOF ballot looks just like mine except for picking McGwire over Schilling.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Suburban kid wrote:
That’s probably true. If anybody conceived how much buzz this would get by being this hilariously bad, I’d fear the coming of an evil genius.
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ Aisle424:
I know, I mean, why Pinterest? Does Sammy think the BBWAA are all thirtysomething women into crafting and the occasional tasteful fashion? (Hobbit is too old and badly dressed to hang out there)
Suburban kidQuote Reply
I’d really like to see Harry Ass Cum’s Pinterest page.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
Suburban kid wrote:
Pinterest is actually growing quite a bit in popularity because of how simple it is. It allows sharing of pictures and links in an easier to grasp format than Twitter and it’s easier than setting up a Facebook page. He can house all the pro-Sammy content anybody can find on that page really easily.
It may be accidental, but there is some real potential to gain serious momentum. Can the timing, the exposure, and the latching onto the newest exploding wing of social media all be accidental?
When I first saw Sammy’s twitter account, he had about 2,600 followers. It’s not up to almost 6,000 and it’s only just been confirmed as him. When this hits ESPN and Yahoo, that number will really spike. I expect him to have 20,000 followers by tomorrow and it will just grow from there.
Aisle424Quote Reply
I can’t stand Bob Costas, but I think he was right yesterday when he said that Sammy Sosa “ain’t ever getting in the HOF.” I think that’s wrong and bullshit, but his vote total was so low that it’s clear the overwhelming majority of voters didn’t believe he was a Hall of Famer without steroids. He won’t gain much over the next few years.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89 wrote:
At some point, Bonds & Clemens HAVE TO get in. I mean, they just have to, right? Once one of those guys gets in, the line is crossed and then it becomes harder and harder to draw that line so effectively. The worry has to be that he’ll get less than 5% of the vote during this bottleneck era we’re entering and fall off the ballot.
In an era of “cheating,” he was one of the best at it and I think someday that will come to mean something. If not, the Hall of Fame will be useless and people will care as much about it (or less) than the other Halls of Fame. At some point, preservation of themselves will allow for something that gets these ridiculously qualified players in.
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ Aisle424:
Bonds and Clemens will get in somehow. May be years down the road and maybe not ever by the BBWAA, but they will get in. They have to because, as you mentioned, the HOF is useless without them in it.
I’d like for someone to provide an alternative, but it would be ridiculously expensive and couldn’t be done without a wealthy donor behind it.
dmick89Quote Reply
GBTSQuote Reply
Decided to have a bit of fun with this pinterest thing…
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Wow, Upton blocked a trade to the Mariners (who must have been one of the teams on his ever-changing 4 team no-trade list)
GWQuote Reply
@ GW:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8833554/justin-upton-arizona-diamondbacks-rejects-proposed-trade-seattle-mariners-source-says
Okay, I get Toronto, people don’t want to be forced to move to another country. Not sure I get Seattle, other than it’s just really far from anywhere.
I think the city of Boston and the Wrigley outfield very well may have a reputation with certain types of people.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
Perhaps. That is at least the third version of the list that has been made public (apparently he gets to modify it on a semi-regular basis). I suspect that the main driving force is that his agent identifies the teams most likely to make a trade and puts them on there, giving him more leverage. If that’s the case, good call on Seattle.
GWQuote Reply
Last year it was Yankees, Red Sox, Indians, and Cubs. Originally it was Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Oakland (this list sound more like a “places I don’t want to be” list).
GWQuote Reply
Assuming he changes after every season it went something like this:
2010: Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Oakland
2011: Unknown
2012: Cleveland, Boston, Cubs, Yankees
2013: Boston, Cubs, Seattle, Toronto
GWQuote Reply
The cubs really need to see if they can acquire him.
dmick89Quote Reply
@ GW:
Interesting that they let you rotate teams in and out of a limited no-trade clause. That’s pretty powerful.
GBTSQuote Reply
@ GBTS:
GW negotiated a similar no trade clause into his OV contract.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89 wrote:
Who is on your list this year, GW?
Last year you had BCB four times.
Aisle424Quote Reply
@ Aisle424:
i added the book blog, only because i heard they are going to try to convert whoever they can trade for to a credentialist blowhard
GWQuote Reply
@ GW:
That’s excellent because we are arranging a trade with Rant Sports for a Chicago Bear Jew to be named later. The deal is at the one yard line.
Aisle424Quote Reply
New shit: http://obstructedview.net/commentary-and-analysis/even-greg-maddux-may-have-trouble-getting-into-the-hall-of-fame-next-year.html
Aisle424Quote Reply