Sammy Sosa

As December dawns, Major League Baseball holds its collective breath. Next week at the Winter Meetings, rumors will fly, and both players and money will change hands. Trades will come to completion, and free-agent negotiations will advance rapidly.

So, we've arrived in 2004. The Chicago Cubs have just undergone the worst choke in the history of the NLCS. Stunned, Cubs fans could only watch in horror as Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett dominated the mighty New York Yankees in the World Series.

You'll forgive us if we didn't enjoy the Jan Brady-like feeling running through our veins during that entire series and subsequent off-season.

The Marlins have two rings, and the Cubs continue to play foil for teams we fans thought our teams were better than.

Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins, Ryne Sandberg, Ernie Banks.

The Chicago Cubs have had some of the all-time greats run out onto Wrigley Field.

While they haven't been to the World Series since 1945, there is more than enough talent in the Cubs' history to fill out a dream team twice over. From Rogers Hornsby to Derrek Lee, the Cubs have had incredible depth and production throughout their lineup.

One question remains. Which Chicago Cub had the greatest ever offensive season at his position?

Remember 1997? Spice Girls. Titanic. The Simpsons (back when it was still good). And Ken Griffey Jr.

Ok, so maybe Griffey wasn’t a pop culture icon like Baby Spice, Leo, or Homer J(ay), but he was the unquestioned king of baseball.

He hit home runs. He made great plays. He smiled. He had fun playing. We had fun watching.

Griffey was the type of superstar professional sports yearn for. Yes, he was a little cocky with his home run strut, but what star athlete isn’t?

Griffey had a presence.

While most sports players like to adopt a different life style or put on a few pounds when they retire, Sammy Sosa has taken it a step further .

The former Chicago Cubs slugger made quite a sensation at last week's Latin Grammy Awards with his skin looking amazingly pale!

Sammy Sosa has decided to bleech his skin in honor of the recently deceased, but still talked about over and over again, Michael Jackson.

Sosa immediately denounced that this was an odd reaction to any of the "Flinstone vitamins" he took during his home run days.  

"I must first and foremost say my skin color is not due to the steroids I took for so many years," Sosa said.  "I was hoping as a white man, I'd have a better shot at the Hall of Fame."

Sammy Sosa arrived at the Latin Grammy awards on Nov. 5, 2009 and nobody could recognize the former Major League slugger. It wasn't that he has aged and started to wrinkle, Sammy Sosa was as white as a ghost! 

Over the last few months, Sosa has become frighteningly white. Some say that this could be because of a cosmetic procedure, steroid side-effects, or even Michael Jackson's disease, also known as vitiligio. But Sosa's friends say that Sammy has undergone a procedure to bleach his skin tone.  

On Tuesday, July 14th, Major League Baseball hosted its 80th All-Star game in St. Louis, Missouri. On hand were some of the St. Louis Cardinals legends, guys like Lou Brock, Red Schoendeinst, Bruce Sutter, Ozzie Smith, Bob Gibson and Stan Musial.

This is the fifth article in a series dedicated to selecting all-time teams for all 30 current MLB franchises. To view the others, click http://bleacherreport.com/users/67791-Schmitters

Team Name: Chicago Cubs

Year Established: 1870

City: Chicago

Ballpark: Wrigley Field

Previous Nicknames: White Stockings (1870-1889), Colts (1890-1987), Orphans (1898-1901)

League: National League

Division: NL Central

Other Leagues: National Association (1870-1875)

The New York Times reported last week that former Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa was on a list of 103 players who tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in 2003.

Sosa, 40, a seven-time All-Star selection and six-time Silver Slugger Award winner, helped revitalize the game of baseball in 1998 when he and fellow juicehead Mark McGwire pursued Roger Maris’ home run record.