MLB WORLD SERIES: PADRES v YANKEES

October 17, 1998

Sammy Sosa

SAMMY SOSA: Hi, my name is El Duque (laughter.)

SAMMY SOSA: Spanish or English? I just want to say it's an honor for me to be here today. The first -- I've been through a lot of baseball, but the first time in the World Series. So now I have to throw strikes. It's an honor for me to throw the first pitch.

SAMMY SOSA: It means a lot to me. I have to say that every where I go, people in America have been showing me their appreciation. This is something that made me very, very happy and a very honored person. People have always been following me in 1998. It's been unbelievable. I have to say that it is a very, very, very nice country.

SAMMY SOSA: Well, I think in the last ten months, he was in Cuba, right?

SAMMY SOSA: I have to say that I feel great for El Duque, especially where he's coming from. And he got an opportunity to come here and through a very, very nice gap. He surprised everybody. At the beginning, before he signed the contract, he signed with the Yankees, a lot of people said he could pitch. But now he showed that he can pitch and that's something that not everybody was looking for. He's doing great.

SAMMY SOSA: I have to say that I'm very, very proud because in New York, it's the second Dominican Republic. People today supported me, it was unbelievable. I thought I was in the Dominican today. All over the place, people were there for me. They've been so nice. Not only people in the Dominican, not only Latin people, but American people too. You know, it just made me very, very happy person. And I'll keep doing what I've been doing and trying to keep everything in straight.

SAMMY SOSA: Yeah, I just try to reach him. But every time I call, I call collect and he doesn't accept the charges.

SAMMY SOSA: Well, I have to say that if Roger Maris's record was 37 years, I don't know how many are gonna be mine. So I think that I will be ready for 1999. I believe in myself. I believe in God. I have all the tools to come back and have another good year. Whatever happens in 1999, you will know.

SAMMY SOSA: I've been to the Sammy Sosa's Charity Foundation, trying to do everything we can. People in America have been supportive of me in that. They say I'm a lot of help. In the next week, I'm going to go back to my country. And everything that people in America have given me, I'm going to go back to my country and give it back to my people. They don't have any houses. That's something that makes me real, real proud right there.

SAMMY SOSA: Not really. I think that people, especially Major League Baseball, the Commissioner, they've been showing a lot of respect, a lot of appreciation. Especially people in America. So for me, I'm not the kind of person -- a jealous person. For me, everything that I see and everything that I give, that's good enough for me.

SAMMY SOSA: I have to say that in those types of situation, like today in the postseason, everybody had more opportunity to concentrate a little bit more and go out there and try to win. This is going to be different. The Yankees have a great, great team. You have a lot of people that can do the job. San Diego too, too bad they don't play for the Chicago Cubs.

SAMMY SOSA: I have to say yes. You know, the appreciation the American people show me, it's been unbelievable. Not only show me the appreciation, but the respect that they have for me and the respect that they have for that. No matter how much money you have in the world, when you see that kind of thing from people, you don't need anything else.

SAMMY SOSA: I have to say that I feel honored. Roberto Clemente was a legend, a player I'm never going to forget. To receive an award, a Roberto Clemente Award, it's unbelievable. Every day and every day, especially the way that I've been, there's been so much honor. Nobody can replace Roberto Clemente.