Remembering the Crazy Trade That Sent Sammy Sosa Across Town From White Sox to Cubs

Somewhere along the way, the White Sox became fed up with the iconic smile and ebullient personality that helped wake up Cubs baseball in the late 1990s, and that changed everything.

On this day in 1992, the very same man who'd traded for Sammy Sosa once while in charge of the White Sox dealt for him once again while running the Cubs -- Larry Himes was a true believer in Sosa's speed-power combination, and he was eventually proven prophetic, though mainly in terms of the second characteristic listed.

The Trade: Sammy Sosa, Ken Patterson, and Cash for George Bell -- March 30, 1992

Bell's story is an interesting part of this, too, as he was a cautionary tale about what might've happened if Sosa hadn't rediscovered his mojo. The 1987 MVP in Toronto with the Blue Jays, Bell was a certified masher, finishing in the top 20 of the MVP race in five of his first six full seasons. However, he felt the tide turning to a youth movement in Toronto following the 1990 season and fled for Wrigley Field on a three-year deal, where he...largely continued putting up MVP numbers. Bell made his final All-Star team in 1991 with the Cubbies, mashing 25 homers, knocking in 86 runs, and hitting .285.

However, that 1991 season was a classic Cubs year -- despite inking Bell and pitcher Danny Jackson to expensive and flashy deals, the Cubbies still finished fourth in the East at 77-83, and looked to shed salary in the aftermath of another snoozer. Enter Himes, who believed in Sosa so much that he'd already added him once -- from the Rangers at the deadline in '89 for Harold Baines.

At the time, Sosa had matured with the White Sox from a toolsy prospect equipped with speed to largely a disappointment on the big league stage. His .233/15/70 season in 1990, featuring 32 steals and 16 ridiculous caught stealings, is exactly what generally happens when a talented 21-year-old is left to his own devices at the MLB level, too green for the position.

When he arrived at Wrigley, it was more of the same -- nothing happened instantaneously, and in 1992, he played just 67 games and hit .260 with eight homers and a similar steals:caught stealing ratio of 15:7. But in 1993, the tides turned, in both directions.

Sosa drilled 33 homers and knocked in 93 runs, while the 33-year-old Bell on the other side of town battled knee issues, hit just .217, finished the year 0-26, was benched in the playoffs, and called out his manager, Gene Lamont.

Bell never played baseball again after the '93 season, and Sosa's strike-shortened '94 featured a .300 average and 25 blasts at the age of 25. Of course, Slammin' Sammy's future included monstrously inflated numbers in the years to come, while Bell was entirely down for the count. That's baseball, and that's why it's important that personnel execs with conviction like Larry Himes continue to trust their instincts and believe in talent. If everything clicks, it could even unite the whole country in a home run race for the ages.