Former Cubs hitting coach Jeff Pentland believes Sammy Sosa belongs in Hall of Fame

Jeff Pentland was the Chicago Cubs hitting coach from 1997-2002 and believes that Sammy Sosa belongs in Cooperstown due to his talent, work ethic and incredible performance.

“Without a doubt,” said former Chicago Cubs hitting coach Jeff Pentland when asked on Da Windy City Podcast if Sammy Sosa belongs in baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Pentland started working with Sosa midway through the 1997 season when then Cubs hitting coach Tony Muser left to replace fired Bob Boone and manage the Kansas City Royals in mid-July. Pentland and Sosa did not hit it off instantly.

“Sammy didn’t like me at all,” Pentland said. “He wanted nothing to do with me, but I stuck to him like glue and at the end of the year we had a meeting of the minds and he said I’ll do what you want me to do.”

There were some in the Cubs organization that thought Sosa had reached the peak of his talent, but Pentland believed Sosa was still scratching the surface of what he could do.

“I sent him some tapes,” Pentland said. “He was using an unusual tap step, more of a rhythm and timing device and his was not right. I sent him some videos of the best tappers in the game like Chipper Jones and Williams (Bernie) from the Yankees, and I actually sent him Mark Grace who did it very well and that was the premise we worked off of for the following spring training.”

Sosa was not a player that fell out of bed and showed up at the park hitting. He was a worker that was committed to his craft which was sometimes forgotten amidst all the kisses blown to the camera after his home runs.

“His work ethic was off the charts,” Pentland said. “I would flip to him sometimes 30 to 40 minutes in the cages until we got it right. Sammy had tremendous ability, but his timing mechanisms were never really that great and he held his hands really really high. I wanted him to stay more grounded.”

Pentland also wanted Sosa to plan and set his expectations high.

“Right before the season we made up 10 goals,” Pentland said. “My goals were 100 walks, hit .300, score 100 runs, lead the league in RBIs, and more statistical stuff. He came up with the last one, which was I wanna be MVP of the league. He wanted to be the best.”

Sosa did all of the above in 1998 winning his lone MVP award, hitting .308 with 66 homers leading the Cubs into the playoffs for the first time since 1989. Pentland continued to push Sosa’s motivational buttons throughout the year.

“One of the things I told Sammy to motivate him was your numbers against Atlanta are absolutely horrible. I said the All-Star Game goes through Atlanta cause they win every year and what do you think Bobby Cox thinks of you as a player when you are hitting below .100 against their big guys?  You gotta hit Smoltz, Glavine and Maddux. And in 1998 he did, he killed ’em and every time he hit a home run he’d look at Bobby Cox.”

Sosa was 8-for-26, with three homers, .357 OBP with five RBI against the Braves in the 1998 regular season. His success against the Braves and the rest of the league brought Pentland his own acclaim.

“I remember going to restaurants, guys would say there’s Sammy’s hitting coach and they would stand up and give me a standing ovation.”

To listen to the entire Jeff Pentland interview click here to listen and subscribe to Da Windy City podcast.