Baseball legend Sammy Sosa made a rare public appearance Wednesday evening at The Pump Group's VIP Summer Soiree in Beverly Hills, California. The former Chicago Cubs slugger, who is 57, smiled for cameras and appeared to have a significantly different skin tone than in recent years.
Sosa was seen wearing a royal-blue jacket and a black zip-up shirt, flashing a peace sign. His complexion at the event differed notably from his appearance at Miami's Art Basel in 2017, where his skin tone was considerably lighter. At that time, Sosa attributed the change to a skin-bleaching cream, a personal choice he defended in 2018.
"Look at what I am today. This is my life, and I don't take garbage from nobody," Sosa told Sports Illustrated in 2018. "I do whatever I want."
His complexion began to change noticeably in 2009 when he appeared at the Latin Grammys with lighter skin. He told Univision's Primer Impacto then that he was using "a bleaching cream that I apply before going to bed and whitens my skin some."
He added that it was "a cream that I have, that I use to soften [my skin], but has bleached me some." Sosa also stated at the time, "I'm not a racist, I live my life happily. What happened was that I had been using the cream for a long time and that, combined with the bright TV lights, made my face look whiter than it really is. I don't think I look like Michael Jackson."
Sosa's oldest son, Sammy Jr., who is now 29, told Sports Illustrated in 2018 that the public conversation about his father's skin tone did not affect him directly, but acknowledged, "I'm sure he feels a certain way."
"Like, 'Man, I gave so many years and so much hard work for you guys, and now you want to undermine all that because of some decisions I'm making — some personal decision that don't affect you at all?'" Sammy Jr. said.
He also described his father as "a really closed-off person, even with me," adding that there were "some things I don't know about my dad that I wonder about."
Sosa's appearance has been a subject of public discussion for years, particularly following his transition from his playing days in the 1990s and 2000s to his more recent public appearances. The current sighting marks a rare moment he has been seen publicly in recent years.