Sosa showed up at the Latin Grammy Awards last week sporting what appeared to be bleached skin, along with what appeared to be colored contacts and apparent lipstick. Former Cubs employee and friend Rebecca Polihronis tried to explain away Sosa’s appearance on an obscure “skin rejuvenation process” that ended up making much bigger headlines than the gala itself.
“He’s not trying to be Michael Jackson,” said Polihronis, who says stays in regular contact with the record-breaking slugger whose career fizzled in infamy. “He is going through a rejuvenation process for his skin. Women have it all of the time. He was surprised he came out looking so white. I thought it was a body double.”
This will be the second time that Sosa’s suspected use of chemicals has sparked into a sensational international scandal. Sosa is long suspected of using steroids in his record-shattering career in Major League Baseball. In 1998, Sosa and fellow ostracized slugger Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris’ long-standing, single-season homerun mark of 61 home runs. McGwire finished with 70 while Sosa ended up with 66. Both men came under almost universal condemnation when they failed to be forthright about their steroid use during a Congressional hearing on steroids in 2005.
Obviously disturbed by the outcome of the skin procedure, both Sosa and Polihronis tried to further reconcile Sosa’s outlandish look by saying he decided to get the procedure done after years of playing in the sun.
“He is in the middle of doing a cleansing process to his skin,” Polihronis told the Chicago Tribune. “The picture is deceiving. He said, ‘If you saw me in person, you would be surprised. When you see me in person, it is not going to seem like the picture.’ ”
–terry shropshire
