Mike Remlinger’s attempt to sell Sammy Sosa’s corked bat from 2003 failed yesterday when the reserve price he’d set wasn’t met during an auction in which the high bid was $14,407.
Naturally, now Sosa says he’s “shocked” that his former Cubs teammate would do such a thing. Well, technically his “spokesperson” said it, but presumably Sosa told her to do so.
Remlinger explained that he tried to contact Sosa and return the bat to him, but never heard back and decided to auction it off. Sosa claims he was never contacted by Remlinger, although in fairness someone who makes statements to the media through a spokesperson seems more likely to not be aware every attempt people make to contact him.
“If he needed the money, he should have just asked me for some money,” Sosa said via his spokesperson. Remlinger earned around $20 million during his 15-season career in the majors.
UPDATE: Remlinger has decided to sell the bat for the $14,407 bid that didn’t meet the original reserve price. The buyer is Grant DePorter, who’s the CEO of Harry Caray’s Restaurant Group and plans to display the bat first at Harry Caray’s Restaurant and then at the Chicago Sports Museum. Sosa is thrilled, I’m sure.