How would Cubs fans greet Sosa?

Some day we'll find out how Sammy Sosa would be greeted at a Cubs Convention.

They have to invite him back sometime, don't they? You know, just as the Cardinals invited Mark McGwire back over the weekend.

Judging by your e-mails - most of them angry - a good estimate is that 110 percent of you believe I'm wrong for voting for McGwire for the Hall of Fame.

Yet at the Cardinals' Winter Warm-Up over the weekend, McGwire was welcomed with what The Sporting News described as "a long, thunderous standing ovation."

For years the impression was that McGwire was reviled as much down there as anywhere, merely on the suspicion that he used steroids.

Wasn't a movement afoot to reverse the honor of having a patch of highway named for him?

Now that McGwire officially confessed last week to using performance enhancers, you would think that Cardinals fans would boo him to his face.

Instead they cheered him.

So what's the deal?

McGwire is welcome again in St. Louis. Alex Rodriguez and Andy Pettitte are hailed in New York for helping the Yankees win another World Series. The high life goes on for Manny Ramirez in Los Angeles.

Sosa? Here? We'll have to wait to see how he is treated.

Not too many people remain in the Cubs' organization since Sosa was banished after walking out before the 2004 season ended.

General manager Jim Hendry is still here. Carlos Zambrano, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez are. Some others must be, but I'd have to peruse the club directory to determine who they are.

Ownership has changed. Field manager Dusty Baker is gone. The marketing department that promoted Sosa has turned over since John McDonough and Jay Blunk departed.

You know who mostly remain? Cubs fans do. The die-hards who died hard again and again the past few years are still alive, if not kicking.

It will be interesting to see how they respond to Sosa if or when he shows up at a Cubs Convention and stands next to Andre Dawson and Ryne Sandberg.

Sosa surely won't receive the same "long, thunderous" standing ovation that McGwire did in St. Louis.

Some will cheer the Samminator for hitting all those home runs in a Cubs uniform and for his charismatic personality. Others will boo him for corking his bat and irritating his teammates.

But would they turn on Sosa primarily because he used performance-enhancing drugs?

I don't know. Apparently fans in St. Louis forgave McGwire. They're also forgiving in New York. Hardly anywhere in baseball are they carrying a grudge against their own.

Why would Cubs fans be the only ones who felt betrayed by a steroid user? Why would they be more vindictive over the issue here than elsewhere?

Before the recession, Major League Baseball set attendance records nearly every season during the steroid era.

A disconnect seems to exist between fans in the stands and critics in the media. Or perhaps it's between the views of the game and of the Hall of Fame.

The only conclusion is that this issue hasn't completely sorted itself out yet, regardless of what my e-mail indicates.

mimrem@dailyherald.com