In the early 2000s, Major League Baseball star Sammy Sosa was one of the top sluggers in the league and one of the most iconic and recognizable athletes in the world. But now, he’s barely recognizable to most baseball fans.
This week, a recent photo of Sammy Sosa has gone absolutely viral, showing Sosa with a much lighter skin complexion than when he was playing for the Chicago Cubs or the Baltimore Orioles.
“Crazy that this is Sammy Sosa,” Baseball History Nut said in a tweet.
Sosa has had a lighter skin tone for well over a decade now, revealing in 2009 that it’s due to a cream that he applies to his skin that bleaches his skin tone.
“It’s a bleaching cream that I apply before going to bed and whitens my skin tone,” Sosa told Univision’s Primer Impacto show in 2009. “It’s a cream that I have that I use to soften [my skin], but has bleached me some. 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.”
Still, his new appearance caught many fans off guard.
It seems a lot has changed since he retired from baseball.
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