Island Idol

The charismatic Sammy Sosa plays by his own rules. He always has and he always will.

Strong-willed, stubborn, borderline selfish but always competitive and almost always with a smile on his face, his strong personality is part of the reason he is loved.

And loathed.

For as many Sosa fans out there, there are Sosa-haters. He is the only person in the game that can get away with saying he does not have any offers from a Major League team to play and claim to have told his agent to stop offering his services to clubs while insisting he is not retired from the game and has not even thought about it because it's not time for that right now.

What? Confused? Don't worry, that's just Sammy-speak.

Sosa also recently announced his goal to play with Dominican Republic in next year's World Baseball Classic and said how much of an honor it would be to play for team Dominican manager Felipe Alou.

What? Where did that come from? Oh, Sammy.

Maybe he'll be on the Dominican Republic roster. Maybe. Last time I checked, the Dominicans already have a designated hitter named David Ortiz and an outfield full of All-Stars and potential stars. Cardinals superman Albert Pujols will likely play first so that means Sosa will be a fourth or fifth outfielder and potentially a pinch-hitter at best if he makes the club.

It seems none of that matters because Sosa has made up his mind to play for his country. And here's the reality of it all, he probably will and he'll probably hit a home run or two along the way.

Even at age 39, ancient for a ballplayer, Sosa can still make things happen on the baseball field on sheer will alone. He can't run or hit like he used to and his fielding is suspect, but a motivated Sosa will do something for team Dominican in 2009 and that's almost a sure-bet. He is still a great athlete. Making bold predictions and following through with them is what he does.

He did it with the Texas Rangers in 2007, making a comeback after sitting out all of 2006 and basically failing to compete in an abysmal season with Baltimore in 2005. Sosa hit .252 with 21 home runs and 92 RBIs in 114 games for the Rangers last year, a team the man has to have mixed feelings about. The Rangers kick-started Sosa's future, signing him as a teenager in the mid-1980s and giving him his first big league shot back in 1989. The same organization pretty much ended his career almost two decades later by sitting him and deciding to go with young players in the outfield and at the designated hitter spot for the final few months of the season.

The club's decision left Sosa on the bench and pondering his future. Apparently, Sosa is still pondering. He's just not worrying about it.

He never worries. That's part of who he is. There's no room for worrying in the Sosa universe. There is room for happiness and a little showboating.

Walking around Rangers Ballpark in Arlington clubhouse last season, it was easy to see that we were in Sammy's world, it was his spotlight and the rest of us were simply bit players on his stage. But he did it in a way that made you laugh, made you almost proud and made you feel anything but jealous or hatred. Rangers closer C.J. Wilson and the younger Rangers called Sosa a rock star. Sosa's Latino teammates called him a good friend and a living legend.

With 606 career home runs, it's easy to see why. The Dominican is one of the greatest home run hitters of all-time, the greatest from Latin America and one of the most intriguing characters in the game.

The bounce in his step last year said, "Look at me, I'm a superstar." It probably still does. His mouth literally said, "I love my life" and the phrase was heard more than once, often coming while he was tapping his chest. Sosa wasn't kidding. There is something to be said about enjoying your life and not being afraid of living. Sosa did both and he continues to do so on his own terms.

As usual.

When somebody like Sammy Sosa says he is not retired from baseball and you almost want to believe him even if you know better. People like Sosa don't retire from sports. Sports and its system retire them.

That's one rule Sammy won't get around no matter how hard he tries or how much charisma he has. But don't worry about it. He's not.