When you think about Chicago baseball in 1998, the first thing you think of is likely to be Sammy Sosa and the great home run chase with Mark McGwire. Sosa ended up four home runs behind Big Mac’s 70, but he took home the NL MVP award and exploded into the national spotlight. Sosa crushed the single-season Cubs home run record by 10, and baseball fans across the country were imitating his trademark home run hop and kiss salute.
And Sosa wasn’t even the best Chicago outfielder in 1998.
On November 20, 1996, the White Sox stunned the baseball world by signing Albert Belle to a record five-year, $55 million contract.