Sammy Sosa's Stunning Transformation

Former MLB slugger's skin change is causing speculation about player's health

By TAMER EL-GHOBASHY

Updated 6:00 PM EST, Sat, Nov 7, 2009

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It's typical for an athletes' appearance to change after they retire from professional sports -- they pack on a few pounds and age like normal people. But there's something stunningly different about Sammy Sosa's post-baseball look.

Recent photos snapped of the former Chicago Cubs slugger show a shocking transformation: his skin is turning white -- stark white. In addition, he appears to be wearing green contact lenses, which is no big deal compared with the impossible-to-miss pigmentation change.

The above photo shows Sosa on the left at a May 2009 People Magazine event. The right is Sosa, who retired in 2007 with 609 career homers, earlier this week in Las Vegas for the Latin Grammys.

While neither Sosa or anyone close to him has addressed the change in skin tone, baseball bloggers are speculating that it could be some cosmetic lightening process or worse, a side-effect of using performance enhancing drugs -- although there appears to be little to no evidence that steroid use can lead to skin lightening disorder such as vitiligo. In June, the New York Times reported that Sosa tested positive for a banned substance in 2003.

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First Published: Nov 7, 2009 4:40 PM EST

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0 Comments

{"totSize":6,"payload_type":"json","status":"1","results":[{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"396494_69480167","adminTags":null,"views":1417,"createdBy":9211613,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg?t=1248875781749","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Sammy Sosa's Stunning Transformation","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2675190,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"7 Nov 2009 23:33:38 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":5,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"Sillybilly","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1206009","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"The eyes are the ONLY thing that look the same. I say neither of them are Slammin' Sammy."},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"396494_69480167","adminTags":null,"views":1417,"createdBy":14157305,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Sammy Sosa's Stunning Transformation","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2675190,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"8 Nov 2009 05:20:09 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":5,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"fb_1149491636","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1207024","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"Okay.....so we got another "Michael Jackson" on our hands....LOL! I guess the next step would be to change the nose (remember: It don't matter if you're black or white) LOL! "},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"396494_69480167","adminTags":null,"views":1417,"createdBy":14060696,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Sammy Sosa's Stunning Transformation","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2675190,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"8 Nov 2009 06:11:42 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":5,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"fb_1397769542","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1207138","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"I think someone just whitein the pic. lol"},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"396494_69480167","adminTags":null,"views":1417,"createdBy":14139618,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Sammy Sosa's Stunning Transformation","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2675190,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"9 Nov 2009 17:53:42 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":5,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"SiobhanElizabeth","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1214618","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"Pic looks doctored to me. It's too "Michael Jackson-ish" to me. Don't get me wrong, MJ really had Vitaligo, his autopsy unfortunately confirmed that, but it seems a lot like they need another MJ to pick on. Why Sammy Sosa, I don't know. He's no where near as famous as MJJ or even so many other dark-skinned retired ball players. But it looks like the same exact photo, the hair line is the same and everything. Even if he was using something to keep his hair as he aged, it wouldn't be exactly the same! I repeat, doctored photo. Forget trying to make him look bad by making up a fake illness or skin lightening, get on him for his steroid use and his being one of the many supposed "great" players that have just compromised the sport of baseball."},{"anonName":null,"pathToMedia":"396494_69480167","adminTags":null,"views":1417,"createdBy":14139618,"createdByPathToPhoto":"116995/icons/defaultMember_116995_portrait.jpg","assocMediaId":null,"mediaName":"Sammy Sosa's Stunning Transformation","parentThreadId":null,"mediaId":2675190,"tags":null,"anonSiteUrl":null,"assocMediaType":null,"createdAt":"9 Nov 2009 17:55:36 GMT","anonEmail":null,"isVisible":true,"approved":true,"numComments":5,"reviewed":true,"createdByUsername":"SiobhanElizabeth","pathToPreview":"","mediaType":"EXTERNALMEDIA","commentId":"1214634","subject":"","averageRating":0,"body":"OK, so upon second look it isn't the EXACT same photo, the suit is different, and that looks too complicated to be doctored, but the face looks fake, like a computer program was used. It's almost obvious that a computer was used to make him look sick and light, just as obvious as when they badly airbrush a photo to make a celeb or model look "better.""}],"error":"","totPages":2}