Baseball legend Sammy Sosa received a hero’s welcome back home when he returned to Wrigley Field. The retired Chicago Cubs slugger surprised fans as he appeared on the Jumbotron during the June 20 game against the Seattle Mariners. He smiled, waved, and blew kisses as the crowd cheered him on. 

His attendance marked his first time at the clubhouse since his final game with the team on Oct. 2, 2004. His departure from the organization came amid his admission to using performance-enhancing drugs. He was traded soon afterward to the Baltimore Orioles. Sosa, 56, retired in 2007 with the Texas Rangers after sitting out the 2006 season.

Sammy Sosa reveal darker complexion years after skin bleaching. (Photo by Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images)

The Dominican-born athlete is praised for his 18 seasons in the league, for holding the Cubs’ record for the most home runs, his multiple All-Star selections, and Silver Slugger awards, as much as he is for the evolution of his appearance.

At the game, he appeared tan, unlike years prior when heavy skin bleaching lightened his natural brown-hued color. Fans noticed the switch-up immediately. 

“He’s black again????” an X user tweeted. That reaction was shared by hundreds more who recalled when Sosa debuted dramatically lightened skin nearly two decades ago. A second response to his Wrigley Field sighting read, “Whoa he looks better.”

A third person insinuated that the superstar athlete can blend into any environment when they commented, “Bro is basically a chameleon at this point.”

“Man, on a real note, that battle of self hate must’ve been dark…. No pun intended,” a fourth user tweeted. Years earlier, in 2009, he spoke with Univision’s “Primer Impacto” about his transformation.

”It’s a bleaching cream that I apply before going to bed and whitens my skin tone. 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,” he explained. 

Sosa addressed the controversy again for a 2018 episode of “E:60.” When asked why he was using a cream that dramatically altered his complexion, the MLB legend first said, “I don’t know,” but ultimately explained, “I like to have my skin clean. That’s it.”

He continued, “For me, you know, I do what Sammy Sosa wanted to do. It’s my life. It’s Sammy Sosa’s life, and I’m entitled, with my life, to do whatever I want… I do it because, hey look, you know what I mean, I’m gonna be 50, but I look 17, and that’s why I do it. Simple as that.”

Sosa also previously denied suffering from vitiligo, a progressive loss of pigmentation. The outfielder will be inducted into the Cubs Hall of Fame in September.

‘He’s Black Again????’: Sammy Sosa’s Melanin Returns Years After MLB Legend Admitted to Skin Bleaching Made Him Appear ‘Clean’