Sammy Sosa

With a league-leading 50 home runs in 2000, “Slammin Sammy” Sosa of the Chicago Cubs added his name to the record books yet again. In his spectacular 1998 season, he and slugger Mark McGwire raced for the title of Home Run King, shattering Roger Maris’s record of 61 home runs in the process. Sosa ended the season with 66 home runs and was named National League MVP. In 1999, Sosa and McGwire became the only players to hit more than 60 home runs in consecutive seasons. Sosa’s climb to fame began humbly in the Dominican Republic, where he couldn’t afford a bat and used a tree branch to practice his swing.