Cubs' Ricketts: Sosa, steroid-era players 'owe us a little bit of honesty'

Sammy Sosa hit 609 home runs during a career spanning 18 seasons. He smashed 545 of them as a member of the Chicago Cubs, surpassing 60 homers three times and hitting 50 or more in four consecutive seasons from 1998 through 2001.

No Cubs batter has hit more home runs while donning the uniform. Despite that, Sosa remains on the outside looking in at Cooperstown and the franchise he called home for 13 seasons due to the shroud of the steroid era.

Cubs owner Tom Ricketts says Sosa, and other players from his playing time, need to come clean to be brought back into the fold, according to ESPN's Jesse Rogers.

"Players from that era owe us a little bit of honesty," Ricketts said. "The only way to turn that page is to put everything on the table."

While the likes of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens have seen their chances at being elected to baseball's Hall of Fame rise in recent years, they would have been enshrined in their first year of eligibility if it weren't for being linked to PEDs, whether justly or not.

"I think we have to be sympathetic to that era ... but the players owe us some honesty, too," Ricketts said.

Sosa, 49, has not been invited to join the team in an official capacity since he retired after 2007, when he played 114 games as a member of the Texas Rangers.