The Chicago slugger joined the stable of famous MLB cheaters Tuesday night when officials discovered he used a corked bat after it broke during a first-inning at-bat against Tampa Bay.

Disappointing? Yes. Shocking? No.

For nearly its entire existence, baseball has been plagued by cheating offenses, both large and small. Usually, they fall under the guise of "competitive edge," but that doesn't make it right.

George Brett's pine tar. Phil Niekro's sandpaper. Gaylord Perry's spitball. Any manager's sign-stealing.

And now Slammin' Sammy's bat.

Sosa says that he accidentally used a batting practice bat that he corks in order to put on a good show for the fans, but to the skeptical -- myself included -- there are holes in that admission.

All hitters worth their salt are downright fanatical about their lumber. Seattle's Edgar Martinez has his laser weighted to the exact ounce before deeming them usable.

So how could Sosa pick up a corked bat -- which is lighter than a regular one -- and not know the difference?

And as far as Sosa wanting to put on a show for the fans? Well, most major league parks don't even open their gates until after the home team has finished batting practice, meaning the only people around to watch Sammy's corked-up shots are sportswriters and stadium workers.

MLB confiscated 76 of Sosa's bats during Tuesday's game and after cutting them all open, determined all were cork-free.

But -- excuse my skepticism again -- if the baseball brass had found 10 corked bats, would they really tell us? It would destroy one of the game's beloved ambassadors and further erode the sport's already shrinking fan base.

In addition, MLB officials reportedly didn't confiscate the bats until the third or fourth inning, long after Sosa was ejected in the first.

The man-on-the-grassy-knoll theory could be that Sosa instructed one of the Cubs' clubhouse people to hide his "special" bats or, in a grand conspiracy theory, get them out of Wrigley Field, put them on the nearby train and dump them in the bottom of Lake Michigan.

It's not totally out of the realm of possibility.

Remember when another slugger, Albert Belle, was found with a corked bat nearly 10 years ago? One of his Cleveland teammates crawled through a space in the ceiling to the umpires' office and replaced the corked bat with a clean one (albeit one of another player).

Sosa receives credit for being upfront about his error, but he really had no choice, since denying it would have made things much worse.

The one thing in Sosa's favor is that, if he used corked bats during his remarkable home-run binges of the past five years, he certainly would have broken a few along the way.

Unfortunately, even that bit of logic won't prevent us all from casting a few doubts on his 505 homers and his 66-dinger season.

The Cubs fans will forgive him, because, let's face it, it only adds to their losing legacy.

But Sosa will have to work hard to restore his image in the baseball world and the general public. Don't expect to see Sammy in any Pepsi ads anytime soon.

Sosa isn't the only player currently using a corked bat. He's just the only one that got caught.

It's uncertain that cork can even help hitters blast homers, but just the fact that it is outlawed and one of the game's greats would flaunt the rules is what stings.

I hope Sammy did make an honest mistake. I also hope for his -- and baseball's sake -- he doesn't make it again.

Elliott Smith covers sports for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5473 or ejsmith1@olympia.gannett.com.