In my mind, judgment on the Sammy Sosa corked-bat incident really had to be withheld until the results of major-league baseball’s examination of the 76 bats they confiscated from his clubhouse was concluded.

The conclusion: they’re all clean.

This goes a long way toward backing up Sosa’s story that he unintentionally used a corked bat he had reserved for batting practice. And the truth is that if he had been corking he’d have been found out a long time ago. Bats seem to break in every game and I can remember at least a dozen previous occasions when Sosa’s splintered bat went flying into the infield.

Sosa made a very expensive mistake. He’ll still be suspended for a number of games and he should be ashamed for allowing his ego and desire to please the fans in batting practice for interfering with what should be his primary goal: helping his team win.

The risk of confusing a BP bat with a game bat is not worth it. He of course knows that now. But all the talk of Sosa’s reputation being ruined seems a little overhyped to me. After all, corking a bat doesn’t really do much to help a batter hit.