Sammy Sosa’s latest look has the Internet buzzing

Maybe no baseball player this side of Barry Bonds changed his appearance more than Sammy Sosa during his playing days. Sosa went from a slender, fleet-footed rookie to a muscly, barrel-chested veteran. But there was never any mistaking Sosa’s beaming smile after one of his 609 career home runs.

Since his retirement, though, Sosa’s countenance has undergone some drastic changes. Those that don’t see him on a day-to-day basis might even go so far as to call the makeover alarming.

The first glimpse of the Sosa softening came in 2009, two years after he retired. At the time, some thought it might have been poor lighting or photoshop trickery, but Sosa explained the new look during a TV interview.

“It’s a bleaching cream that I apply before going to bed and whitens my skin some,” Sosa told the Univision Spanish network.

“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,” Sosa added with a smile.

More photos of the lighter Sosa have popped up over the years.

But in a recent interview for ESPN Deportes about the All-Star Home Run Derby, Sosa seems to have taken his lightening to new extremes. Appearing on the show in a pink Panama hat, Sosa sent social media into a tizzy over his latest look.

Strange as Sosa’s new look might seem, it can’t be nearly as odd as his one-time relationship with Donald Trump.