When he skipped out early from the regular-season finale in 2004 and then lashed out at manager Dusty Baker for blaming him for the Cubs failures, his days in Chicago were soon to be over.

Traded to the Orioles, he struggled again last season with his bat and his health, hitting .221 with 14 homers and 45 RBIs.

“I thought he’d be playing,” said former Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli, adding that there was “no question” Sosa could still contribute.

“I hope he plays. He’s a good guy. When you get old, injuries can creep up on you.”

Sam Perlozzo, who replaced Mazzilli as the Orioles skipper, said Sosa could be leaving because he knows it’s time.

“Obviously Sammy is a very proud guy. It seemed to me if he’s going to retire, then he probably doesn’t feel like he’s going to be as productive as he wants,” he said.

“For that, you give him credit, a pat on the back. I would have liked to have seen the guy do a little bit better in his last year. He did a lot for the game, and we’re going to miss a good player.”

After turning down an non-guaranteed offer from the Washington Nationals, Sosa is probably headed to retirement, according to his agent Adam Katz.   “I’ve seen some greats leave the game. You never want to see them leave and you’d rather see them leave on their terms and leave on top,” Baker said Thursday, still not convinced Sosa was through playing.

“It’s not over with yet. You don’t know if somebody is going to offer Sammy a job here soon or what is going to happen. But Sammy has been one of the great players of the game for a long time and a guy who meant a lot to Chicago and a lot to the game. ... I just hope he gets a job somewhere.”

So does Mets general manager Omar Minaya, who was responsible for Sosa signing with the Texas Rangers, his first team.

“I hope that’s not the case. I hope that he will be given the opportunity to play,” Minaya said Thursday from Port St. Lucie, Fla.

“He’s done a lot of great things for baseball.”

Kerry Wood was a rookie in 1998 when Sosa and McGwire put on their epic home run duel.

“It was fun to be a part of that,” Wood said.

“Like I always said about Sammy, he came ready to play. No matter what kind of person he was, no matter what people wrote about him, (what) people said about him, he was ready to play for 162 games every day. And I still have yet to see somebody prepare the way he did.”

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