NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Chicago Cubs fans aren't the only ones sticking by embattled slugger Sammy Sosa. So far, so are advertisers.

Sosa, who was caught using an illegal bat in a game Tuesday and is now appealing an 8-game suspension, is one of the most marketable baseball players around. He has a commercial airing right now for Pepsi, the flagship brand of PepsiCo Inc. (PEP: down $0.13 to $44.39, Research, Estimates). He has done them in the past for MasterCard, McDonald's (MCD: up $1.54 to $20.82, Research, Estimates), Nike (NKE: down $0.19 to $55.55, Research, Estimates), and even the New York Stock Exchange, a lineup of sponsors far stronger than almost any other ballplayer's.

When Sammy Sosa's bat shattered Tuesday to reveal illegal cork in the center, his value to advertisers seemed to stay intact.

With his image of a happy, friendly player who hits monster home runs, he is an ideal endorser. His Q-rating, the measure of the public's view of a celebrity, is higher than any other active baseball player, according to Marketing Evaluations.

But when Sosa broke a bat Tuesday that was filled with cork, a lighter-weight material added in the belief it can help balls travel farther, advertisers might have worried. "It severely damages him," said Frank Vuono, a co-founder of 16W Marketing, a Rutherford, N.J.-based sports marketing company. "The No. 1 attribute for sponsor companies is credibility. Sammy has damaged that forever."

Bat manufacturers, including the company that makes bats for Sammy Sosa, say they have nothing to with corking. CNN's Casey Wian reports. Play video (Real or Windows Media)

Still, Pepsi is sticking with Sosa, at least for the current campaign. "It appears Sammy has made an honest mistake, and based on Major League Baseball's findings, there's no reason to change our relationship with him," said spokesman Dave DeCecco. Armour Hot Dog is also sticking with Sosa, a spokeswoman said.

Sosa says he grabbed the corked bat by mistake, that it was meant to be used only during batting practice to show how far he can hit a ball. He apologized at a press conference Tuesday night. Major League Baseball officials found no other illegal bats among his equipment or among the bats used to hit milestone home runs that were sent to the Hall of Fame.

Sosa's performance at the press conference should help him. "He didn't deny anything," said University of Delaware business professor John Antil, an expert on celebrity endorsements. "He said, ' I'm sorry. ' When you weather a crisis well, it can actually help you. Right now is if I had a contract with him, I'd be thinking about using him more."

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Sosa enjoys a much better public image than stars such as the brooding Barry Bonds or the volatile Roger Clemens. Even Vuono, who thinks Sosa's endorsement potential is damaged, gives him a better chance than other athletes to weather the controversy.

So far, Sosa has taken his toughest hits from sportswriters, some of whom have dismissed his explanation for the illegal bat and said it brings into question his past home runs and his long-standing denial of steroid use.

"No one's ever proven anything (about steroids), and he's denied the charges for years," wrote SI.com's baseball writer John Donovan this week. "But the rumors haunt him. Many people still wonder."

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But advertisers, at least for now, seem to believe he's innocent of anything more than an honest, one-time mistake. An executive with a major advertiser told me Friday that his company is moving ahead with negotiations on a new Sosa deal.

"The word I've been getting is this isn't going to affect it," said the executive, who asked not to be identified. "On any deal we have with an athlete, where there is some sort of controversy, we continue to monitor the pulse of the fans and see what they think. I don't think any marketer, whether it's us or Pepsi or whoever, is going to have a knee-jerk reaction. For anyone to say this will ruin Sammy is a little premature."