CHICAGO — The clubhouse at Wrigley Field is state-of-the-art. The training facilities are top-notch. The video boards and ballpark amenities resemble those of newer stadiums across the league.

And yet, while the Friendly Confines have changed over the past 21 years, it’s still familiar for Cubs icon Sammy Sosa.

[READ: Sammy Sosa’s Wrigley Field return excites Ian Happ, Cubs players]

“This is my house,” Sosa said in a media availability on Friday during the Cubs’ 9-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners. “It’s been a long time, but I came to [Cubs] Convention.

“The time was right now. God’s time is perfect.”

Sosa returned to Wrigley Field on Friday since he last donned the Cubs pinstripes in 2004. He and the Cubs had mended their relationship this past winter – a bond that had been on hiatus for 21 years.

[WATCH: Sammy Sosa joins Cubs Postgame Live!]

The former slugger was at the annual fan fest in January, stepping out to the stage to a raucous reception as he was announced as the newest member of the Cubs Hall of Fame. But he had yet to return to the ballpark that he had called home for 13 years.

That changed on Friday, as he arrived in the morning, greeted chairman Tom Ricketts, toured the Cubs clubhouse and chatted with players like current Cubs star Pete Crow-Armstrong and manager Craig Counsell. And they knew what his presence meant.

“The fan base really appreciates guys that poured their heart and soul into this place and gave everything they had,” Ian Happ said. “That’s what makes being a Cub really special is how much people care, how much people root for the players.

“To see the reception when guys come back, it shows you just one of the many things that makes this place special.”

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The park is a bit different than when he played, though.

“I mean Wrigley is much better now,” Sosa said. “The ivy, the grass is much better. But it’s still the same ballpark. It brings back a lot of memories.

“Every opportunity that I get, I was doing great every year, consistently. And also, the more important thing [is] that I won the crowd in right field.”

During the game, the video board played the usual “Legends of the Game” clip they have during home contests, showcasing some of Sosa’s highlights and accomplishments before showing a live shot of him in a suite, where he pounded his chest and then garnered a boisterous reception from the 40,787 fans at Wrigley Field.

“It was incredible,” Sosa said. “It’s great. Just happy to be back, especially the standing ovation that fans give to me. That touched me. That got me. Everybody stood up and it was an emotional moment for me.”

That’s because this was a place where he dazzled thousands of fans daily. His 545 home runs with the Cubs are the most in the storied franchise’s history. He had four straight seasons with 50 or more home runs and hit 60 or more homers in three separate seasons.

“When you get emotional – people got to you, people that you love, people they see me play, they see me grow up here playing the game,” Sosa said. “After 20-some years back here and to see their reception – for me, it was incredible.”

It was a day that Sosa knew would one day come – even if it looked unlikely after a pair of decades.

“I always believed that it [was] going to happen, but mostly on God’s time,” Sosa said. “The time was perfect. Now, I’m here, again and I will continue to be here. The relationship is tremendous and hopefully we can continue that until the day I die … after a hundred years.”