DENVER -- Sammy Sosa and five other members of the Chicago Cubs decided not to take the team's charter flight from San Francisco to Denver on Thursday night.

Sosa was uneasy about the prospect of flying on a Northwest Airlines plane that had encountered trouble twice earlier in the season, including an emergency landing at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

"There are two strikes already," Sosa told the Chicago Tribune on Friday. "Three strikes, you're out. If I'm going to die, I want to die my way."

Sosa invited teammates Moises Alou, Fred McGriff, Todd Hundley and Delino DeShields on his private plane. DeShields ended up getting released by the Cubs on Friday.

Corey Patterson also opted against taking the Northwest charter, and paid $270 to fly United.

"Anytime you're in the air you're taking a chance," Patterson told the Tribune. "But if you know for a fact that something has been a problem... they said they inspected (the plane), but I don't know if they worked on it or just looked at it and said, 'It's fine.'"

After player representative Joe Girardi expressed concerns about the flight, Cubs general manager Jim Hendry met with players to offer alternatives.

"We're not in a position to make somebody get on a plane they don't want to get on," Hendry, who took the charter, told the newspaper.

"But the plane was very, very solid. The White Sox took it twice in the last two weeks.

"I'm no different than them. I might not be as valuable to the Cubs as they are, but I have a wife and kids too."

Hendry said Northwest officials had inspected the plane, which caused a scare on the Cubs' recent trip from St. Louis. A faulty instrument panel apparently led the pilot to believe that the landing gear wasn't down. As a result, the plane had aborted a landing at the last minute.

Traveling secretary Jimmy Bank told the newspaper the Cubs were tentatively scheduled to use the Northwest charter up to four more times.

The team canceled plans to take it for the return trip to Chicago after Sunday's game.

"I'm not taking it -- period," Sosa told the Tribune. "With my private jet I know there's no trouble there."