If there's one thing I've been able to hold my head high about during baseball's ugly steroid drama, it's that the guy I grew up idolizing, the player my childhood will forever be tied to in Chicago, has been nowhere near any of it. That man is Frank Thomas. There's a certain satisfaction in knowing my guy kept his head above the fray. (Although, it was such a pervasive culture and personally, I'm not so sure it's really that bad players were/are taking HGH to hang on to a few more years.That being said: society sees the whole era as bad. So, in turn, Frank Thomas is good.) Nostalgia aside, turns out Thomas was the only player to speak to George Mitchell as the senator was conducting his report.
The interview with Mitchell lasted 45 minutes, with Thomas answering questions primarily about himself. It was a relatively insignificant session, but it became a key item within the 311 pages of the Mitchell Report, which was made public in December.
Every one of the players named in the Report -- and a handful like Thomas, who weren't facing allegations -- were asked to take part in interviews. What the 39-year-old Thomas might not have realized at the time was that he was the lone player who agreed to meet with Mitchell to discuss drug use in baseball.
[ ... ]All things told here, I have a hard time believing Thomas' naiveness on the matter. This is not something I really buy in spring training 2008 with all that has come out. But he spoke to Mitchell when no one else would. Surely, that should count for something.
"I was shocked. I was really shocked," Thomas said emphatically. "But I think the Players' Association had a lot to do with that. For me, I've always been my own man. No one's going to tell me not to talk to anyone, especially when I've got nothing to hide."
[ ... ]"He just asked, 'Did I ever see anything or hear anything,'" Thomas said. "I was like, 'No.' So I was definitely one of the naive guys of that era -- not knowing so many guys were involved. I'm really, really shocked, because I played with a few of those guys and had no clue.
"It's obvious now that there were a lot of guys involved with steroids and HGH. I'm shocked, because I played in that era and had to compete against it. But I'm shocked there were so many guys involved."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-18-2008 @ 8:18PM
Richard Sanders said...
he used HGH and roids, I mean look at the sob, he is huge, he spoke with Mitchell and he cranked out 500 homers during the now infamous steriod era, so according the reasoning of the day he is as guilty as the rest of them.....right?
note-statement made with extreme sarcism as I did my best Pee Wee Herman impression.....
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2-18-2008 @ 8:21PM
dave said...
Frank Thomas is talking out of both sides of his mouth. He says that he is his own man and does what he wants to do. Then he says that he said no to Mitchell when asked if he saw anything. Come on! How could he speak out so much about steroids and then claim that he didn't know anything was going on. Besides, how do we know Frank is innocent. How does he come back from injury after injury and then hot like 40 home runs at the age of 39 last season? Something suspicious about that.
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2-18-2008 @ 9:08PM
super bowl bet said...
He should have kept quiet and stayed out of that report.
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2-18-2008 @ 9:45PM
§ said...
Hall of Famer Frank Thomas (aka 'Big Hurt') has NEVER tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs
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2-18-2008 @ 10:00PM
appliedpac said...
When I was playing in the Reds org, I ran into FT in a night club in Los Angeles this was back in the fall of 93. At the age he was I think 23, this dude was huge. Now I played both football and baseball in the Pac 10 and this dude was huge. so if he was using, it had to be in his late teens and very early 20's. Cause I ran into him again and he looks bigger(rounder) because he's older
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2-18-2008 @ 10:10PM
for the record said...
Hall of Famer Frank Thomas (aka 'Big Hurt') has NEVER tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs
Neither has Clemens
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2-18-2008 @ 10:12PM
Steve said...
Clemens tested positive for stupid.
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2-19-2008 @ 9:48AM
JAES said...
Hey Frank, did you spend your time in baseball living in a bubble? All of these a-holes are doing drugs and you never heard of any of it? BULLS**T!!!!
Maybe you didn't take anything, MAYBE, but you and anything you did during the "Steroid Era" will always be tainted. Think about this. It's been 90 years, and we still talk about the Black Sox of 1919. They continue to be tainted and so will you and anyone that played during this time. So, keep your little fantasy up and try to make us believe that you knew nothing about the "Steroid Era". JAES
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