Frank Thomas hits number 500

[brewers255]

Congrats to Frank Thomas, he hit number 500 off of Carlos Silva. Thomas should be in the hall of fame.

[BrewCrewForever]

Congrats to the "Big Hurt"! I have always been a fan of Thomas, should be a first ballot HOF.

[billyhallfan]

is he on the juice? The guy is huge, I've always been a fan of him too, but he is a monster in size, bigger than Bonds maybe.

[BrewCrewForever]

He has always been very tall and huge. I don't think Thomas was a juicer. I know I cant prove that but I dont see it. Also he has been one of the most outspoken about how bad roids are.

[Invader3K]

He's always been that size though, and he doesn't have the weird over inflated skull like some of these other guys.

[Thurston Fluff]

Congrats to the Big Hurt. He was one of the most outspoken players in baseball about the lack of testing. There has never been any rumors or any suspicion what so ever about his use of roids. I think one of the greatest evils of the steroid era is when guys like Thomas and Griffey hit milestones like this it is diminished somewhat by idiots like Bonds and Sosa. That's a shame. He is one of the reasons why Bonds use of roids is so unforgivable. There were others like Griffey and Thomas who were every bit as good as Bonds but didn't go to the dark side because they were jealous of the spot light being on others who cheated. The only real knock on his hall of fame career could be his being a DH for a lot of those years. That said yes in my mind he is one for sure.

[funkyplaidcoat]

Frank is a big guy, has been slugging at a consistent clip (when he's not hurt) and when included in the 'roids conversation, he's more than willing to talk about it because he is proud to be a 'natural' player.

 

It should be noted that two of his two lowest .ops seasons were during the HR binges of '98 and '99. classic.

 

If there's any victim of the Juiced Ball era, it's probably Frank since 500 HR is no longer a big number.

[Fatter than Joey]

is he on the juice?

 

Frank was a pretty good Tight End at Auburn I think -- He's been huge since day 1.

[BrewCrewForever]

I think one of the greatest evils of the steroid era is when guys like Thomas and Griffey hit milestones like this it is diminished somewhat by idiots like Bonds and Sosa. That's a shame.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[JoeHova]

How do you know Griffey and Thomas aren't on something? That's one of the biggest evils of the steroid era in my opinion, the fact that people are condemned or praised based on nothing at all.

 

 

That said, Frank has always been one of my favorite players. I love his batting stance. I'm very happy for him.

[BrewCrewForever]

How do you know Griffey and Thomas aren't on something?

 

Well we don't, but there seems to be much more evidence toward guys like Bonds, Sosa and McGwire then guys like Thomas and Griffey.

[RightFieldCoder]

But "just looking" at a guy you would never have guessed the first guy to test positive. I will assume no one was juicing until there is proof. The Big Hurt was big, but so is The Fresh Prince of Milwaukee.

[craigharmann]

Frank Thomas and Griffey have always been favorite players of mine from when I was in grade school on up. I'm happy Frank has 500 homers and I think he should be in the hall of fame!

[JoeHova]

Quote:

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but there seems to be much more evidence toward guys like Bonds, Sosa and McGwire then guys like Thomas and Griffey.

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What evidence has there been about Sosa? And also, did it look like Alex Snachez or Juan Rincon or Matt Lawton were on the juice?

[funkyplaidcoat]

the spike in sosa's numbers make me laugh every time. you can at least make the argument that Thomas was consistently around his career SLG average while sosa needed some spectacular years to bring his up.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/graphs/255_302_DH_cseason_full_2_20070627.png

[BrewCrewForever]

What evidence has there been about Sosa?

 

I dont have concrete evidence. But how about that corked bat? That at least shows he was a cheater.

 

Edit: And how about that fact that he speaks perfect english except the day he goes to capital hill to talk about steroids, then he has an interpeter

[JoeHova]

so, you'd want to give testimony before a foreign country's congress in a language other than your native one? I can't say I blame him for making sure he was able to say what he wanted. Plus, his ability (or lack thereof) has been widely lampooned ini the past. I remember Curt Schilling got caught on camera making fun of him at an all-star game several years ago.

[BrewCrewForever]

What about the corked bat is that something?

[Thurston Fluff]

What evidence has there been about Sosa? And also, did it look like Alex Snachez or Juan Rincon or Matt Lawton were on the juice?

 

His perfromance in front of congress, his sudden change in body size...twice, once when he got big and once agian after he shrunk coincidentally after testing started, his sudden surge in power? As far as some of the others go I'm not all that sure they failed their drug test due to knowingly using steroids. Some guys especially the earliest ones probably used some OTC substance with banned stuff in them. More stupidly putting unknown substances in the body than actual intentional use of steroids. There is also the fact that steroids help performance in more than one way depending on the type of workouts done along with steroid use. I can't speak for all of them but I just couldn't see Alex Sanchez in the weight room doing everything possible to get more power. I could see him doing a lot of wind sprints or other excercises to incress his speed. If he indeed did use steroids to enhance his perfromance I would guess it would have been used for a differant purpose than power hitters used them. After all I don't remember seeing track stars getting overly huge. They just got leaner and faster than humanly possible.

[Oldcity]

Anyways, Frank Thomas is the man. He was so dominant. The guy drew walks like there was no tomorrow, too. HOFer.

[BrewCrewForever]

The guy drew walks like there was no tomorrow, too. HOFer.

 

Yeah he knew the strike zone well and has a great career OBP.

[djoctagone]

Quote:

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Yeah he knew the strike zone well

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the home plate umpire at today's game disagrees with you . . . so much that he ejected the big hurt in the 9th.

[DocLuna7]

As someone pointed out earlier in this thread, Thomas was always huge. As a two sport athlete at Auburn, the guy was part of an intense workout regimen, and IMO, has maintained that physique fairly consistently since he emerged into the Bigs. Take a look at the guy's rookie card from the 1990 Topps set. It shows him playing 1B at Auburn. I honestly don't think you could tell much of a difference in the guy's size between then and now, something that steroids would make virtually impossible.

 

1st Ballot HOFer in my mind.

[RU Rah Rah]

He's definitely going to benefit from comparisons to some of the more tainted HR-hitting types. He's always been just a naturally large dude.

 

Has Sammy's body really changed more than Roger Clemens' has? (That's not a rhetorical question. I haven't seen their respective "before" and "after" pictures lately.)

[mothershipconnection]

This is the sad part of steroids, assuming Thomas is indeed all natural. The legacy of guys that were simply genetic freaks will be tarnished by those who used roids to attain the same stature.

I know several guys who are huge and who I know for an absolute fact have never been steroid users. Sometimes, there's just that guy who can bench 300 lbs in 8th grade. It's just that such people are not as common as widespread steroid use has led some people to believe.