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10 Questions Frank Thomas on injuries, comebacks, being 'Big Baby'Posted: Tuesday March 19, 2002 10:23 PM
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Frank Thomas is back with the Chicago White Sox after missing most of last season with a ruptured triceps muscle in his right arm. Several teammates questioned the Big Hurt's ability to play through pain. Thomas, a two-time American League MVP who leads all active players with a lifetime .438 on-base percentage, took a few minutes to talk with CNNSI.com's John Donovan for this edition of 10 Questions. Q: Ready? FT: Well, we won't know that until after the first month of the season. But, so far so good. I'm having a lot more fun, so I do feel like I'm back. Q: What was the hardest part about 2001 for you? FT: Just watching games for five months. That was really tough. Q: What about the physical part of it? FT: Physically, it was a lot of rehab. Waking up at 8 o'clock every morning, going from 9 to 12:30, 1 o'clock [with his rehabilitation] -- that was no fun. Q: How do you know where the line is that separates being just hurt and being too hurt to play? FT: There's no line as a professional ballplayer. You got to play through your injuries. I've played through many injuries. But I knew something was wrong with this one. Only problem with this one was we waited too long to diagnose the injury. In the 12 days we took to make a diagnosis, the season was over with. We took too long. Guys were upset about it, I knew it was brewing in the clubhouse and I understood it. Because when your highest-paid player's not playing and we're losing, constantly -- night in and night out -- you wonder what's going on. It's one of those things, guys poking fun at me. It got out of control. Q: One of those guys was David Wells. What's the story with him now? FT: It's over. It was one of those things … and it wasn't just him. There were other guys in the clubhouse egging it on. Like "What the hell's wrong with Frank. It's been 12 days, he hasn't played. Is he milking this injury? He's not swinging good." It was one of those things like that. Q: Did that kind of talk hurt you? FT: It didn't hurt me. I got a lot of young guys -- I've had a million teammates. [Thomas is 33 years old.] A lot of guys haven't played with me when I'm not at my best. It was one of those things, I think, that players got to get to know you a little better. I played many, many years with injuries, so I'm not worried about that. Q: How was that first big swing of yours, the first real one, after a season's worth of rehab? FT: It was two weeks before spring training. I waited until the last possible moment, 'cause I wanted to get my weightlifting right back where it was before I got injured. That was a key, mentally, for me. It felt great. It was just like my last hit in the batting cage. No babying it. It was just airing it out. Q: "The Big Hurt." That has to be one of the best nicknames -- maybe THE best -- in all of sports, don't you think? FT: Yes, it is. I have to thank Hawk Harrelson for that. He just watched me hitting the ball and he started calling me The Big Hurt. I like Big Unit, too. 'Cause he's a big machine throwing the ball 100 mph. I think that one's close. Q: You have any nicknames as a kid? Did your mom call you something special? FT: I was always her Big Baby. I was the baby of six kids. I was always "Big Baby." Because I was the biggest one of us and I was the baby. "The Hammer." That's what they used to call me in high school. I didn't like that too much. Q: OK. Big Baby, huh? One last one. Given your injury last year and all that surrounded that, you have any problem with baseball's supposed crackdown on body armor this season? FT: It's not a problem with me. I've always had a shield to cover my [left] elbow, 'cause I've been hit there a few times in my career. But that's it. It's just covering that bone, that's all.
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