Questions for Frank Thomas

[Zvon]

I wish I found this pic while Mr Thomas was visiting last.
Well, better late that never.

[metirish]

Great pic....excellent...I still have to read his book, I am in a book reading funk...

[Guest FrankThomas]

Bret Sabermetric wrote: Mr. Thomas-- In KISS IT GOODBYE, you mention that you were selected to an All-Ugly team in the early 1950s, and late in your career you were nicknamed "Lurch" (after Ted Cassidy's Frankenstein-like character on "The Addams Family"), and in between some players referrred to you as "The Big Donkey." Yet in every photograph, you appear to be a perfectly normal-looking or even a ruggedly handsome young man. Why do you suppose you came in for so much of this teasing treatment? Unless you're unusualy photogenic, and are actually hideous when a camera isn't being pointed in your direction, I can only conclude that perhaps you liked to dish out some kidding yourself and this was just a way for others to retort with some insulting comment? Did you in fact do more than your share of bench-jockeying, and verbal bantering with your fellow players? Given your acknowledgment of Richie Allen's understandable difficulty in seeing your "Muhammad Clay" remarks as banter among friends, did the level of clubhouse bantering go well beyond today's acceptable levels of good taste, typically? Do you remember any incidents of kidding and teasing that went too far for your own tastes (or for your own sensibilities today)? I've purchased my copy of KISS IT GOODBYE through the PHiladelphia A's website as well, and it's a terrific book. For those of you who haven't yet, it came with a copy of the 1954 Philadelphia A's home schedule, backed by an illustration of Connie Mack.

I have no idea why I came in for more-than-average teasing when it came to my appearance. Ballplayers always came up with an All-Ugly team, Mulligan, and things like that. Unless you had movie-star good looks, you were fair game for winning those tongue-in-cheek honors, so I took no offense at it. I'm honored that you referred to me as ruggedly handsome, or at least normal looking, but I guess I always just considered myself a regular joe as far as my appearance was concerned. Fortunately my wife didn't agree with the All-Ugly honors! As for the "Big Donkey" nickname, Bob Prince, the Pirates announcer, gave me that one for the simple reason that I was one of the bigger players of that time. It certainly is not the most flattering moniker, but if there was an underlying meaning to it other than merely a reference to my size, I was unaware of it. I heard that one plenty and never was offended by it. As for the nickname "Lurch", the first time I ever heard about that one was in Richie Allen's book. No one ever called me that while we were playing, at least not to my face. Even if they had, I wouldn't have been upset by it. It's all part of the needling that goes on between teammates. I'm really not around ballclubs of today enough to know to what level they like to kid each other, so I can't really say if we went beyond the new guys' accepted level of good taste. It's true that many things that were accepted in the 1950s are no longer accepted today, so you have to look at those things in the context of their time. We definitely needled each other quite a bit in my day, though. I consider myself one of the greatest agitators of all time. I used to get Bob Friend extremely worked up with my agitation. Just when he was at the breaking point I'd walk away and he'd go out and take it out on the opposition. And we're still great friends. I did it for a purpose with Bob -- to make him relax a little bit. He was very nervous before games, and I think it helped take his mind off his anxiety. The bottom line is that it was never done with malice. It was always supposed to be in good fun. I would only needle the guys who also liked to agitate, but I tended to step it up on those who agitated but couldn't take it when you gave it back to them. In all the years I played ball, I never saw it get out of hand until the Richie Allen incident.

[Guest FrankThomas]

cooby wrote: Hello, Mr. Thomas, from a fellow Pennsylvanian... Though I am a resident of the wilds of central PA, I've been a Mets fan for most of my life, though I must admit, my husband favors the Pirates I don't really have any questions for you but I want to tell you how much I am enjoying your book and my favorite part is not about baseball at all, but the stories and pictures of your beautiful family. The loss of your daughter Sharon was a terrible tragedy for your family, and I want to extend my sympathy. Maybe it's because I am a mom myself, but the pictures and accounts of your children and wife are very heartwarming to me. God bless you all.

Thank you very much for your sentiments. I'm a family man, so I really appreciate it when people compliment my family. We lost my daughter Sharon many years ago, but the pain of her loss will always be with us, especially each New Year's Eve. We forged ahead, though, out of necessity, but it still warms my heart when someone like you extends your kindness to us on Sharon's behalf. Thank you.

[Guest FrankThomas]

="Zvon"]I wish I found this pic while Mr Thomas was visiting last. Well, better late that never.

That's a great picture. I actually considered using it on the cover of my book, but the owner (Corbis) wanted a king's ransom to license it to me. We passed and went with a photo supplied by The Sporting News.

[Guest FrankThomas]

ScarletKnight41 wrote: I'm almost done reading Kiss It Goodbye. It's interesting re-reading this thread after reading the book. As you can gather from Mr. Thomas' thoughtful answers in this thread, he is devoted to detail. Mr. Thomas - if you're still following this thread, I have some follow-up questions. You must keep a thorough scrapbook collection of your career - how is it organized? Do you have any plans for it to be on public display?

You're right -- I do have a thorough scrapbook collection of my career from my first year in the minor leagues through my last year in 1966. It's 20 or so books, mostly organized chronologically because we put them together on a daily basis as my career unfolded. Mostly my wife, Dolores (Dodo), put them together. She would clip things out of the local papers while I was on the road. I would clip out things from out-of-town papers while on roadtrips, then send them to her. At the moment I have no plans to publicly display them. Many of them would require some serious restoration before anything like that could take place. Unfortunately many of the clippings have deteriorated or come unglued. My plans are to hand them down to my kids, so maybe they will undertake that enormous task. It's possible that we could donate them to the Hall of Fame, too, but I'll leave that decision to the kids.

[Guest FrankThomas]

I've enjoyed participating in this bulletin board project with the Ultimate Mets Database. I've noticed more than a few of you mentioning that you've ordered my book, and I want to thank you for that. I'd like to send all of you who've ordered my book a little item of thanks -- a signed baseball card of me. A few years ago I had a couple thousand full-color cards made of me. The card features a vintage photo of me from 1962 or 1963 in my Mets uniform. Stats and stuff on the back. I'd attach an image of it here for you to see, but to be honest, I have no idea how to do that! If you've ordered my book and would like an autographed copy of the card, just send me your name and address. Make sure you jot down a note that you are a member of the Ultimate Mets Database, you've already ordered my book, and that you'd like to receive a free autographed card. Please mail your request to me in care of the publisher of my book:

Frank Thomas
c/o Pepperpot Productions
P.O. Box 1016
Dunkirk, MD 20754

I'll look forward to hearing from you. Thanks again.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Dear Mr. Thomas,

As always, thank you for your participation in this thread and for your insights. And thank you for the offer of an autographed card - that's very kind of you!

[seawolf17]

Frank-

Thanks again for taking the time to stop in and speak with us. I just picked up the book recently, and I'm working my way through it now. I love the fact that you have all these great recollections of your career; you're right when you say that baseball books don't all have to be about being outrageous.

Your recollections about your negotiations with Branch Rickey are fascinating; we, the fans, blast players today for making millions of dollars, but considering where players came from, it's clear to say they've come a long way. I'm also fascinated how the fans passed the hat to give players tips for hitting home runs! (Like that would happen today!) Loving the book so far... I'm up through your 1953 season. Thanks again for writing it, and thanks for joining us.

[Guest cleonjones11]

Too many fat people...who cares about Frank Thomas other than his family.Geez..we're that bored?

[Guest cleonjones11]

He would probablyagree with me on Pennsylvania!

[Frayed Knot]

Do you EVER have anything intelligent to say?

[Zvon]

FrankThomas wrote: That's a great picture. I actually considered using it on the cover of my book, but the owner (Corbis) wanted a king's ransom to license it to me. We passed and went with a photo supplied by The Sporting News.

How about that.
Thats where I got it from alright, Corbis stock photos.
They are pretty liberal with web usage of their images.
Go figure.

[Zvon]

cleonjones11 wrote: Too many fat people...who cares about Frank Thomas other than his family.Geez..we're that bored?

whats your problem Cleon?

When we have a guest if you dont have nothing nice to say why dont you just go jump in a van and drive.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

If you remove all rude and insensitive remarks from CJ's posts, then all that remains is unintelligible.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Thanks for the generous offer, Mr. Thomas.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Dear Mr. Thomas - your baseball card arrived today. Thank you - I'm going to give it to my son as soon as he gets home from school, and I know that it's going to make him very happy