Benjamin Grimm

I guess he's continuing his "ghost writer" role here. The lack of paragraph breaks did make it seem somehow like Frank Thomas was actually doing the typing, didn't it? Anyway, here's what's going to happen next: Ronnie will check in again on Friday and read whatever questions have accumulated and he'll take those (in addition to the ones posted before the introductory post) and pose them to Frank Thomas over the weekend. We can expect to see responses early next week. So keep 'em coming!

Wow! What a week! Steve Zabriskie promises to come by on Wednesday, and then Frank Thomas sneaks in ahead of him with a Monday appearance. (Keep in mind that was Ronnie Joyner, the author of Frank's book who's doing the keyboarding for Frank.) Some of you may remember all the images of anguish and despair that I posted when Joe Christopher didn't show up. I was going to post happy pictures here, but I learned something important: Don't do a Google image search on "joy" when you're at work!

Julio Franco is so old that he sometimes refers to baseball as "rounders." Julio Franco is so old that he calls Ralph Kiner "kid."

]Pedro was never my favorite, but Zimmer attacked him on the field during that fight. I never faulted Pedro for defending himself from the old fool. That's how I saw it too. It's Zimmer who was the thug that day.

What would happen if tomorrow the Mets traded entire rosters with the Los Angeles Angels? They'd have a pretty good team. Their uniforms would be the uniforms that we're used to. If they won the pennant, we'd be happy. But wouldn't we feel a bit disassociated from them? I know we don't know the players personally, but it's the continuity from season to season that helps us relate to them. Of course, change is inevitable. I've seen the roster turn over a bunch of times since I signed on in 1971. I haven't walked away from the Mets because Seaver and Koosman and Grote and Jones and Agee are gone. Too much change too fast and you start to wonder why you care. "Home grown" is nice, but that's not exactly what I'm talking about. Imported players who stick around can become one of our guys. Piazza did. So did Hernandez and Agee and a bunch of others. Pedro Martinez probably will, and so will Beltran if he gets his act together.

Me neither. And for pretty much the same reasons you have. I'm not anti-trade, as you are, but I agree in the need for some kind of stability. For this team to continue to seem like the Mets, it's important to keep guys like Reyes and Wright around. I don't want to root for an All-Star team.

cooby wrote: Was that really him? (Steve Zabriskie) Yes.

http://www.juliadonaldson.co.uk/i/countingChickens.jpg

Okay, here's how this is going to work. Frank Thomas doesn't use the Internet, so he himself won't be here. Ronnie Joyner, who ghost-authored Frank's recent autobiography, will be our guest instead. He's going to phone interview Frank with our questions, and then he'll appear here with the answers. I'm going to direct him to the "Questions for Frank Thomas" thread which I more or less spun off from this one. Like Edgy, I also have an unread copy of the book. I plan to get to it soon, probably in January. This may be a landmark week on the CPF for me. I made it to the song parody finals, Steve Zabriskie actually showed up, and I've learned that the Frank Thomas thing is still alive. If Joe Christopher were here, everything would be perfect and I'd be able to turn my attention to Mackey Sasser.

Spun off from the other thread, which was mostly a game of Twenty Questions: Edgy DC wrote: Some questions for Frank Thomas: 1) You were known as a dead pull hitter. Did they ever try an infield shift against you? ________________ 2) You switched teams eight times between 1959 and 1966. What was going on there? What was it about your game that made GMs think if you as tradeable? Was it because they could try fit you in at so many different positions? ________________ 3) You were famous for claiming that you could catch anybody's hardest throw barehanded. 3a) It is said that you always lived up to this claim. Is that true? 3b) At what distance did you catch them? 3c) Who was the hardest thrower you caught barehanded? 3d) Did this have anything to do with you breaking your thumb in 1964? ________________ 4) Casey Stengel --- idiot, genius, or both? Now that you're in your seventies, do you understand him better? ________________ 5) This is a sensitive one. Playing your whole career in the National League, your era was an era of aggressive integration, can you describe what the general atmosphere was like? 5a) Even for players without a racial animus, it must have been difficult as African-American players regularly won the Rookie of the Year and MVP awards through the fifties, and got the subsequent publicity. Is this accurate? 5b) Were there racial issues between yourself and Richie Allen? Or was it, as reported, merely horseplay that got out of hand? There are certainly accounts that say Allen divided the team on racial lines. 5c) Did you and Allen ever subsequently try to square things? And do you think this was a good look for him?

This split personality disturbs me.I'm afraid you'll start shouting on airplanes before long.

I heard from the author of Frank's book again today. His CPF visit may be days away. If anybody cares to pose any additional questions, please do so.

Piazza, Looper, and Mientkiewicz are now all officially gone, so here are the updated scores.Namor's certainty in Looper's return costs him, as does his hedging on Piazza and Mientkiewicz.The ultimate fates of Matsui and Milledge will probably decide this contest.CameronFloydGlavineLooperMatsuiMientkiewiczMilledgePiazzaSeoTrachselPointsmetirish010104810426862Frayed Knot 499749886670Edgy DC 3934510874558Yancy Street Gang 2876410676763Johnny Dickshot 510572101054664Vic Sage 577239993660rpackrat588749108777386 Dreamer 9101051101087373Rotblatt1010100010010101070Nymr831101000775101060SwitchHitter01010268648862ScarletKnight41576425987760metsmarathon383721010010861Iubitul5937261018758DocTee694229847657seawolf171077331031071070TheOldMole497345971857Average4.538.827.004.123.068.657.476.066.537.1886 Dreamer 73rpackrat73Rotblatt70seawolf1770Frayed Knot 70Johnny Dickshot 64Yancy Street Gang 63SwitchHitter62metirish62metsmarathon61Nymr8360ScarletKnight4160Vic Sage 60Iubitul58Edgy DC 58TheOldMole57DocTee57

Cool! What imposter is he referring to? Was Steve confused, perhaps, by my Mad Dog post above?

Olerud was the daily lookup winner on the UMDB by a HUGE margin. He got almost 20 times as many votes as runner-up Herb Moford. I guess it's because his 1999 transaction was linked on the home page, and his retirement has him in the news. By dying, Herb Moford only gets one day of glory. Donn Clendennon wa able to get a full week's worth.

We haven't reeled in Steve Zabriskie yet, but look at this: We have 133 registered users The newest registered user is MadDog I'm guessing it's an imposter, but click on the link. Would any imposter be that clever???

Am I the only one who doesn't care at all about the World Baseball Classic? I might watch an inning or two because any baseball in March is worth looking at, but I won't be rooting for the country I was born in, or for the country where my great-grandparents were born. I really don't care who wins. I just don't want any Mets players getting hurt. That's my rooting interest.

I guess I haven't been perusing all that much either. I don't doubt that there's a lot of crazy talk out there.

I can't begin to tell you how serene my existence has been since I stopped listening to WFAN. The day the Mets signed Wagner I switched to WFAN for the first time in months. After hearing about 60 seconds of Mike and the Mad Dog I had to switch it off.

Peter Jackson's remake of the 1933 classic opens on December 14. There was a three-minute preview on my TiVo last night, and watching it gave me goosebumps. I had low expectations for Fantastic Four this summer, and I was able to be pleasantly surprised. I have very high expectations for this movie. I may be setting myself up for a disappointment, but I don't think that will happen. I just can't wait for this movie to open!

Oh, I love the pictures. I just don't get the jokes.

Am I the only one who doesn't "get" these?

That was "meaningful" to both teams? Maybe the three-game series that started on August 31, 2005. That's probably it. The Mets have played 747 games against the Phillies, which is more than against any other team. Next are the Cardinals at 657, then the Cubs and Pirates at 656.

Take it from someone living in the Philadelphia area, there's a real rivalry between the Phillies and the Mets, but only one side knows about it. (I think, from what I've heard from a former Texan that I know, there's a similar one-sided rivalry between the Eagles and the Cowboys.) I remember a few years ago hearing a Phillies announcer mention all of the times that the Mets and Phillies battled for a pennant, but of course, that's never happened. Even in 1973, the Phillies were the one team that wasn't in that race. The Phils finished second to the Mets in 1986, but by such a wide margin that there was never any kind of race. The two teams were never really contenders in the same season until 2005, and by early September the Mets were in more of a spoiler role. It really could make for a great rivalry. In Philadelphia, I guess it already does. Phillies fans hate the Mets, but Mets fans are mostly indifferent towards the Phillies.

]"My goal is to get to the Hall of Fame and win a World Series. There's no doubt [Mets] ownership has resources and a competitive edge. They'll do whatever it takes to win. That's a huge plus." It's not often that you see active players state so plainly that they're thinking Cooperstown. I don't think his chances are all that good, but if that helps motivate him, it's fine with me.