Not so long ago in the grand scheme of things, we didn’t hear too much about steroids in baseball.
Sure there were a few rumblings and a Brady Anderson 50-homer season on occasion, but by and large we could probably say the game was relatively pure.
During that era before the storm – early to mid-90s – few hitters were able to do on their own what drugs allowed guys like Anderson to accomplish.
One who did, however, was just honored by the Chicago White Sox in a fitting way.
Frank Thomas, the Big Hurt, stepped away two years ago with a career .301 batting average, 521 home runs and 1,704 RBI.
He was truly, along with Ken Griffey Jr., the most feared hitter in baseball.
Back to being honored by the White Sox, what the team did before its game with the New York Yankees was show a montage of his highlights and retired the No. 35 forever.
Thomas was shown during the highlights humbly shedding a few tears, and while I didn’t cry, it certainly made me nostalgic for those days when he played.
Thankfully, in a few more years Cooperstown will call and the Big Hurt will again be honored, this time in the hall of fame and once again we will all be reminded about how great a ballplayer he really was.
And, more importantly, we’ll all remember he did it the right way.
