Let me start off by saying Frank Thomas is my favorite baseball player. But man, he seems to have no clue how the media works. For example, when asked to compare your chances to win comeback player of the year compared Jim Thome, the following answers are acceptable:
"I don't care about individual awards, I'm just worried about helping my team get to the playoffs"
or
"We're both having great years and it's an honor to be considered".
It's not that hard. Here is what Thome had to say about Frank:
"I'm happy for him. He battled an injury, not knowing what was going to happen. We both have had really nice years."
These statements might not be true, and they are certainly cliches, but they are still the proper way to answer such a question. But what does the Big Hurt say?
"I know Comeback Player of the Year comes down to numbers, but personally, I think I was more injured than any ballplayer in America. I was written off. I don't think [Thome] was ever written off. Everybody thought I was done . . . . [Thome] has had an excellent year. I think the past four months my year has been more incredible."
Frank, its a stupid award and it's beneath you to campaign for it. For once, try and say the right thing, even if you don't mean it.
By the way, I take it that Rich Lederer is a big Big Hurt fan as he had an extensive essay on Frank's career on his old blog a few years back and had another nice post on Frank a couple of weeks ago at the Baseball Analysts.