"Big Hurt" to work Cubs-White Sox games for CSN
Posted by Ed Sherman 6/9/2009 on Chicago Business

Frank Thomas is coming back to Chicago.

Not as a hitter, although the White Sox could use every bit of help they can get these days. Rather, "The Big Hurt" will return as a special analyst for the upcoming White Sox-Cubs games.

Mr. Thomas will work the extended pre-game and post-game reports for Comcast Sports Net's coverage of 5 of the 6 games; Fox has the Saturday afternoon games at U.S. Cellular Field.

A representative for Mr. Thomas recently contacted Charlie Schumacher, CSN's senior news director, saying that the former Sox slugger was interested in doing some work for the network. The Crosstown series was a natural starting point. Mr. Thomas will work live from the ballpark for the pregame shows and either at the ballpark or in studio for the post-game shows.

It remains to be seen if Mr. Thomas will do more work for CSN beyond the Cub-Sox games. Bill Melton has been a fixture as CSN's studio analyst for the Sox.

This isn't Mr. Thomas' first plunge into being an analyst. Previously, he worked in the studio for TNT's coverage of the 2007 playoffs.

He didn't receive glowing reviews, as he looked stiff and uncertain. To be fair to Mr. Thomas, most active players (he still was with Toronto) often struggle when they get thrown so quickly on the big stage.

It should be different for Mr. Thomas at CSN. This is the town where he became a huge star. That should provide him with more a comfort zone, allowing his true personality to emerge. Remember Mr. Thomas always has been an engaging interview.

Also, the move signals Mr. Thomas' re-entry into the White Sox orbit. Let us not forget Mr. Thomas ugly departure from the team after 2005. The war of words prompted General Manager Kenny Williams to launch one of the all-time tirades against him.

The situation has cooled since then. When Mr. Thomas visited Chicago in an opponent's uniform, the Sox gave him a nice scoreboard tribute.

With the Sox being a part owner of CSN, the team had to sign off on Mr. Thomas coming in as a special analyst. It is an important step in what will eventually see the team retiring No. 35 and erecting a statue in his honor.

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You know anyone can say what's wrong, That don't make it right to me. http://www.cuil.com

I have no idea how " The Big Hurt " will do as talkinghead. However I would like to say, as a long time Sox fan, that watching Frank at the plate, especially in his first seven years or so was an absolute trip. I have never understood what happened to his approach at the dish in the second half of his career. If someone could tell me exactly what happened, I'd like to hear it. Anyway, back to the story of Frank's new endeavor. I want to say, GOOD LUCK, BIG HURT and WELCOME BACK !!!!!!!!!!!!

Basically, teams started to pound Frank inside more and more and the umpires started calling it for strikes whereas in the first 7 yrs they didn't. This forced Frank to be a pull hitter the last few yrs and it cut down on his awesome ability to spray the ball anywhere and everywhere he wanted. David Cone made a reference about how ridiculously small Frank's strike zone was in the early yrs, someone must have alerted the umps.

For the TV show, I don't remember Frank's stint on TNT so it'll be interesting to get his take on things.

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To win without risk is to triumph without glory

Good God ... why?!?!?

Pound for pound, ex-players tend to make very shitty tv people ... even if they are blessed with a metric shitload of knowledge and know-how, it's usually their presentation and communication skills that tend to, in a word, blow - and in two words, blow dogs.

He was brought in on the gamble of a quick ratings boost ('hey, Frank's gonna be on TV - let's check him out') hoping there are long-term gains. Not that there's anything inherently wrong with it, but it's just been done to bloody death.

Has more of a Vince Russo one-shot than a long-term plan, at least to my tastes.

(Let the record show - I'm an old school 'Love the Cubs' - 'Hate the White Sox' guy, but Frank is owed a huge apology from MLB and he should be universally thanked by all fans for his (assumed) not getting involved in taking the gas and thus losing out on $ and at least one MVP award. And then made fun of mercilessly for his grand-mol-retard record-label idea.)

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George