Frank Thomas and Tom Glavine Retire…As Almost The Same Player

Baseball is such a stat heavy sport that it’s completely impossible to correlate a hitter who played his entire career in the American League with a pitcher who played his entire career in the National League. But, if history has anything to say about it, aren’t Frank Thomas and Tom Glavine retiring as incredibly similar ballplayers?↵

↵↵Seamheads might kill me on this, but their careers just seem eerily similar. Glavine played in 22 seasons and the bulk of that storied career came with one franchise. Thomas played 19 years, with the bulk of his career coming with one team. Glavine won his first Cy Young award in his fourth full season, while Thomas won his first MVP in his fourth season as well. Both ended their careers with two major awards on the mantle, and they both finished in the top five – in Cy Young voting for Glavine and MVP voting for Thomas – five times in their careers.↵

↵↵Add in the fact that both players are sure-fire Hall of Famers, and played their entire careers during the steroid era without so much as a hint of impropriety. In fact, if you Google “Frank Thomas steroids” all you come up with are questions like “if Frank Thomas used steroids, do you think he’d have 800 home runs” and links to stories like this, from a 2006 story at SFGate.com:↵

↵↵⇥Does Thomas, 37, wonder where his accomplishments would stand had baseball’s playing field been even? He was one of the most feared hitters in the game during the 1990s, but he was still compared for years with others who might have had a chemical edge.↵⇥↵⇥“I’m not really mad about it, but I do feel I was overshadowed by some of those guys,” Thomas said. “And I was penalized in contract situations because of (those comparisons) -- I had a diminished-skills clause written in after I hit 29 home runs and drove in 92 RBIs (in 2002), and I think those (inflated numbers by steroid users) are partly to blame.”↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥Thomas has been a vocal enough opponent of steroids that he was asked to participate in the Congressional session on steroids last spring. He appeared via video and was an afterthought in those proceedings. The questioning instead focused on those suspected of cheating.↵⇥

↵↵If you Google “Tom Glavine steroids” your browser crashes from laughing so hard.↵

↵↵Thomas was just out of options. He left Chicago after the 2006 season, somewhat acrimoniously in fact, before signing with Oakland and having his most productive season in more than five years. He was solid for Toronto in 2007 before flaming out in 2008, splitting time between the Jays and A’s in an injury-riddled campaign. Thomas, like Glavine, tried to stay in the game in 2009, but couldn’t find any takers before finally calling it quits this week.↵

↵↵⇥“I still could play right now, but with this body and I’m 41,” said Thomas. “I can walk away and say I was just as good at the end as I was at the beginning, probably better because I was much smarter.↵⇥↵⇥“It’s just one of those things that you can’t play forever. I’ve had time to focus on what my future would be over the last year and a half and I have some interesting things going on. I’m doing well.”↵⇥

↵↵In the last comparison of the two, both may be heading into the next phase of their careers in broadcasting. Glavine has been hired to serve as a special assistant to team president John Schuerholz, but part of his responsibilities will also include work with the Braves broadcast team. Thomas did some work for Comcast last season during the “Crosstown Showdown” and may see a move to either the booth, or perhaps studio work, in the future.↵↵It’s only fitting the two will end up in Cooperstown together.↵

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