Associated Press
After spending six days away from the Chicago White Sox complaining his $9.9 million salary was too low, Frank Thomas returned yesterday and said his boycott wasn’t about the money.
"I did look like a poster boy for greed over the weekend, but that is not the case," Thomas said after arriving to camp in Tucson, Ariz. "I’ve never been greedy. I’ve had a couple of opportunities to be the highest-paid player in this game, and I didn’t want to be there."
Thomas acknowledged that fans, whose favor he regained by hitting .328 last year with 43 homers and 143 runs batted in, probably would turn on him.
"I extend my apologies to those who were affected by my absence," he said. "It was a big distraction. I do want to apologize to my teammates and all Chicago White Sox fans."
Thomas, who returned on the mandatory reporting date specified by baseball’s collective bargaining agreement, is due $9,927,000 in each of the next six seasons, but only this year is really guaranteed.
FINAL FAREWELL
 "Captain" remembered: Eddie Mathews was remembered yesterday by former teammate Johnny Logan as his "fighting partner."
Logan, former Milwaukee Braves All-Star, attended the private graveside service for the Hall of Famer at the Santa Barbara (Calif.) Cemetery. Mathews died Feb. 18 at age 69.
"He was my battler," said Logan, a teammate of Mathews’ in Boston and Milwaukee from 1951 to 1961. "I would start the fights; he would finish them. Eddie was a good, silent man in the clubhouse. Everybody respected him."
Darrell Evans, an All-Star first baseman with Atlanta in the 1970s, spent much of his career emulating Mathews.
"I think I still have some of the bruises from balls he hit at my chest," said Evans. "He took the fear out of playing baseball. He taught me how to be a leader."
Said Tommy Ferguson, who was the Boston equipment manager and also was Mathews’ first roommate when the player was a rookie: "Baseball has lost many, many Hall of Famers. But they got their captain today."
Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1978, Mathews hit 512 home runs, tied for 14th on the career list. He played 17 years in the major Leagues and managed the Atlanta Braves from 1972-74.
RED SOX
Pitcher on comeback trail: Bret Saberhagen took another step in his latest comeback yesterday, throwing off a mound for the first time in six months.
"He was outstanding from the first pitch to the last," Boston pitching coach Joe Kerrigan said.
Shoulder problems forced Saberhagen to sit out the entire 1996 season with Colorado and the 2000 major league season with Boston. But in 1998 he was 15-8 with a 3.96 ERA and in 1999 he was 10-6 with a 2.95 ERA, both with the Red Sox.
Saberhagen, 36, won the AL Cy Young Award with Kansas City in 1985 and 1989.
ORIOLES
Slugger’s future cloudy: Albert Belle won’t be in the team’s lineup for the spring opener against St. Louis because of a sore hip that has put his future with the team in doubt.
While Belle will miss the road trip to Jupiter, Fla., he is scheduled to start in right field the next day against Minnesota at Fort Lauderdale.
Belle, who hit .281 with 23 homers and 103 RBIs in 141 games last season, has been used in right field for all three intrasquad games, with mixed results. He has hit the ball with authority, but continues to move poorly in the outfield and on the basepaths.
INDIANS
Gold Glove shortstop extends: Omar Vizquel, the perennial Gold Glove shortstop, has agreed to terms on a $15 million, two-year contract extension, a baseball source told the AP on the condition he not be identified.
Vizquel had been signed through 2002 at $3 million per season. The extension includes a mutual option for 2005.
[back to top] |
