Frank Thomas

He said, I want to play baseball only.

So –

I'm a hair-up coach, but I understand.

Staying healthy is everything.

If you can stay healthy on the field with great, incredible talent, you can do a lot of great things in this game.

Well, you start chewing Tylenol like it's Tic Tacs and Skittles, you know what I mean?

But bottom line is, my first seven years, I didn't miss many games at all.

You know, I was playing 161, 162 consistently, and it takes a toll on your body, and that's how injuries happen.

But I always felt I needed to be on the field.

I don't care if I'm making a huge impact that day, but I'm taking pressure off the guys around me, and we got a chance to win baseball games.

I was in a lot of pain.

I played many hurt days on the baseball field.

But that comes with football.

So my mentality was if I got a job the first, but I'm in that lineup, it helps this team win.

So it helped, and it helped set a culture in our locker room that the biggest guy on the team who's doing the most damage normally is playing hurt.

Other guys can't complain about themselves being hurt.