Terry Bevington reacted with surprise to the weekend clash between Frank Thomas and White Sox manager Jerry Manuel. Bevington said Thomas was always the least of his concerns when he was in Manuel’s shoes.
“I’ve never had any trouble with Frank Thomas,” Bevington said. “I can’t say anything about the argument because I wasn’t there.”
Bevington, now Toronto’s third-base coach, managed the White Sox from June 2, 1995, through the ’97 season. He was a Sox coach when Thomas won American League MVP awards in 1993 and ’94, and Thomas continued that type of production after Bevington replaced Gene Lamont as manager. Thomas won the batting title in ’97, but it wasn’t enough to keep Bevington from being fired after the season.
Unlike Manuel, Bevington was never openly critical of Thomas. He did ask him to make some changes and Thomas responded.
“When I took over, he wasn’t taking infield,” Bevington said. “I asked him to take infield, and he did it. . . . I asked him to move from third to cleanup [for a short stretch in ’97] and he did it.”
Bevington said Thomas was always a full participant in workouts. He even asked for extra work on his fielding in spring training.
“He wanted to do his extra fielding work on a back field with one of our coaches,” Bevington said. “He did take part in regular drills–[pitchers’ fielding practice] and everything. He was part of the team.”
Manuel questioned Thomas’ willingness to play through injuries at times last year. This distrust led to Saturday’s confrontation. It began after Thomas asked to be excused from a shuttle drill, citing concern about the reconstructed little toe in his right foot.
Under Bevington, Thomas led the AL in games played in ’95 but was on the disabled list in ’96 and ’97. His injuries did not cause friction between player and manager.
“I have no problem with Frank Thomas,” Bevington said.
