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I like Frank Thomas, like him a lot. I was a teenager who devoured baseball when he hit the scene and, even though he never played a game for my team, I always dug him. His numbers, his size and his absolutely perfect nickname added up to make him one of my favorite players. My admiration for him only grew as he fought off injuries to return to productivity and went even higher when he stepped up to speak out against steroids and to the Mitchell Report by his own volition. So he's a stand-up guy and a fantastic hitter but he isn't a 2008 All-Star.

I say that in response to a very well argued piece on Big League Stew today by Kevin Kaduk. He brings up the Big Hurt's long absence from the game, 1997 was his last trip, and his place in the firmament of baseball's great hitters but focuses the argument on rewarding him for being the rare voice against steroids in baseball.

Yes, Frank had a phenomenal career - and it's possible it could continue past '08 - but this campaign is motivated by more than just Thomas' impressive numbers. It's also rooted in the fact that over the past few years, we've scolded suspected star after suspected star for possible steroid use. Yet we've done absolutely nothing to reward and applaud the players who have actually spoken out against it.

Those players absolutely should be applauded, I just think the onus is on another group.

The Baseball Writers Association of America has drawn a line in the sand and told Mark McGwire he cannot pass. Your view on their rationale may vary but the best way for reward Thomas for doing the right thing is to assure that he gets into Cooperstown on the first ballot. If players like McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Barry Bonds are forced to wait their turn and watch from afar while Thomas gives his speech it will mean much more than one All-Star game that, quite frankly, he doesn't deserve to be part of.

The Hall of Fame is where you celebrate the totality of a man's career, the All-Star Game is where you celebrate a few months of fine baseball. I don't see how taking a spot away from a deserving player in 2008 honors Thomas more than it punishes another player.

The saving grace to this is that, outside of Hideki Matsui, no DH on the ballot is sniffing an All-Star level of performance. That may make Thomas a more paletteable choice but I'm for the Midsummer Classic featuring baseball's best, something Thomas hasn't been this season.