Time for Reinsdorf to bring home Big Frank

There probably hasn't been a franchise owner in the last couple of decades who has made a more concerted effort at bringing home the fan favorites than Jerry Reinsdorf.

He hasn't just made it a hobby. Reinsdorf has made it an organizational mandate.

He has included ex-players in the front office and on the field.

He has put them in the dugout and placed them on the coaching staff.

He has reserved spots in the broadcast booth and held jobs open for them in the minors.

Reinsdorf has buried hatchets, overturned laws, and repatriated the exiled.

With precious few exceptions, Reinsdorf has forgiven nearly everyone with whom he ever traded harsh words, and so it's time he got a kind word to Frank Thomas with the following message: come home.

No, no one's forgetting all the bridges Thomas has burned. Let's be honest, the guy drops a lit match on wood every time he sets foot on the other side.

True, he has said and done as many dumb things as just about any superstar the White Sox have ever had wear the uniform.

And, yes, the only time he opened his mouth here between meals was to snack, and it was usually on his own foot.

But all that said, he might just be the best right-handed hitter in the history of baseball, at least among those who didn't get caught using boosters, and he's almost certainly the best hitter in the history of the franchise.

So it's time to bring him home.

Bring him home and give him a day.

Bring him home and retire his number, and let him end his career wearing the black and white.

If it can't be done before September, that's understandable, so bring him home when the rosters expand, let him hit one more home run on the South Side, and let the fans say goodbye to him in proper fashion.

This wouldn't be possible if Thomas, at any point, had criticized Ozzie Guillen, but Thomas was very careful - and wise - never to knock the volatile Sox manager, who has so much ammunition to use against Thomas that the fireworks show would have shocked and awed even those accustomed to verbal bombs bursting in South Side air.

But he didn't. After GM Ken Williams went out of his way to praise Thomas when the Sox let him go following the World Series, Thomas waited a few months and then let fly with some arrows at Reinsdorf and Williams - and it was Williams who responded with a barrage against Thomas.

It was foolish of Frank, especially if ever it was revealed the number of times Reinsdorf bailed Thomas out of a jam or helped him survive one crisis or another.

And for that reason Williams went after Thomas.

Had Thomas criticized only Williams, the GM might have laughed at how pathetic it was, but when Thomas criticized Reinsdorf, Williams could not forgive the audacity or the irony.

But that was more than three years ago, and enough time has passed that perhaps those in the organization with hard feelings could see beyond it and remember what Thomas means to the history of the club.

And despite all he has said, what he has done on the field is what ultimately matters to the fans, and they deserve an opportunity for that feel-good ending to a brilliant career.

Thomas is seen as one of the clean sluggers in an era of filth, and his chances for the Hall of Fame improve every time one of the others goes up in flames.

He's probably headed for Cooperstown, and when he does he will absolutely be wearing the cap of the club that scouted him, drafted him, promoted him, and was carried by him for most of his 16 years here.

Rather than wait until then to patch things up, when it's too late for him to walk to the plate again as an active player, why not do it this summer?

It will cost the Sox nothing, and if nothing else they can bank on a huge day at the box office when they honor Thomas with his own day.

There's a reason no one's worn No. 35 since Thomas left, and it's both out of respect and because they know that someday it's going to be taken out of circulation as Thomas stands at home plate and acknowledges a lengthy standing ovation.

And let's face it, if there's no bronze sculpture of Thomas, they might as well remove the others from the concourse.

It's going to happen.

It's just a question of when.

So why not this summer?