Only a short time left to do some DD on this guy. I did some digging and Wow! We got a great player on the team!
Quote:Frank "The Big Hurt" Thomas , pictured with his "rebar bat" below, was one of the most dominant players of the 1990s who was appropriately nicknamed by former player turned broadcaster Ken Harrelson in 1992. Join Baseball Almanac as we take a look at some numbers of interest as they relate to one of the most dominant designated hitters / first baseman in Major League history:
Quote:1 - Frank Thomas was the first player in Major League history to win two Silver Slugger Awards each at two different positions (1993–94 at first base; 1991 & 2000 as designated hitter). When The Big Hurt retired, he was ranked first in home runs by a designated hitter with 269, a mark since broken by David Ortiz.
4 - Frank Thomas was a 4-time American League Silver Slugger Award winner (1991/DH, 1993/1B, 1994/1B & 2000/DH). A 4-time American League on-base percentage leader (1991, 1992, 1994 & 1997). A 4-time American League on-base plus slugging leader (1991, 1992, 1994 & 1997). And a 4-time American League bases on balls leader (1991, 1992, 1994 & 1995).
5 - Frank Thomas finished his career a member of the 500 Home Runs Club, ending with 521 and a .301 batting average. There are only five other players in history who have both hit more home runs and have a higher career batting average than The Big Hurt: Hank Aaron, Jimmie Foxx, Willie Mays, Manny Ramirez, and Babe Ruth.
7 - Frank Thomas had seven consecutive seasons with a .300 batting average and at least 100 walks, 100 runs, 100 runs batted in, and 20 home runs (from 1991 to 1997)! The only other player to have more than five? Ted Williams, with six.
21 - Frank Thomas was the twenty-first player in Major League Baseball history to hit at least 500 home runs, after he hit a first-inning home run at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome on June 28, 2007.
29 - Frank Thomas was intentionally walked twenty-nine times in 1995, tying the American League record for Most Intentional Bases on Balls in Season by a right-handed hitter set by Frank Howard twenty-five years earlier.
35 - Frank Thomas had his #35 retired by the Chicago White Sox on August 29, 2010. The following year, on July 31, the White Sox honored The Big Hurt with a life-size bronze statute on the outfield concourse of U.S. Cellular Field.
243 - Frank Thomas hit his two-hundred forty-third home run as a designated hitter on May 31, 2007, tying Edgar Martinez for the Major League lead. After a brief two-week slump, The Big Hurt went deep (while playing DH) versus Micah Bowie on June 17, 2007, setting a new all-time mark.
Quote:A true legend in Chicago, when Frank Thomas finished playing he held the all-time White Sox records for total bases (3,949), bases on balls (1,466), runs batted in (1,465), runs scored (1,327), extra base hits (906), home runs (448 / which were actually more than twice any other player in team history), doubles (447), slugging percentage (.568), and on-base percentage (.427).
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