Frank Thomas is a known former American designated hitter and first baseman in Major League Baseball who is also known for his nickname „The Big Hurt“.
The nickname had a reason because he had a very strong home run which was interesting because he is of very big stature.
He played for 3 teams and spent his last 3 years with the Chicago White Sox.
He was also named as the AL’s Most Valuable Player in 1993. He was also the first White Sox player to hit 40 home runs.
Thomas was also one of the few major baseball stars who weren’t under suspicion for using enhancing drugs in the controversies from the 1990s.
He is strongly against it because he feels that sport has to be clean and fair.
Early years
He was born on May 27th in 1968 in Columbus in Georgia by the name Frank Edward Thomas Jr. He went to Columbus High School where he played both baseball and football.
After high school, he wanted to get a contract to play professionally, but in the 1986’s draft, he wasn’t picked.
In Autumn of 1986, Thomas accepted a football scholarship from Auburn University. Although he wasn’t there for baseball he soon found himself playing it and was recognized by the coach. He was a great asset to their team.
Although he injured himself and couldn’t play football anymore, the school decided to keep funding him and he started focusing on baseball more. By the end of his junior season, he hit 19 home runs and 19 doubles. He also batted .403.
At the end of his college career, Thomas had 49 home runs which were a school record.
In May 2011 he got into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
Career development
Thomas was picked by the Chicago White Sox in Junes 1989 Major League Baseball draft. Ahae played his first game on August 2nd in 1990 against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Thomas hit his first home run in a professional career on August 28th against the Minnesota Twins.
In 1991 Thomas got the third place in MVP voting and got his first Silver Slugger Award. He won that award three more times in the future.
Thomas joined one-fourth of Hall of Famers, with Lou Gehrig, Ted Wiliams, Babe Ruth, and Jimmie Foxx as one of the only baseball players who got to .300, 200 homers and over a hundred RBI, runs and walks in three seasons combined.
He got the AL Most Valuable Player award. It was the first time a White Sox player has received one since 1972 when Dick Allen got it.
In 1994 Thomas had an amazing season and again received his MVP award. The only two baseball players in the major leagues that got MVP awards for consecutive years were Alber Pujols and Jimmie Foxx which only shows the immense talent Thomas has.
In 1994 the season was shorter due to the strike which wasn’t good for Thomas because he wanted to achieve a huge honor: the Triple Crown. He was the only player who was first in a season in runs batted in, average and home runs.
Thomas continued to have a significant role in his team and stayed on his game through the years.
Thomas was in top 10 of the MVP voting every year from 1991 to 1997. In 1997 he even finished third.
After that, he lay low for some time due to injuries, but in 2000 returned to the light when he hit .328 and had a personal record of 43 homers and 143 runs. That season he finished second on the MVP voting. The player on the first place was Jason Giambi of the Oakland Athletics.
The same year Thomas won the award as the AL Comeback Player of the Year.
The year 2001 was really hard for Thomas. His father died and with that, he also had to do a serious surgery after he realized that he had a triceps tear in his right arm.
He got better eventually but wasn’t as good in his 2002 season. He hit his lowest .252 average. Although his hits weren’t the best he was still good in drive in runs.
His 2003 season was alright. He was in the leagues top 10 in walks, slugging average, extra-base hits and so on.
In 2005, He got injured again but continued to perform excellently.
That year, Ozzie Guillen led his team, the White Sox to a World Series victory. It was their first in 88 years. Unfortunately, due to his injury, Thomas didn’t participate much in this victory.
However, the team decided to honor him during Game 1 of the Division Series which was against the Boston Red Sox. He was chosen to throw out the first pitch. It was very emotional for him. For that season, he earned a World Series ring because of his efforts for the team.
In 2005 the White Sox released Thomas. He was disappointed because he stated that Jerry Reinsdorf didn’t call him to tell him he’s not coming back to play.
On January 26th, 2006 Thomas signed a deal for one year with the Oakland Athletics for half a million dollar. He was their everyday DH.
Thomas got his fame back playing for the Athletics, he was fifth in the American league with his 39 home runs and eight with 111 RBI.
In 2006 he finished second on the AL Comeback Player of the Year Award, right after Jim Thome. Although he didn’t win that award, he was given the award for a Comeback Player. That season he also finished the on MVP award.
On November 16th in 2006 Thomas signed a contract with the Toronto Blue Jays for a period of two years and $18 million.
In 2007 he hit his 496. career home run, and broke the record by Edgar Martinez.
On June 28th in 2007 Thomas hit his 500th home run and became the 21st player to hit as high of a number.
In 2007 he hit 3 home runs for his team and they won over the Red Sox with a score 6-1. That was the second time he ever hit three home runs in one game.
In 2008 Thomas stated how confident he is in his team for the upcoming season. On April 5th he hit his first home run of this season against the Red Sox. He was again amazing in the next game but John Gibbson benched him before the game with the Detroit Tigers. Thomas was frustrated about this.
Thomas was released from his team, the Blue Jays on April 20th in 2008. After that, he returned to the Athletics. He had his final game for them on August 29th.
After that, he played for Oakland and had five more runs till the end of it.
On October 31st in 2008, he became a free agent.
On February 12th in 2010, he signed a one-day contract with the White Sox. The White Sox announced his retirement on August 29th the same year.
Thomas is the only payer in the major league who got seven in a row season with .3000 average and minimum of 100 walks, 100 runs, 20 home runs and 100 runs batted in.
Only 5 players in the history have more home runs and higher batting average than Thomas and they are Jimmie Foxx, Manny Ramirez, Hank Aaron, Baby Ruth, and Willie Mays.
He publically spoke about his unsatisfaction towards the people choosing the members of Baseball Hall of Fame because they have elected Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez in the class although they were all caught in using performance-enhancing drugs.
He claims that they would never become extraordinary players if they weren’t using drugs.
He stated that you can not punish some (Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens, for example) and just let the rest of the guys get in like they weren’t also suspected users.
He feels that they should let all the guys in and make a special wing for them or clean all the names in the Hall of Fame so every user was out.
Personal life
Frank Thomas hasn’t always been in a happy relationship but none of them were not very bad.
In 1992 he got married to Elise Silver who is the niece of Maury Silver, one of the most notable pioneers of baseball.
They have three amazing children together named Frank Thomas III, Sloan Thomas, and Sydney Thomas.
They got divorced in 2001 because of marital problems and often fighting.
Today he is married to Megan Thomas and the date of their marriage is not revealed. They had a very private wedding ceremony and didn’t share any information regarding it.
They have two kids together and they share great love to one another. They can be often seen on sporting events of his children.
He posts a lot of their photos on his Instagram account and is very proud of them all.
Quick summary
Full name: Frank Edwards Thomas Jr
Date of birth: May 27, 1968
Birthplace: Columbus, Georgia, United States
Age: 51
Profession: former baseball player
Height: 1,96 m
Weight: 125 kgs
Net Worth: $60 million