Happy Birthday: Frank Thomas

Apr 1, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago White Sox veteran Frank Thomas prior to a game against the Kansas City Royals at US Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

All-time Chicago White Sox great and soon to be enshrined Hall of Famer Frank Thomas is celebrating his 46th birthday today.

Thomas played for the White Sox from 1990-2005, as he was a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee, receiving 83.7-percent of the vote, becoming the first White Sox player to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

In his 16 years with the White Sox, Thomas, played in 1,959 games, finishing with 2,136 hits and 448 home runs with the “Good Guys.”

The two-time Most Valuable Player also has 1,465 RBIs with the White Sox and batted .307 during his tenure in Chicago, with an on-base percentage of .427.

He won his two MVPs in 1993 and 1994, and was second in the voting in 2000. He finished in the Top Five of MVP voting six times in his career.

Thomas, who was on the 2005 World Series champion White Sox club,  played the final three seasons of his career with the Oakland Athletics and the Toronto Blue Jays, where he finished his 19-year MLB career with a .301 batting average with 521 career home runs.

From 1991-98 he finished each season with at-least 101 RBIs, in 11 of his 19 seasons he has over 100 RBIs in a season.

Thomas debuted in the Majors on Aug. 2, 1990 and played in his final game on Aug. 29, 2008 at the age of 40.

He was drafted seventh overall in the 1989 MLB First-Year Amateur Draft.

Thomas is my all-time favorite Chicago White Sox player, and when I was a kid, he was the reason I still am a fan of the White Sox.

Let us know at Southside Showdown you favorite “Frank Thomas Moment” as a fan of the White Sox and wish “The Big Hurt” a Happy Birthday!

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