Frank Thomas

Notable Sports Figures
Frank Thomas
he often participated in sports at the local Boys Club,
playing baseball, basketball and football. He was good
enough that they soon moved him up to play organized
sports with kids two to three years his senior. Thomas
was an imposing presence, large (some say chubby),
and his reputation with a bat even then caused kids to
panic. They’d “throw the ball behind him, over the
backstop, all over the place,” his dad recalled in a
Sports Illustrated article. “They’d do anything to avoid
pitching to him.”
Not immune to pain, however, Thomas saw his twoyear-old
sister Pamela grow sick and die of leukemia
when he was still a young boy. After he turned professional,
he would establish the Frank Thomas Foundation,
in 1993, to raise money to find a cure for the disease. The
suddenness of his sister’s death frightened Thomas, who,
on Thanksgiving Day in 1977 vowed that, in Pamela’s
honor, he would become a professional baseball player.
Graduating Disappointment
While at high school in Columbus, Thomas honed his
jump shot in basketball, excelled as a tight end on the
football field (also kicking extra points and making
every one), and led the baseball team to a state title two
years in a row. His senior year Thomas batted .440 and
was voted onto the all-state team.
Despite his power and prowess in baseball, however,
when the 1986 draft was over, 888 players from high
Chronology
Thomas
1968 Born May 27, in Columbus, Georgia
1977 Convinces father to let him play football in Pop Warner league
(a league for twelve-year-olds)
1977 Younger sister Pam (two years old) dies of Leukemia
1986 Graduates High School and isn’t drafted by any major league
team
1986 Accepts scholarship to play football at Auburn
1987 Plays baseball for the U.S. Pan American Team and plays in
Pan Am Games
1989 White Sox draft Frank Thomas with the 7th pick in the draft
1990 Called up to the Majors after spending a short time in the minors
1992 Crushes home run more than 450 feet
1992 Marries Elise Silver, daughter of a minor league baseball team
owner. Frank and Elise will have two children
1993 Voted into his first All-Star spot
1993 Starts the Frank Thomas Charitable Foundation, which
contributes to Leukemia Society of America
1994 Hits .452 in May, with twelve home runs; wins second straight
American League MVP
1994 Major League Baseball season ends early on players strike,
cutting short Thomas’ phenomenal season
1996 Becomes the White Sox career home run leader
1997 Reaches base fifteen straight times, one short of major league
record
2001 Injured during game against Mariners on April 27 and out for
rest of season
2002 Renegotiates contract with White Sox after testy period in
which it looked like Thomas might move to another team
schools and colleges from around the country had been
drafted—but not Thomas. He was devastated, claiming
later on that he would have played anywhere, just to be
able to get on the diamond. But he also realized later that
it was one of the better things to happen to him, forcing
him into college. He accepted a football scholarship to
Auburn, a perennial collegiate powerhouse, where the
time spent in the weight room increased his power, and
the time spent learning the game at the college level
helped turn him into “The Big Hurt” he is today.
Moving On Up
Thomas would leave the Auburn football team after
only one season in order to concentrate on baseball. By
his senior year (1989) he was voted the Southeastern
Conference MVP in baseball, leaving the school with
forty-nine career homers, a new record.
After a brief and dominating stint in the Chicago
White Sox minor league system, Frank Thomas was finally
called up to the big leagues on August 2, 1990. In
those last few months of the season he would start at
first base and bat .330, with 31 Runs Batted In (RBI), as
well as hitting seven home runs.
Throughout the 1990s Thomas would exemplify a
true power hitter, putting up impressive numbers year in
and year out. In his first full season with the White Sox,
he batted .318 and hit thirty-two home runs, with 109
RBIs. Though he was left out of the All-Star lineup that
season, he finished third in MVP voting. In fact, he was
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