Frank Thomas Inducted into the Hall of Fame what a Outstanding Career Congratulations!!!!! Job Well Done

Frank Thomas Inducted into the Hall of Fame

BHR HollyWood Reports.......Thomas was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia, and attended Columbus High School, where he was a standout in both football and baseball. As a Columbus High School sophomore he hit cleanup for a baseball team that won a state championship. As a senior he hit .440 for the baseball team, was named an All-State tight end with the football team, and played forward with the basketball team. He wanted desperately to win a contract to play professional baseball, but was not drafted in the 1986 amateur draft.

The Big Hurt

"I was shocked and sad," Thomas recalled in the Chicago Tribune. "I saw a lot of guys I played against get drafted, and I knew they couldn't do what I could do. But I've had people all my life saying you can't do this, you can't do that. It scars you. No matter how well I've done. People have misunderstood me for some reason. I was always one of the most competitive kids around."

In the autumn of 1986, Thomas accepted a scholarship to play football at Auburn University. His love of baseball drew him to the Auburn baseball team, where the coach immediately recognized his potential. "We loved him," Auburn baseball coach Hal Baird told Sports Illustrated. "He was fun to be around—always smiling, always bright-eyed." He was also a deadly hitter, posting a .359 batting average and leading the Tigers in runs batted in as a freshman. During the summer of 1987 he played for the U.S. Pan American Team, earning a spot on the final roster that would compete in the Pan American Games. The Games coincided with the beginning of football practice back at Auburn, so he left the Pan Am team and returned to college—only to be injured twice in early season football games.

Frank Thomas

Despite the injury that could have jeopardized his football scholarship, Auburn continued his funding and baseball became his sole sport. He won consideration for the U.S. National Team – preparing for the 1988 Summer Olympics – but he was cut from the final squad. By the end of his junior baseball season he had hit 19 home runs, 19 doubles, and batted .403 with a slugging percentage of .801. He earned Southeastern Conference MVP honors his senior year. Thomas concluded his college career with 49 home runs, a school record.

The Chicago White Sox selected Thomas with the seventh pick in the first round of the June 1989 Major League Baseball Draft.

Thomas is the only player in major league history to have seven consecutive seasons of a .300 average and at least 100 walks, 100 runs, 100 runs batted in, and 20 home runs (from 1991 to 1997).[8] The only other player to have more than five consecutive seasons accomplishing this feat was Ted Williams with six.[8] This accomplishment is even more remarkable considering that he played only 113 games in 1994, due to the strike. Thomas had less success defensively at first base during the early part of his career. To keep his bat in the lineup every day, he transitioned mid-career to designated hitter.

There are only five other players in history who have both hit more home runs and have a higher career batting average than Thomas
Hank Aaron, Jimmie Foxx, Babe Ruth, Manny Ramirez, and Willie Mays

Early years (1990–96)

Inducted into the Hall of Fame

Thomas made his major league debut on August 2, 1990 against the Milwaukee Brewers at County Stadium. He went hitless, going 0–4, but had an RBI on a fielder's choice which scored Iván Calderón as the White Sox won the game 4–3. On August 28, 1990, Thomas hit the first home run of his career in Minnesota, against the Twins (coincidentally, he would hit his 500th career home run at the Metrodome). He hit the home run off pitcher Gary Wayne in the top of the ninth as his team lost 12–6.

In his first full season, Thomas established himself as a multi-talented hitter, combining power with hitting for average, drawing walks, and driving in runs. In 1991, Thomas finished third in MVP voting with a .318 batting average, 32 home runs, 109 runs batted in as well as walking 138 times. He won the first of four Silver Slugger awards, and led the league in on-base percentage, something he would accomplish four times throughout his career.

 Outstanding Career Congratulations!!!!! Job Well Done 

In 1993, Thomas batted .317 with a club-record 41 homers, plus 128 RBI, 106 runs scored, and 112 walks. He joined a quartet of Hall-of-Famers (Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx and Ted Williams) as the only players in baseball history to eclipse .300 with more than 20 homers and more than 100 RBI, runs, and walks in three straight seasons.

 On the back of this historical offensive output, Thomas collected all 28 votes from baseball writers for a unanimous American League Most Valuable Player award, the first by a White Sox since Dick Allen in 1972, while leading the White Sox to their first AL West crown in 10 years. At the time, Bill James projected career statistics of 480 homers and a .311 lifetime average. Then manager Gene Lamont was laudatory of Thomas' skills. "I've only seen him two years now, but I'm convinced that there isn't a pitch he can't hit." White Sox announcer Ken Harrelson echoed the praise, "In my 30 years in the game, I've never seen anyone like Big Hurt (Thomas). In another 30 years, we may be talking about Frank Thomas in the same way we talk about Ted Williams."

In 1994, playing just 113 games due to a strike-shortened season, Thomas again put up huge offensive numbers recording 38 homers, 101 RBIs, batted .353, and led the league in runs scored (106), walks (109), and slugging percentage, at a whopping .729 slugging percentage. Thomas handily won his second consecutive Most Valuable Player award. Thomas is one of only three first basemen in history to win consecutive Most Valuable Player awards in the major leagues (Hall-of-Famer Jimmie Foxx, 1932–1933, and former St. Louis Cardinal Albert Pujols, 2008–2009, are the others).

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The 1994 shortened season was due to a players' strike, and perhaps no one felt the sting of the strike more than Thomas, who stood poised to achieve one of baseball's most prestigious honors: the Triple Crown. Not since 1967 had any player finished the regular season first in average, home runs, and runs batted in Thomas had recorded 32 home runs at the All-Star break, and was contending for the honor when the strike occurred. Pressed by the media to comment on his accomplishments—and his future—Thomas downplayed his own significance, telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "I'm not into being known as the best by fans or the media. I care how I'm perceived by my peers. I can settle for the label 'one of the best' because that means you're considered an elite player.

Thomas would continue putting up significant well-rounded offensive numbers, always placing in the top finishers in all major offensive categories, though rarely leading in any one stat. In 1995, he hit .308 with 40 homers and 111 RBI, and in 1996, he hit .349 with 40 home runs and 134 RBI, and became an All-Star for the fourth time, while finishing 8th in MVP voting.

Frank Thomas story goeson and on with great history so we must wait for ,Mr Thomas to write his Book.

I'm Big Blac this is your BHR HollyWood Report