Top 106 Baseball Player: #67 - Frank Thomas

Frank Thomas

Frank Thomas, nicknamed "the Big Hurt," was a superstar as soon as he reached the Major Leagues, and he was historically good in his first 7 seasons, and had a few more very good seasons over the following decade.

Thomas reached the Majors in 1990 at age 22, and hit .330 over the course of 60 games. In his first full season, he led the league in walks, which he would do 4 times in his first 5 full seasons, and he finished #3 in the MVP voting, the first of 7 straight years and 9 overall that he would be in the top 10.

He was the best all-around batter in the AL in 1992, the first of 5 times he would do this, leading the league in walks and doubles while batting .323 with 115 RBI. In 1993, his numbers dropped in almost every category, except for home runs and RBI's, and was awarded the AL MVP after becoming just the 5th player ever (the others are Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, and Ted Williams) to have 100 runs, RBI's, and walks, along with 20 home runs and a .300 average in three straight seasons.

The 1994 season was cut short by the strike, but he still managed to keep that streak alive, reaching 101 RBI's and leading the league in runs and walks on his way to a repeat MVP award. He continued at that torrid pace through 1997, when he even led the league in batting average, making it 7 straight seasons with those stats, breaking Ted Williams' record of 6 in a row. It's especially amazing considering that the other 4 who had done it at least 3 straight times had done it at least 50 years earlier, and no one has done it since.

After a couple of down years, he rebounded at full strength in 2000, winning the Comeback Player of the Year Award after hitting those markers again, but he would never bat .300 again and would only play 4 more full seasons, though he would remain in the league until 2008.

Thomas did not experience much playoff success in his career, appearing in the playoffs only 3 times in his career, and only winning a series for the first time in 2006, when he was playing for Oakland. He was very good in his first playoff appearance, batting .353 and walking 10 times in a 6-game loss to Toronto in 1993. He did earn a World Series ring in 2005, but he didn't play due to injury.

Thomas finished his career with 521 homers, #20 all time, and is also #24 in RBI's, #10 in walks, and #4 in sacrifice flies. He was the best player in the AL for half of the 1990's, and was one of the only stars of that era to never come under suspicion of using PED's, and he was always a big proponent of random drug testing. His all-around greatness can't be ignored, so he has to be included on this list of the all-time greats.