Birth Date: June 11, 1929 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Position(s): Left Field and Infield

ML Debut: August 17, 1951

Final ML Game: October 2, 1966

Bat: Right

Throw: Right

Teams: Pittsburgh Pirates (1951-58), Cincinnati Reds (1959), Chicago Cubs (1960-61, 1966), Milwaukee Braves (1961, 1965), New York Mets (1962-64), Philadelphia Phillies (1964-65), and Houston Astros (1965).

Other Facts

• Studied for the Priesthood from 1941-1946

• Thomas boasted that he could catch any player’s throw – barehanded.  Many players, including Willie Mays have tried, and he was able to catch every one.

• Married to his wife Delores for over 55 years.  They have 8 children (four sons and four daughters)

 

Frank Joseph Thomas was born on June 11, 1929 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to parents Frank and Anna Thomas (his father had emigrated from Eastern Europe).  At an early age, he began to discover his love of baseball and was encouraged to pursue his dreams by his parents.  His father did not have an arm and the young Frank was taught the fundamentals of the game by uncle Mike.

 

Frank Thomas was a strapping 200 plus pound, 6 foot 3 slugger when he first came to play for his own home town team of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the summer of 1951, where he saw only a little bit of action. In 1952 he mostly played in the minors, and tore up the Southern Association by hitting .303 while leading the league with 112 runs scored, 35 Home Runs and 131 RBIs.  By 1953 he had learned the ropes and played his first full season.  With the departure of Ralph Kiner in June of that year, the pressure was on the young outfielder as the Hall of Famer’s replacement, and he did not disappoint, belting in 30 home runs that year.  In fact he kept on hitting the ball and 21 or more homers for the next nine years, with the lone exception of 1959 (when he did not play the full year).  He was also a formidable fielder and played all three outfield positions as well as various infield positions when needed by his team.

 

He played on the Pirates team through the end of the 1958 season, and was honored with three NL All-Star selections in 1954, 1955 and 1958.  In 1958 he was the starting third baseman and came through with one hit and a walk in three at bats. In January of 1959 the Pirates traded Thomas along with Whammy Douglas, Johnny Powers and Jim Pendleton to the Cincinnati Reds for Smoky Burgess, Harvey Haddix and Don Hoak.  Although the trade dropped the Pirates from second to fourth place in 1959, Burgess, Haddix and Hoak were big reasons for their championship year in 1960.

 

He only played in 108 games in 1959 for the Reds while batting a dismal .225 and was shipped off to the Cubs in a 3-for-1 trade in December of that year for Lee Walls, Lou Jackson and Bill Henry (who was an All-Star the following year). Thomas’ time in Chicago was also fairly short lived and he was traded to the Milwaukee Braves in May 1961 for Mel Raoch.  Although Thomas hit .284 with 25 Home Runs in 124 games, he was traded once again in November 1961.  He was now sent over to New York to play with their start up Mets with a player to be named later (Gus Bell) for cash and a Brave’s player to be named later (Rick Herrscher).  Thomas was the only real offensive star on a team that finished the year 40-120, by hitting .266 with 34 Home Runs and 94 RBIs on a team that hit .244 with a total of 139 Home Runs and 573 RBIs.  His 34 Home Runs remained a team single season record for thirteen years until a young slugger named Dave Kingman hit 36 dingers in 1975.  Although Thomas may have been the team’s shining light, aging future HOFer and fan favorite Richie Ashburn (.306) recieved the nod for the All-Star team that year.

 

In 1963 Frank Thomas’ playing time and productivity began to fade and hit less than 20 home runs for the first time since his injury shortened season in 1959 with 15.  In August of 1964 the Mets traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies for Wayne Graham, Gary Kroll and cash to help with their pennant run.  Although Thomas came through by hitting .294 with 7 Home Runs and 26 RBIs in only 39 games, he broke his thumb on September 8th, and the Phillies had one of MLBs worst declines and ended the season tied for second place (with Cincinnati) only one game behind the eventual World Series winning St. Louis Cardinals.  The Phillies were not in contention for the pennant by the summer of 1965 and after an argument with Richie Allen, was sold to the Houston Astros in July. In early September of that year, he was sent packing once again, this time to the Milwaukee Braves for a player to be named later (Mickey Sinnerud).  The Braves, now in Atlanta, released Thomas in April.  He was signed as a free agent by the Cubs in May, but after only 5 games he was released, playing his final game after sixteen season on June 11, 1966.