After watching Frank Thomas crush a home run more than 450 feet during the 1992 season, White Sox broadcaster Ken Harrelson spontaneously dubbed the Chicago slugger "The Big Hurt". The nickname instantly stuck, aptly describing the frightening force of nature that Thomas represented at the plate. Through his first eight years, the Big Hurt's offensive production ranked him with the greatest right-handed batters in baseball history. After two subpar seasons that also tarnished his previously exemplary relationships with fans and teammates, Thomas regained his standing among the game's elite hitters with a triumphant 2000 campaign.

A series of early career setbacks fueled Thomas' drive to excel. Incredibly, he went unpicked through the over 60 rounds of the 1986 amateur draft despite posting big numbers for his high school team in Columbus, Georgia. "I'd have signed for $5,000, that's how bad I wanted to play," Thomas later said of his frustration at not being taken. Helping soothe his disappointment was a two-sport scholarship to Auburn. Thomas gave up the pigskin to concentrate on baseball after his freshman year and won the Southeastern Conference MVP in 1989. His 49 career homers set a new school record.

Even though Thomas felt snubbed again when he was left off the 1988 US Olympic team, the White Sox showed him due respect the following year by selecting him with the seventh overall pick of the 1989 free agent draft. He shot through Chicago's minor-league system, and after an August 1990 recall from Double-A Birmingham (where he had batted .323 with 71 RBIs in 109 games to win Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year award) he never spent another day in the bushes.

Without so much as a single Triple-A at-bat to his resume, Thomas collected hits in 45 of the 60 games he played for the White Sox that year, finishing his first tour of duty in the major leagues with a .330 batting average, seven home runs and 31 RBIs. He also displayed amazing plate discipline for a young hitter, as his combined total of 156 walks between Birmingham and Chicago led all of baseball.

The Big Hurt didn't miss a beat the next year as the 6' 5", 270-pound gentle giant became a fixture in the lineup at first base and designated hitter. He inaugurated a record-setting string of seven straight seasons with a .300 batting average, 20 homers and 100 runs, walks and RBIs -- numbers no player had previously reached in more than four straight years (although Ted Williams had a run of six years interrupted by World War II). In his first full season with the White Sox, Thomas batted .318 with 32 home runs and 109 RBIs, finishing third in the MVP voting even though he was left off the AL All-Star team.

He wasn't picked for the All-Star team in 1992 despite another strong season (.323, 24 homers, 118 RBIs), but there was no keeping him out the following year. In addition to claiming his first All-Star spot in 1993, Thomas led the White Sox to their first division title in ten years. After the season, he was honored as the 10th unanimous MVP in baseball history on the strength of a .317 batting average, 41 home runs (a new White Sox record), 128 RBIs and 333 total bases. Perhaps most impressive, he drew 112 walks while fanning just 54 times. In the playoffs, Chicago fell in six games to the eventual World Champion Blue Jays. Toronto pitched around Thomas, walking him 10 times in the six games, though he still batted .353 with a solo homer that tied the score in the sixth inning of Game Four.

As impressive as his 1993 stats were, Thomas was headed towards even more epic numbers when the players strike ended his season in mid-August the following year. Through 113 games and 399 at-bats, he had posted a .353 batting average with 38 round-trippers and 101 RBIs. He led the league with 106 runs scored, 109 walks, a .729 slugging percentage (the highest mark in the AL since Williams' .731 clip in 1957) and a .487 on-base percentage. His season included a scalding May during which he hit .452 with 12 home runs. The ChiSox were leading the division again when the strike hit, and Thomas won his second straight AL MVP.

Over the previous two seasons, the White Sox had gone 54-20 in games in which Thomas had homered and 100-37 in games when he drove in a run. As his consecutive MVP awards and dazzling batting accomplishments inspired lofty comparison to the game's immortals, Thomas mused about his desire for baseball's highest honor. "I've never understood why people say they don't think of the Hall of Fame," he said. "I want it. I'm not embarrassed to say that. I want to be the best."

Thomas continued to inflict heavy damage on American League pitching staffs over the next three seasons as the White Sox were reduced to bridesmaids in the AL Central by the rise of the Cleveland Indians. The Big Hurt hammered 40 home runs in both 1995 and 1996 while collecting a total of 246 RBIs. A stress fracture in his left leg sent him to disabled list for the first time in his career in July 1996, ending a consecutive-games played streak at 346. In 1997, batting ahead of new addition Albert Belle, he won his first batting title with a .347 mark, adding 35 circuit blasts and 124 RBIs. During one stretch in mid-May he reached base in 15 consecutive plate appearances, falling one short of Ted Williams' major-league record.

1997 also marked a critical juncture of Thomas' career. The White Sox had drawn heavy criticism for a series of trade deadline deals that effectively hoisted a white flag while the club stood within striking distance of the division-leading Indians. Thomas knew his club faced several years of rebuilding, but decided to stick around to see the process through. Chicago management rewarded the loyalty of the franchise's career home run leader by signing him to a six-year contract extension in late September that promised to keep him in a White Sox uniform through 2006.

To that point, Thomas' career had been one of uninterrupted excellence. In addition to his on-field brilliance, his warm and ever-smiling persona off the field had made him one of baseball's best ambassadors, rich beyond his wildest dreams through marketing and endorsement tie-ins, and the most popular athlete in Chicago behind basketball legend Michael Jordan.

Both on the field and off, however, circumstances would turn against Thomas over the next two years. Indulging his interest in popular music, Thomas founded two record labels, but his business acumen would prove not as reliable as his batting eye and the enterprises ended up being a drain on his finances. He also drew criticism for the first time in his career when he showed up for the 1998 season noticeably overweight, and the criticism grew louder as his batting average sank to .265, more than 40 points below his previous career low. He still managed to knock 29 home runs and drive in 109 runs, but even those numbers seemed diminished by the offensive surge of his teammate, Belle, who in his second year with the White Sox set franchise records with 49 home runs and 152 RBIs.

Circumstances grew worse when the White Sox allowed both Belle and third baseman Robin Ventura to depart via free agency during the offseason, leaving the Big Hurt with no protection in the lineup. He repeatedly described himself as "bitter" over the club's failure to retain either player, but showed up in spring training in good shape and refocused on baseball. Still, while Thomas' batting average climbed back to .308, his power inexplicably deserted him. In 486 at-bats, he managed just 15 homers, inspiring talk that he was prematurely washed up. For the first time in his career he appeared sullen, and clashed with both teammates and management for his unwillingness to play through an ankle injury.

Thomas drew heavier fire for his preference to bat at DH instead of first base. Defense was hardly Thomas' strong suit, but the White Sox felt his presence on the field provided leadership to the young team and had long been willing to endure his shortcomings with a glove. Even though Thomas' offensive numbers showed that he hit markedly better while playing first base, he felt more comfortable as a designated hitter, believing that it helped him concentrate on hitting. After the season, there were whispers that after two straight unspectacular years his days as one of the baseball's top hitters were over.

In spring training 2000, a public shouting match between Thomas and manager Jerry Manuel brought matters close to a boiling point. But instead of exacerbating the problems, the confrontation seemed to clear the air. Thomas went on to enjoy a season that ranked with his best. Anchoring a talented but inexperienced White Sox lineup, he batted .328 while setting career highs with 43 home runs, 143 RBIs, 114 runs and 191 hits.

The Big Hurt, touted as an MVP candidate all season, led the White Sox to an unexpected AL Central title and a league-high 95 wins. In the Division Series, however, Thomas and his teammates suffered an ill-timed power outage as the Mariners swept them in three games while limiting the White Sox to seven runs and holding The Big Hurt hitless in nine at-bats. "I gave what I had and it just was not good enough," Thomas said afterwards. (SW/AGL)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » June 5, 1989: The Orioles select Louisiana State University pitcher Ben McDonald (14–3) with the first pick in the annual amateur draft. He'll sign August 19 and debut September 6, missing by three days being the first in this draft to debut. The Jays John Olerud, picked on the 3rd round, will debut September 3, singling in his first at bat. The next three picks are high schoolers: the Braves take Tyler Houston; the Mariners pick Roger Salkeld; and the Phillies choose Jeff Jackson. The White Sox get Frank Thomas with the 7th pick, while the Angels take Kyle Abbott with the 10th, and Chad Curtis on the 45th round. The Dodgers use their 1st round pick on Jamie McAndrew, son of former Mets P Jim McAndrew. Mo Vaughn goes to Boston on the 23rd pick and Chuck Knoblauch to the Twins on the 25th (he had been picked on the 18th round by the Phils in 1986, but did not sign). On the 4th round, the Twins select and sign P Scott Erickson, who was drafted but not signed in the previous three drafts. » September 6, 1991: The White Sox score 10 runs in the 4th inning of a game against the Royals, all with two outs. Chicago wins by a score of 11-2. Bo Jackson drives in three runs with his first two hits since returning from a serious hip injury. Slugger Frank Thomas receives a mauling, bruising his wrist in a 2nd inning collision with Terry Shumpert, then chipping two front teeth when his is hit in the mouth with a ball thrown by pitcher Charlie Hough. Hough gets a throwing error on the toss. » September 16, 1992: White Sox 1B Frank Thomas gets five hits, all singles, in Chicago's 9–6 win over the Yankees. Rookie Sterling Hitchcock loses his 1st ML decision. » October 9, 1993: The White Sox even the ALCS at two games apiece with a 7-4 win over Toronto. Lance Johnson homers and triples for Chicago, and Frank Thomas also clouts a 4-bagger. With his home run, Johnson becomes the first non-pitcher in history to hit a home run in ALCS play without having hit one any in the regular season. » April 27, 1995: Milwaukee's starter Cal Eldred picks up a win with five innings of work in a 9–5 win over the White Sox. Tim Raines and Frank Thomas hit consecutive homers in the 7th with two out, and then in the 8th Robin Ventura hits Alberto Reyes first ML pitch for another homer. » May 28, 1995: In a 14–12 White Sox win, the Tigers and Chicago combine to hit 12 home runs—7 by the Tigers—and 21 extra-base hits to set a major league and American League mark, respectively. The 2-teams combine to set a ML for extra bases on long hits (45), with Detroit contributing 24. The Sox start rookie James Baldwin (25 hits, 15 runs in 13.1 innings) and Detroit remainders him with a leadoff home run by Chad Curtis, a walk, single and 3-run homer by Cecil Fielder. Curtis and Fielder each homer in the 2nd to finish the rookie. The Sox sink David Wells with successive homers in the 4th by Durham, Karkovice, and Grebeck. Cecil Fielder, Chad Curtis, Kirk Gibson, and Ron Karkovice each homer twice, setting another AL mark for the most players with two home runs in a game. Ray Durham, Craig Grebeck, Frank Thomas, and Lou Whitaker also connect for 4-baggers. Detroit's Danny Bautista, anxious to join the home run derby, fans five times (on 18 pitches) in six at bats to tie another mark for a nine inning game » July 11, 1995: The National League defeats the American League in the All-Star Game, 3-2, on an 8th inning pinch-hitter home run by Jeff Conine. Conine becomes the 10th player to homer in his 1st All-Star at bat, and is named the Game's MVP. Frank Thomas, Craig Biggio, and Mike Piazza also connect for home runs. » March 31, 1996: In the earliest Opening Day ever, the Mariners sail past the White Sox in 12 innings, 3–2 in Seattle. Randy Johnson sticks out 14 Sox in seven innings, but serving up a 2-run homer to Frank Thomas. Five M's pitchers strike out 21 batters, including Ron Karkovice five times, while the Sox use seven pitchers in the loss. The American League unveiled its new colorful red polo shirts for the umpires, part of the "What a Game" campaign to lure fans back to the parks. The last sartorial change was in the 1970s when AL umps wore red blazers for several years. Al umps will wear red and blue polo shirts for the season; National League umps will stick with traditional blue. » April 19, 1996: The A's have a delayed home opener in the reconstructed Oakland Coliseum, though there are no bleachers for the time being. The formerly symmetrical stadium now sports six distinct angles in the outfield, much like the old Forbes or Ebbets Field. All the fans tonight are given yellow construction helmets with the A's logo on them. The A's, 2–4 in their six early games in Las Vegas, lose 4–3 to the White Sox when Frank Thomas cracks a 2-run homer in the 8th to give Chicago reliever Matt Karchner his 3rd win. » May 15, 1996: After a 2-hour delay in Milwaukee because of fog, Frank Thomas leads the way with six RBI as the White Sox bang the Brewers, 20–8. This ties a 1975 mark for the most runs given up by Milwaukee in a game. The Sox, with 21 hits, score six runs in the 2nd and another six in the 6th. » May 26, 1996: Frank Thomas, Harold Baines, and Robin Ventura belt consecutive homers in Chicago's 7-run 8th inning as the Sox pound the Brewers, 12–1. Chad Kreuter adds a 4th homer in the frame as Chicago becomes the 16th team to hit four homers in an inning; The Twins are the only team to have hit 5. The Thomas, Baines, Ventura trio also homered in yesterday's 9–7 win over Milwaukee. » June 5, 1996: The White Sox down the Red Sox, 8-6, despite Mo Vaughn's five hits. Frank Thomas' sac fly in the 12th inning drives home the game winner. » August 15, 1996: Frank Thomas hits three homers for the White Sox, becoming the Sox career home run leader, but Boston wins, 9–8. Thomas hits his 1st two off Tim Wakefield to pass Carlton Fisk (214). » September 15, 1996: The Red Sox defeat the White Sox, 9–8, despite three home runs by Chicago 1B Frank Thomas. Mo Vaughn and John Valentin each hit two homers for Boston to power the Sox to victory. » May 18, 1997: At Oakland, hot-hitting Frank Thomas goes 4-for-4 to lead the White Sox to a 10–4 win over the A's. Thomas has two RBIs, a walk and three runs; he has now reached base in 12 straight plate appearances. In the 6th inning, Albert Belle scores and throws an elbow at the face of A's catcher George Williams as he goes by. Belle is hit on the leg by a pitch from Aaron Small in his next at bat. » May 20, 1997: In a 10–1 win over Boston, Chicago's Frank Thomas reaches base his first three times up before flying out against Rich Garces. Thomas reached base 15 straight times, one short of ML record, (Hr, three 2B, six 1B, five BB). Jaime Navarro (4-2) is the victor, winning his 10th straight game against the Red Sox going back to September 28, 1991. He'll lose his next decision to the Bosox. » September 19, 1997: The White Sox tie Boston, 4–4 at Fenway on Albert Belle's 9th inning grand slam, off Tom Gordon, then win in the 10th on Frank Thomas' single. The Red Sox had tied the game in the bottom of the 9th on pinch homers by Curtis Pride and Scott Hatteberg. Boston wastes Butch Henry's seven 2/3 shutout innings, while Mike Sirotka's one run in eight innings goes unrewarded. Nomar Garciaparra has a pair of doubles to break Ted Williams' Red Sox rookie record for total bases. His total is 348 on his way to 365. Tony Oliva set the American League rookie record in 1964 with 374. » April 29, 1998: Led by Wil Cordero and Albert Belle, the White Sox pound on the Orioles, 16–7, ruining Sidey Ponson's 1st ML start. Cordero, cut by Boston on the last day of spring training, has two home runs and five RBI, and Belle has two home runs and four RBI. Belle follows a Frank Thomas home run with his 1st dinger, and Robin Ventura follows Belle's 2nd with another. Thomas adds a big hurt, breaking reliever Norm Charlton's nose with a line single in the 7th. » July 31, 1998: Chicago's Albert Belle hits his 16th home run of the month to set a new major league mark for July. His home run helped the White Sox to a 10–2 win over the Rangers. Frank Thomas hits a grand slam and drives in five runs for Chicago. » September 18, 1998: Frank Thomas notches his 100th RBI—the 8th straight year he's reached that level—by clouting a 2-run home run in Chicago's 11–9 win over Boston. Thomas' home run is one of seven in the game in which 32 hits are registered. » August 28, 2000: The Athletics defeat the White Sox, 3-0, as Tim Hudson hurls a 1-hitter. Frank Thomas' 4th inning single is the only hit. » September 6, 2000: The White Sox defeat the Rangers, 13-1, scoring 10 runs in the 1st two innings. Magglio Ordonez and Frank Thomas, with his AL best 41st, homer in the 7-run 1st. Texas' Scott Sheldon becomes the third player in major league history to play all nine positions in a single game. He enters the game in the 4th inning as catcher and pitches in the 8th, striking out Jeff Liefer, before taking over 3B. Sheldon also played all nine positions in spring training against Oklahoma (AAA). Cesar Tovar was the last, in 1968, to play all nine spots. » April 6, 2001: The Tigers score eight runs in the 6th inning to take a 9–5, then hold on to defeat the White Sox, 10-9 in 10 innings. Tony Clark has two hits in the 6th, including a grand slam. Frank Thomas, Ray Durham, and Jose Valentin hit solo home runs for the Sox. » April 9, 2001: Chicago rookie Rocky Biddle survive five rocky innings—2 run and 10 hits—to get the 9–2 win over the Indians. In the 6th Tribe reliever Steve Woodard stops a Frank Thomas line drive with his pitching elbow and leaves the game on a stretcher. He'll be out of action for a month and when he comes back he'll ask to be traded. » April 27, 2001: The White Sox absorb two losses today, once to the Mariners. 8–3 and the second from a doctor. Frank Thomas is injured during the game and is out for the rest of the season. The hot Mariners win their 19th of the month behind Aaron Sele. Mike Cameron gets on base five times and steals three bases. » September 25, 2002: Casey Fossum gives up solo homers to Frank Thomas and Joe Crede, but the Red Sox score four in the 6th off Jon Garland to beat Chicago, 4–2. Fossum helps his cause by snaring a pop bunt in the first inning and trotting to 1B to complete an unassisted DP.