Books and articles about Gorman Thomas

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A big, lumberjack-like slugger, Thomas was a premier outfielder until undergoing rotator-cuff surgery in 1984. He was the first player ever picked by the Seattle Pilots in the June 1969 draft. A two-time minor league home run champion, Thomas's frequent strikeouts and low batting average kept him from a steady major league job until 1978. The strikeouts continued (478 from 1978 to 1980), but his homers increased. Defensively, Thomas had fine range and never feared the fences. A controversial trade, disastrous for Milwaukee, sent Thomas to Cleveland in 1983. At Seattle, Thomas made a brilliant comeback in 1985 but became relegated to DH and first base duty. (ME)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » April 15, 1973: Brewer rookie Gorman Thomas hits his first ML homer, off Jim Palmer, to tie the O's in 9th, and Milwaukee wins it in the 11 on Pedro Garcia's game-winner, The Orioles split for the day by taking the nitecap. » September 5, 1974: Milwaukee hands Boston its 7th straight loss as rookie Gorman Thomas hits a 2-run shot in the 9th inning. It was Thomas' first game of the year for Milwaukee after hitting 51 homers for Sacramento (PCL) this year. Billy Champion (10–3) picks up the win for the 5th-place Brewers. » February 8, 1978: The Brewers purchase OF Gorman Thomas from the Rangers. » April 9, 1978: The Brewers complete a stunning season-opening, 3-game sweep of the Orioles by scores of 11–3, 16–3, and 13–5. Sixto Lezcano, Gorman Thomas, and Cecil Cooper provided the Brewers with a grand slam in each game to set a ML mark. » May 28, 1982: The Brewers get three consecutive home runs —- by Cecil Cooper, Don Money, and Gorman Thomas -- in the 6th, but they fall short, losing 6–5 to California. » June 5, 1982: The Brew Crew connect for three consecutive homers -- by Robin Yount, Cecil Cooper, and Ben Oglivie -- in the 7th as Milwaukee pounds Oakland, 11–3. Ted Simmons and Gorman Thomas also homer to back Bob McClure's 3rd victory. It is the 2nd time in a week that Milwaukee sluggers have hit three consecutive homers. » July 2, 1982: Boston's Tony Perez singles off Milwaukee's Bob McClure (7-2) for his 2,500th career hit, but that's a lone bright spot as the Brewers clobber the Red Sox, 14–5. Gorman Thomas has a pair of homers as six are hit. » September 19, 1982: Milwaukee scores nine runs in the 8th to roll over the Yankees, 14–1. Don Sutton is the victor. Gorman Thomas has a double—his 2nd—and home run in the big inning and Paul Molitor adds a home run then as well. » October 3, 1982: Robin Yount smacks two home runs and a triple as Milwaukee whips Baltimore 10–2 to win the American League East championship. Don Sutton, 4-1 since being acquired by the Brewers in late August, is the winning pitcher. Milwaukee had lost three in a row to Baltimore before today's pivotal victory. Despite Yount's stellar game, he loses the AL batting title .332 to .331 to Kansas City's Willie Wilson, who sat out the Royals' final game. Yount ends the year with 114 RBI and joins teammates Cecil Cooper (121), Gorman Thomas (112), and Ben Oglivie (102) as only the 2nd foursome since 1940 to top the 100 RBI mark: The 1977 Bosox of Fisk, Rice, Hobson and Lynn were the others. Ted Simmons is just three short of 100 RBI or the Brewers would have joined the 1936 Yankees as the only squad with five 100-RBI hitters. » June 6, 1983: The Brewers trade OF Gorman Thomas and pitchers Jamie Easterly and Ernie Camacho to the Indians for OF Rick Manning and pitcher Rick Waits. » June 24, 1983: Milwaukee's Don Sutton strikes out Alan Bannister in the 8th inning of a 3–2 win over Cleveland to become the 8th pitcher in ML history with 3,000 career strikeouts. County Stadium is packed with 46,037 fans for the game, mostly to welcome back popular OF Gorman Thomas, who was traded to Cleveland earlier this month. » September 3, 1983: Trailing 5–3, the Indians erupt for 10 runs in the top of the 9th inning and go on to defeat Oakland 13–6. The A's set a major-league record by using six pitchers in the inning. Pinch hitter Chris Bando has two hits in the frame and Gorman Thomas connects for a double and homer in the inning for the second time in three years. He is the only man to do it twice. » December 7, 1983: The Mariners trade 2B Tony Bernazard to the Indians for OF Gorman Thomas and IF Jack Perconte. » April 11, 1985: Gorman Thomas, recovering from rotator cuff surgery, smashes three home runs in Seattle's 14–6 rout of visiting Oakland. The Mariners set a one-game club record with seven home runs. Dave Kingman gets robbed of a monstrous homer when his deep drive in left bounces off a loud speaker and is caught. » July 9, 1985: In the bottom of the third inning of a game between the Blue Jays and the Mariners, Phil Bradley is on second with one out when Gorman Thomas singles to right. Jesse Barfield's throw to Buck Martinez nails Bradley, though Martinez breaks his ankle in the collision. When Thomas tries to take 3B on the play, Martinez' throw sails into LF. Thomas tries to score but George Bell's throw to Martinez beats him. Buck makes the catch and tag while sitting on the ground. Whitt takes over catching and the Jays win in 13 innings, 9–4. The big blow is a grand slam homer by George Bell in the 13th —the first extra inning slam in club history—to break a 4–4 tie.