After the Chicago White Sox posted the above graphic to honor “momentous firsts for the White Sox organization related to Black History Month,” White Sox slugger and Hall of Fame member Frank Thomas, “The Big Hurt,” posted bitterly on “X”: “I guess the black player who made you rich over there and holds all your records is forgettable!”
Petty? Childish? I don’t think so. If you look at the graphic, Frank Thomas appears only a virtual footnote, an afterthought following the recognition of Dick Allen, nowhere near as great a player as Thomas and certainly not the credit to the game that Frank was, as the Chisox’s first black MVP. Yet if the purpose is to honor standout African -American members of the team over its long history, Thomas’s record should have earned him top billing.
Thomas played for the White Sox from 1990–2005, winning back-to-back American League MVP awards (1993–1994) and now holds franchise records for home runs (448), RBIs (1,465), and walks. He tied Ted Williams on the lifetime homer list with 521, and ended his career with a .301 lifetime batting average in an era when .300 averages have become rarer every year. Thomas has the highest on-base percentage of any modern player who wasn’t Barry Bonds, as in “a freak steroid mutation that pitchers were afraid to pitch to.”
Thomas isn’t just the greatest black player in White Sox history, he is the greatest player in White Sox history of any color or ethnicity. But Thomas’s snub by his team is even more outrageous than those facts suggest.
Chicago is one of the eight original teams in the American League, meaning that the franchise has been operating as a major league team since 1901. Of the eight, only the White Sox can boast that a black man was unquestionably its greatest player.
The greatest Boston Red Sox player was Ted Williams. The New York Yankees: Babe Ruth; the Cleveland Indians: Bob Feller or Nap Lajoie; the Detroit Tigers: Ty Cobb; Washington (now Minnesota): Walter Johnson ; St. Louis (now Baltimore): Cal Ripken; Philadelphia (now Las Vegas, previously Kansas City and Oakland): Jimmy Foxx. All white. Frank Thomas stands alone as the sole black star to dominate an American League franchise over 125 years. If the idea is to honor “firsts,” he is the first black star in the league to achieve the status of all-time franchise great.
So the Chicago White Sox, seeking to celebrate Black History Month, minimized the impact, contributions, achievements and reputation of its greatest player, even though he is black.
Frank Thomas regards that as a slap in the face, and I don’t blame him.
Ethics Alarms 
Well played, Hurt. Inexplicable. Does the Reinsdorf family have something against Frank?
Is it possible at some point Thomas expressed an opinion considered conservative? In this day and age, that might easily have done it.
No, he had a messy split with the team before he left for the Oakland As. The White Sox cut his salary by exercising a special “reduction in skills” provision in his contract. They did not treat him the way franchise icons are usually treated by their teams. He had a running feud with the White Sox general manager. Whether any of this explained his snub, I don’t know. Thomas clearly thinks so.
If it’s the same GM, almost certainly.
I couldn’t name another White Sox player, btw. Not the baseball fan I used to be, don’t remember a lot of names anymore, but I remember him, Willie Stargel, George Brett, Greg Maddux, and some of the other players of “my era”, but point being…
That has to be a snub.
I really do need to make time to create a baseball ethics blog. So few people read my baseball posts, and this one, like some others, has useful information. I’m pretty sure my observation that the White Sox are the only original AL teams whose unquestioned greatest player is black This was a genuine Black History Month post! Nonetheless, tumbleweeds.
Not important to the story, but something I thought worth sharing.
When I was a kid, I had a Frank Thomas baseball glove. This was special to me, because I was a lefty and I had a hard time finding a left-handed glove that fit. When I finally had one it was the reason I wanted to get into baseball. In six grade, my mom got me white sox tickets where I got to see Thomas play live. Brought my glove and everything hoping it he would sign it.
Never got to meet him, but I discovered then he was right handed. Took me a long time not to blame him for something I’m sure wasn’t his fault.
He deserves better here.