Everyone has seen the Big Hurt commercials, and know all about that guy - Hall of Fame Frank Thomas who played for the White Sox and other teams for 19 seasons, in which he had 1,028 extra base hits, over 1,700 RBIs, and an amazing career split of .301/.419/.555.
And that .301 career average was far higher through his age 32 season after which he hit about .260. His career was as huge as he was.
But the Mets had a Frank Thomas of their own in 1962-64, years before the Big Hurt was born.
Fortunately, in the Mets' horrendous 40-120 debut season, they managed to get a quality player like Frank Thomas the First.
He was a Mets workhorse in 1962, appearing in 156 games, and running up 23 doubles, 34 HRs and 94 RBIs. It took more than a decade before Dave Kingman broke that 34 HR team record, and his 94 RBI total was the Mets' high mark until Donn Clendenon drove in 97 in 1970.
Did our Frank Thomas have a flash in the pan season?
Did his career stink before then and he just had a career year?
Nope.
The year before the Mets got him, he hit 27 HRs, drove in 73 in 139 games, and hit .281 in 1961 the year before his Mets debut.
He also had Big Hurt-like years in 1953 with 30 HRs and 102 RBIs (a nice one-two punch with Ralph Kiner) and in 1958 with 35 HRs and 109 RBIs.
In total, he had 10 years of 21 or more HRs, and 4 seasons of 94 or more RBIs. And remember that, except for 1962, those other years were in 154 game seasons.
Overall, in 6,285 at bats, he had 286 HRs and 962 RBIs in 16 seasons.
Pretty impressive.
He did not replicate his strong 1962 in 1963 and 1964, but was decent, playing 186 more games with the Mets and hitting 18 more HRs and driving in 79.
He hit very well for Philly in 1964 after the Mets traded him in 39 games (.294/.311/.517), but the Mets losing curse apparently followed him as the Phillies collapsed, losing the pennant despite a 6.5 game lead with 12 games to go.
All in all, he may not have been the Big Hurt...but he put a pretty big hurting on a bunch of opponents with his dangerous bat.
If I can be frank, that is.
6 comments:
There wasn't that many bright spots on Mets teams back in those days. The best thing on those teams were the peanuts, pop corn, and cracker jacks you could buy at the stadium.
I always liked "our" Frank Thomas and I definitely rank his right up there with the peanuts.
Never went to that 1962 pre-Shea ballpark, sadly. That would have been memorable.
as I recall, Frank Thomas not only played well for the Mets, but got off to a great start with the Phillies, then broke his thumb sliding into the bag on a pick off play; Gene Mauch, their manager, said that injury cost the Phillies the pennant.
Jon, great point. That and many other things, like the Cards and Reds getting red hot at the same time Philly collapsed.
Tom
We used to hop the A train on Liberty Avenue in Quees and it would take us straight to 161st Street
Nice - and no social distancing back them - no A/C either
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