Frank Thomas: On the Verge of History
Posted by Chris J. on April 11, 2008
I didn't intend for this blog post to be about Frank Thomas making history. Honest.
I just did a completely random search, and it revealed that Frank Thomas was about the set an all-time MLB career record.
In the next several days, barring a miracle on injury, Thomas will become the man with the most plate appearances without having a single stinking sacrifice hit.
Heading into tonight, he's 8 PA behind Harmon Killebrew. He isn't in tonight's starting line-up, though.
Please note the SH wasn't kept until 1894, so all the earlier guys you see on that list shouldn't be there. Here's a better search, looking at 1894-onward only. It's a bunch of recent guys & Killebrew. He really sticks out. Hell, that's an understatement. Look at how the list looked when he retired in 1975, he had almost as many PA as the rest of the top ten combined. Clearly, the man could not lay down a bunt. My favorite guy on that list is Jouett Meekin at #8. He was a pitcher. What kind of pitcher can't lay down a bunt? Ever?
That list might understate it. In 1976, Jeff Burroughs finally laid down a bunt - two actually. Zisk got one in 1977.
By 1985, Killebrew was still the only one over 3,000 PA and no SH. Willie Aikens came close, but retired after that year. George Bell joined him in that category in 1988, over 4,000 in 1989, 5,000 in 1991, and 6,000 in 1992.
By then, Ron Kittle had become the third 3,000 PA, no SH man. Then came Cecil Fielder. The Big Hurt was the fifth member. Now there's 22.
April 12th, 2008 at 10:12 am
In the case of Frank Edward ("Big Hurt") Thomas, it may not be that he can't lay down a SH. After all, there are 28 HoFers with 10 or fewer career SH (and yes, a few of those, like Wilbert Robinson, Walter Alston, and Tommy Lasorda, are on the list for some eccentric reason such as managing the Dodgers).
Also, the sacrifice is out of favor as stathead strategy, so a hip manager might never ask Frank Thomas to bunt, whether he can bunt or not.
But Frank Thomas's strength may just lie in a different direction: up. With 3 more sacrifice flies, he will rank third all-time in that category, passing Sierra, Brett, Aaron, and Yount. 9 more, and he'll have 129 and be first in career sac flies.
Why have a player sac bunt? Often, so he can't hit (down) into a double play. And here Frank Thomas isn't even (quite) into the top 50. With "only" 218 career GIDP, he is far behind Killebrew, I-Rod, Aaron, and Ripken, who leads with 350.
April 13th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Maybe Cecil Fielder and Ron Kittle don't have any SH's because of their awesome ability to leg out bunt singles. 🙂
April 15th, 2008 at 8:36 am
It looks to me like major media outlets read Stat of the Day.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/4527/news
"Apr 14 DH Frank Thomas popped out in the seventh inning Sunday in Texas. It marked his 9,832 plate appearance without recording a sacrifice bunt. He now holds the Major League record, passing Harmon Killebrew. Thomas also is just eight sacrifice flies shy of tying Eddie Murray (who has 128) for the all-time lead."
April 21st, 2008 at 8:27 am
So, with his release by Toronto, is Frank Thomas not just on the verge of history, but history?