The Chicago White Sox are one of the league’s oldest franchises, having their roots traced back to 1894.
In what will be the 125th anniversary of the White Sox (1901), the White Sox have certainly seen a lot of ups and downs in their history. The White Sox have made the playoffs 11 times, have 6 pennants, and have 3 World Series in their history, with the last one coming in 2005.
The White Sox have had so many great players put on the uniform, but one player stands out as the White Sox’s best player of all time, who fans call “the Big Hurt”.
The Chicago White Sox’s best player
Frank Thomas is hands down the White Sox’s greatest player in franchise history. Thomas spent 16 seasons with the franchise and helped the White Sox win the 2005 World Series. During his tenure, Thomas was a 5x All-Star, 4x Silver Slugger award winner, and finished in the top ten for MVP voting 8 times, and won the award twice (1993,1994).
𝐅𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟏𝟐, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟎
White Sox slugger Frank Thomas signs a one-day contract with his home club and officially announces his retirement.
Is Frank the best Sox player ever?
— This Day in Chicago Sports (@ChiSportsDay) February 13, 2025
The Hall of Famer for his career with the White Sox has a career slash line of .307/.427/.568 for an OPS and OPS+ of .995 and 161. For his career, Thomas is tied for 20th all-time in home runs (521) with Giants legend Willie McCovey and Red Sox legend Ted Williams. For RBIs Thomas is 26th all-time with 1704 RBI, just edging out Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson (1702).
The Big Hurt ranks sixth in White Sox franchise history for average (.307), first in HRs (448), first in RBI (1465), fourth in hits (2136), and first in doubles 447. The 6-5 240lbs right-hander is also the White Sox leader in walks (1466) and intentional walks at 162 while ranking second in strikeouts (1165), which is impressive.
Thomas got the nod from the Hall of Fame in 2014 when he appeared on 478/517 ballots from the BBWAA.
There’s no other player better
Overall, Thomas is hands down the best player the White Sox have ever had.
Spanning almost 20 years in baseball, 16 with the White Sox franchise, the White Sox will most likely not find a talent like Thomas for a while.
Thomas has a combination of elite power, contact skills, and an incredible eye that is hard to match. The closest the White Sox had to the second coming of Thomas was José Abreu, but he wasn’t that close in reality.
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