The Big Hurt is Calling It Quits

Frank Thomas is putting an end to his illustrious, 19-year career.

The former Chicago White Sox slugger will announce his retirement during a news conference set for 11 a.m. ET this Friday at U.S. Cellular Field. At that time, the team will also announce the retirement of his No. 35, which may happen this August 2 to mark the 20-year anniversary of the 41-year-old Thomas’ big league debut with the Sox.

Before reading the rest of this article over at SportsUntapped...

We recommend taking a moment to stroll down memory lane and watch this video displaying one of the Big Hurt's finer moments in Canadian broadcasting.

Big Hurt to Likely End His Career Hurt

Frank Thomas is done for the season, and likely his career. Surprise!

The 40-year-old Oakland Athletics' designated hitter was removed from the 15-day disabled list and placed on the 60-day DL Wednesday. This, of course, means he will not be playing anymore baseball in 2008. Yay math!

They Don't Call Him the Big Hurt for Nothing

The Oakland Athletics placed Frank Thomas on the 15-day disabled list Thursday with a strained right knee and quadriceps tendinitis.

No one saw this coming! He's so young and spry!

[San Francisco Chronicle]

The Big Hurt's Canadian Vacation

Mike Sweeney, meet your replacement. Frank Thomas' tour of Canada is officially over.

The old school designated hitter was back in the Oakland Athletics' lineup Thursday afternoon for the series finale against the Minnesota Twins, batting clean-up after a short hiatus with the Toronto Blue Jays.

"It's great to be back," he said.

Since The Big Hurt cleared waivers on Wednesday afternoon, Oakland snatched him up, becoming responsible for just $337,000 of the $390k league minimum salary. That's a pretty sweet deal, says Billy Beane.

He went 0-for-3 today, walking and scoring a run in his first plate appearance with the A's. He averaged .167 over 16 games this season for the Jays with three homers and 11 RBIs, after hitting .277 a year ago with 26 longballs and 95 RBIs.

[AP]

The Big Hurt Feelings

After Frank Thomas voiced his displeasure with the Toronto Blue Jays for benching him in favor of the left-fielding DH Matt Stairs, the club has released the 39-year-old designated hitter.

This move may have something to do with The Big Hurt being, well, hurt a lot, old, grumpy and kinda sucking at baseball these days. Thomas was batting .167 over the first 16 games of the season, with three homers but a decent number of RBIs at 11.

After being (permanently) benched Saturday, the 19-year veteran claimed foul as he thinks the Jays were attempting to limit his at bats so he wouldn't reach the 304 plate appearances he needed to guarantee his $10 million option for next season.

But of course, Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi denied the allegations that the Big Hurt's contract options had any bearing on his decision.

Shady.

[TSN]

Saturday's Babelicious Scoreboard

As Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez reached exciting career milestones Saturday, Frank Thomas hit two home runs to pass Eddie Murray for 20th place on the all-time home runs list, helping the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Texas Rangers.

The Big Hurt smoked a three-run shot in the first and a solo in the third to give him 505 career longballs in his second multi-homer game of the season and 31st lifetime. Thomas is batting .255 with 18 homers and 60 RBIs this season.

Winning his third straight decision for the Jays, righty Shaun Marcum (8-4, 3.63 ERA) allowed 3 runs - 2 earned - on 8 hits with 2 strikeouts.

Toronto shortstop John McDonald went 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs while Alex Rios and Vernon Wells drove in a run a piece.

Texas starter Willie Eyre (3-4, 4.74 ERA) lasted only 2.1 innings after giving up 7 runs on 6 hits with 2 walks. Reliever A.J. Murray followed that performance with 2 earned runs and 3 walks.

Nelson Cruz had 2 RBIs for the Rangers and Brad Wilkerson nailed a pinch-hit homer in the ninth.

Frank Thomas Hits Career Bomb No. 500

What are the chances that two different players would hit incredible milestones on the same day? Probably like, a bazillion to one... I'm so good at math.

Frank Thomas hit a three-run shot in the first inning of the Toronto Blue Jays' 8-5 loss to the Minnesota Twins Thursday afternoon, becoming the 21st big leaguer to reach 500 career home runs. The Metrodome responded with a standing ovation for the two-time American League MVP.

Fittingly, Thomas hit his first career homer at the Dome against Gary Wayne while with the Chicago White Sox back in 1990.

Things turned a bit sour for the Big Hurt in the ninth however, when he was ejected by plate umpire Mark Wegner after being called out on strikes for the second time in the game. Jays manager John Gibbons came out to argue and was also tossed.

"I'm probably the first to get 500 home runs and get thrown out of the ballgame," Thomas said. "That's something I didn't want to happen, but the moment just got the best of me."

Thomas also tied his season high four RBIs with a two-out double in the third.

Torii Hunter homered twice and Jason Bartlett also connected for the Twins, who rallied from a 5-1 deficit.

Minnesota starter Carlos Silva recorded his sixth win after giving up 5 runs on 6 hits over seven innings, including Thomas' milestone longball. He struck out five and walked two.

Toronto's A.J. Burnett, pitching for the first time since straining his shoulder on June 12th, gave up five runs on six hits in just four innings, but fanned six batters. He tossed his glove into the stands when he was removed... either as a sweet souvenir or a pissed off gesture. I'm going to go with the latter.

In other exciting news, my Canadian Crusher finally returned to the Twins lineup after missing six games with a bruised lung and went 0-for-3 with a walk and an RBI as designated hitter.

The Big Hurt Will Whoop Your Child's Ass

With a pillow, of course. Sadly, this video has been banned by Canadian television.

[Deadspin]