Frank Thomas

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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Frank Thomas

Hall-of-Famers as Seen Through Player Won-Lost Records: Frank Thomas

Frank Thomas was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, 2014, with 83.7% of the vote.

Five highlights of Frank Thomas's career:

Frank Thomas won back-to-back MVP awards in 1993 (unanimously) and 1994. Thomas received MVP votes nine other times, with four other top-5 finishes in MVP voting.

Thomas batted over .300/.400/.500 with at least 100 runs scored and 100 RBI in each of his first seven seasons. One of these seasons was 1994 which was only 113 games long (for the White Sox) because of a players’ strike. That season, Thomas scored 106 runs and had 101 RBI in 113 games played.

Thomas is the only player in major-league history with seven consecutive seasons with at least a .300 batting average, 100 walks, 100 runs, 100 RBI, and 20 home runs.

Overall, in his career, Thomas batted .300 or better nine times, had an on-base percentage of .400 or better nine times, scored 100 or more runs nine times, had 100 or more RBI eleven times, and hit 30 or more home runs nine times.

Frank Thomas's uniform number 35 was retired by the Chicago White Sox in 2010. The White Sox unveiled a statue of Thomas at their stadium in 2011.

The first two tables below present Frank Thomas's career as measured by Player won-lost records, in and out of context.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWORL	pWOPA

Basic Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
1990	CHA	22	60	6.9	5.0	2.1	1.6
1991	CHA	23	158	18.4	12.1	7.3	5.5
1992	CHA	24	160	21.7	15.5	6.9	5.1
1993	CHA	25	153	21.3	14.1	7.8	6.1
1994	CHA	26	113	15.0	9.4	6.1	4.9
1995	CHA	27	145	15.9	12.6	4.0	2.4
1996	CHA	28	141	16.4	13.4	3.3	1.9
1997	CHA	29	146	17.9	12.0	6.5	4.8
1998	CHA	30	160	14.7	12.3	3.4	1.6
1999	CHA	31	135	13.7	11.2	3.2	1.7
2000	CHA	32	159	17.1	11.8	6.4	4.5
2001	CHA	33	20	1.1	1.5	-0.2	-0.4
2002	CHA	34	148	12.1	12.1	1.0	-0.7
2003	CHA	35	153	17.0	12.2	5.9	4.1
2004	CHA	36	74	7.3	4.6	3.4	2.6
2005	CHA	37	34	2.9	2.0	1.1	0.7
2006	OAK	38	137	14.9	10.2	5.9	4.2
2007	TOR	39	155	13.6	12.0	2.6	0.9
+– 2008		40	71	6.0	6.3	0.2	-0.6
	OAK		55	4.4	5.0	-0.2	-0.8
	TOR		16	1.6	1.3	0.4	0.2
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			2,322	254.1	190.3	76.9	50.8
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			16	1.3	1.5	-0.1	-0.3
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			2,338	255.4	191.8	76.8	50.5

Season	Team	Age	Games	eWins	eLosses	eWORL	eWOPA

Expected Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
1990	CHA	22	60	7.0	4.9	2.4	1.8
1991	CHA	23	158	18.3	12.2	7.2	5.4
1992	CHA	24	160	21.7	15.6	6.7	4.9
1993	CHA	25	153	20.4	15.0	6.2	4.4
1994	CHA	26	113	15.2	9.2	6.5	5.3
1995	CHA	27	145	16.7	11.8	5.5	4.0
1996	CHA	28	141	17.1	12.7	4.8	3.4
1997	CHA	29	146	17.6	12.3	6.2	4.6
1998	CHA	30	160	14.5	12.5	3.0	1.2
1999	CHA	31	135	13.4	11.5	2.6	1.1
2000	CHA	32	159	17.1	11.9	6.3	4.4
2001	CHA	33	20	1.3	1.3	0.1	-0.1
2002	CHA	34	148	12.8	11.4	2.4	0.8
2003	CHA	35	153	17.0	12.2	5.9	4.1
2004	CHA	36	74	7.3	4.6	3.3	2.5
2005	CHA	37	34	2.8	2.1	0.9	0.6
2006	OAK	38	137	14.4	10.7	4.7	3.0
2007	TOR	39	155	13.9	11.6	3.2	1.5
+– 2008		40	71	6.1	6.2	0.4	-0.4
	OAK		55	4.8	4.6	0.5	-0.1
	TOR		16	1.3	1.5	-0.1	-0.3
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			2,322	254.6	189.7	78.5	52.4
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			16	1.4	1.4	0.1	-0.0
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			2,338	256.1	191.1	78.6	52.4

Frank Thomas: Great Hitter

Frank Thomas was the first player elected to the Hall of Fame who played a majority of his career games as a designated hitter (Paul Molitor played more games at DH than any single fielding position, but played a combined 1,495 games in the field vs. 1,173 games at DH). Not surprisingly, then, Frank Thomas was elected to the Hall of Fame on the basis of being one of the greatest hitters in major-league history.

The next table shows the top 25 players in career batting eWins over non-pitcher average among players for whom I have calculated Player won-lost records.

		Top 25 Players, Batting Won-Lost Record
		eWins	eLosses	eWinPct	eWOPA
1	Babe Ruth	259.0	127.8	0.670	126.8
2	Barry Bonds	309.4	187.3	0.623	115.2
3	Ted Williams	260.2	145.2	0.642	109.4
4	Hank Aaron	344.5	241.6	0.588	94.1
5	Lou Gehrig	241.4	142.7	0.629	93.6
6	Mel Ott	281.4	181.4	0.608	93.2
7	Willie Mays	306.7	208.2	0.596	90.3
8	Mickey Mantle	247.3	152.5	0.619	89.0
9	Stan Musial	300.5	211.4	0.587	80.9
10	Frank Robinson	285.5	198.7	0.590	79.9
11	Jimmie Foxx	239.1	153.9	0.608	79.5
12	Mike Schmidt	239.5	165.3	0.592	68.0
13	Willie McCovey	243.3	170.1	0.589	66.7
14	Frank E. Thomas	227.8	161.4	0.585	66.0
15	Manny Ramirez	231.9	165.7	0.583	65.2
16	Harmon Killebrew	237.7	167.2	0.587	64.6
17	Jim Thome	229.9	164.0	0.584	64.6
18	Alex Rodriguez	268.1	203.9	0.568	63.2
19	Reggie Jackson	261.2	196.7	0.570	62.5
20	Rogers Hornsby	177.8	111.7	0.614	62.3
21	Albert Pujols	280.9	214.9	0.567	61.6
22	Eddie Mathews	228.3	162.9	0.584	58.9
23	Mark McGwire	181.1	121.0	0.599	58.8
24	Willie Stargell	219.5	156.3	0.584	57.2
25	Jeff Bagwell	214.8	153.1	0.584	56.1

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

In his prime - e.g., in 1994, when Frank Thomas batted .353/.487/.729 with 38 HR, 101 RBI, 106 runs scored, and 109 walks (in a strike-shortened 113-game season) - there was talk about whether Frank Thomas might end his career as the greatest righthanded hitter ever.

The next table shows the top 10 players in career batting eWins over non-pitcher average among right-handed batters for whom I have calculated Player won-lost records.

		Top 10 Right-Handed Hitters, Batting Won-Lost Record
		eWins	eLosses	eWinPct	eWOPA
1	Hank Aaron	344.5	241.6	0.588	94.1
2	Willie Mays	306.7	208.2	0.596	90.3
3	Frank Robinson	285.5	198.7	0.590	79.9
4	Jimmie Foxx	239.1	153.9	0.608	79.5
5	Mike Schmidt	239.5	165.3	0.592	68.0
6	Frank E. Thomas	227.8	161.4	0.585	66.0
7	Manny Ramirez	231.9	165.7	0.583	65.2
8	Harmon Killebrew	237.7	167.2	0.587	64.6
9	Alex Rodriguez	268.1	203.9	0.568	63.2
10	Rogers Hornsby	177.8	111.7	0.614	62.3

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

Frank Thomas: Exceptionally Great Pure Hitter

Batting Player won-lost records are calculated across seven components. The next table defines these components and presents Frank Thomas's (context-neutral, teammate-adjusted) career record by component.

Component	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.
Component 3: Balls not in Play	48.6	30.0	0.618
Component 4: Balls in Play	106.6	58.7	0.645
Component 5: Hits vs. Outs on Balls in Play	54.2	54.5	0.499
Component 6: Singles vs. Doubles vs. Triples	4.9	5.8	0.461
Component 7: Double Plays	1.9	3.4	0.364
Component 8: Baserunner Outs	1.5	1.1	0.583
Component 9: Baserunner Advancements	5.0	4.1	0.548

Component 3 measures the ability to draw walks (and/or hit-by-pitches) and to avoid strikeouts. Frank Thomas led his league in walks 4 times and is 10th all-time with 1,667 career walks. Frank Thomas also had 270 more walks than strikeouts in his career. Not surprisingly, Frank Thomas was excellent at Component 3.

Component 4 measures balls on which a batter makes contact - including home runs - and measures expected results based on how and where the ball was hit. That is, home runs and line drives are positive Component 4 events; pop ups and weak ground balls are negative Component 4 events. For his career, Frank Thomas hit 521 home runs - tied for 18th alltime - finishing top-10 in his league nine times. For his career, Frank Thomas hit home runs on 12.9% of all fly balls he hit (vs. a league average of 7.6%) and he hit line drives on 23% of all balls he hit in play (excluding home runs) (vs. 21% league average). When Frank Thomas made contact with the baseball, good things (if you were rooting for his team) happened. Not surprisingly, then, Frank Thomas was excellent at Component 4.

I tend to think of Components 3 and 4 as measuring "pure hitting" (and "pure pitching"). There are no complications from fielders or a player's running ability. It's the essence of the pure batter-pitcher matchup.

The next table shows the top 25 players in career batting wins for Components 3 and 4 combined, over non-pitcher average: in essence, the best "pure hitters" for whom I have calculated Player won-lost records.

		Top 25 Pure Hitters
		eWins	eLosses	eWinPct	eWOPA
1	Barry Bonds	220.7	103.9	0.680	113.0
2	Babe Ruth	177.7	67.3	0.725	108.1
3	Ted Williams	170.2	72.8	0.700	94.6
4	Mel Ott	173.5	85.9	0.669	84.3
5	Hank Aaron	209.5	122.8	0.630	82.2
6	Mickey Mantle	167.2	88.2	0.655	75.7
7	Willie Mays	191.1	112.9	0.629	73.8
8	Lou Gehrig	145.0	70.1	0.674	72.4
9	Harmon Killebrew	165.4	90.8	0.645	71.4
10	Frank Robinson	180.0	105.0	0.631	71.3
11	Albert Pujols	179.8	107.1	0.627	70.4
12	Mike Schmidt	161.1	90.7	0.640	66.9
13	Jimmie Foxx	149.4	79.8	0.652	66.6
14	Frank E. Thomas	155.2	88.7	0.636	66.3
15	Mark McGwire	140.9	75.0	0.653	65.0
16	Stan Musial	168.5	105.0	0.616	59.4
17	Willie McCovey	153.4	90.9	0.628	59.0
18	Gary Sheffield	154.8	94.4	0.621	58.1
19	Manny Ramirez	150.1	92.4	0.619	57.1
20	Jim Thome	163.0	105.3	0.607	56.9
21	Eddie Mathews	154.0	93.8	0.622	56.6
22	Alex Rodriguez	173.3	118.7	0.593	54.1
23	Carl Yastrzemski	178.1	121.5	0.594	53.9
24	Jeff Bagwell	140.5	83.7	0.626	53.7
25	Rafael Palmeiro	163.5	112.0	0.593	50.9

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

In my first book, Player Won-Lost Records in Baseball: Measuring Performance in Context, I looked at how batting and baserunning won-lost records correlate by component. Besides Components 3 and 4, there are two other Components of batting won-lost records that do not involve any baserunning aspect: Components 8 and 9, which, from a batting perspective, measure the extent to which baserunners are able to advance (Component 9) and avoid being put out (Component 8) on the bases. As seen earlier, Frank Thomas was quite good at these aspects of hitting as well. The other components of batting - 5, 6, and 7 - correlate reasonably well with a Player's baserunning record, which makes sense, since they all involve running to at least some degree (e.g., the ability to beat out infield hits, leg out triples, and beat the relay throw on would-be double plays).

The final table, then, combines Components 3, 4, 8, and 9, the components of batting which do not involve baserunning, and presents the top 20 players in career batting wins for Components 3, 4, 8, and 9 combined, over non-pitcher average for whom I have calculated Player won-lost records. In effect, this measures batting, controlling for baserunning.

		Top 20 Batters (controlling for baserunning)
		eWins	eLosses	eWinPct	eWOPA
1	Barry Bonds	228.2	110.4	0.674	113.7
2	Babe Ruth	185.4	71.8	0.721	111.1
3	Ted Williams	178.8	79.4	0.693	96.4
4	Mel Ott	183.6	94.5	0.660	85.5
5	Hank Aaron	220.6	133.3	0.623	82.5
6	Mickey Mantle	173.9	93.3	0.651	77.0
7	Lou Gehrig	153.6	76.7	0.667	74.2
8	Willie Mays	200.3	122.5	0.621	73.1
9	Harmon Killebrew	171.9	96.8	0.640	71.7
10	Albert Pujols	188.5	115.0	0.621	71.2
11	Frank Robinson	188.8	114.1	0.623	70.7
12	Jimmie Foxx	156.6	85.7	0.646	67.7
13	Frank E. Thomas	161.6	93.8	0.633	67.5
14	Mike Schmidt	168.1	98.1	0.632	66.4
15	Mark McGwire	144.9	78.5	0.649	65.5
16	Willie McCovey	162.1	97.5	0.624	60.9
17	Stan Musial	180.9	116.6	0.608	59.8
18	Gary Sheffield	161.9	101.2	0.615	58.3
19	Jim Thome	168.6	109.7	0.606	58.1
20	Eddie Mathews	161.5	99.8	0.618	57.8

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

As I said, Frank Thomas was one of the best hitters in major-league history.

Article last updated: November 21, 2019

All articles are written so that they pull data directly from the most recent version of the Player won-lost database. Hence, any numbers cited within these articles should automatically incorporate the most recent update to Player won-lost records. In some cases, however, the accompanying text may have been written based on previous versions of Player won-lost records. I apologize if this results in non-sensical text in any cases.

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