Frank Thomas died recently, but not
the Frank Thomas, a.k.a. the Big Hurt. No, it was this guy; he was 93:
Quote:
Usually playing in left field for Manager Casey Stengel’s 1962 Mets team, which lost a record 120 games, Thomas drove in 94 runs in addition to his 34 homers — a club record that stood until Dave Kingman broke it with 36 in 1975 — taking advantage of the short left-field foul line at the Polo Grounds, the Mets’ home for their first two seasons.
But Stengel grew tired of Thomas’s penchant to pull just about everything, which he felt often led to ground-ball double plays.
The Polo Grounds had signs advertising Howard Clothes on the fences near the foul poles, offering a boat to the Mets player who hit them most often.
One day, when Thomas was being doubled up after evidently trying to hit the sign, if not slam the ball over it, Stengel shouted from the dugout, “Ya wanna be a sailor, join the Navy!”
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