Columbus native Frank Thomas, fans blast his former team for controversial post
The omission of Columbus native Frank Thomas from a Chicago White Sox social media post has sparked outrage from fans — and the Big Hurt himself.
The White Sox posted Sunday on their X account, “In celebration of Black History Month, we reflect upon momentous firsts for the White Sox organization.”
The post displays a graphic with photos and blurbs about notable achievements by Black players and officials in team history, such as Ken Williams and Jerry Manuel in 2001 becoming Major League Baseball’s first Black general manager and manager tandem.
Thomas is mentioned — without his photo — as a side note in the blurb highlighting Dick Allen becoming the first Black player in White Sox history to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award.
“Frank Thomas joined Allen as MVP in 1993-94,” the graphic says.
About an hour after that message was posted, Thomas wrote in reply, “I Guess the black player who made you rich over there and holds all your records is forgettable! Don’t worry I’m taking Receipts!”
The person with the X account named “big white sox fan” wrote in response, “I love Frank, but what ‘first’ does he represent?”
Then Brant Valach countered by writing, “I’ll help you idiots out,” and listed some of Thomas’ accomplishments:
- First Black player to win back-to-back MLB Most Valuable Player Awards
- One of 10 Black players with 500 home runs
- White Sox retired his number
- White Sox erected a statue in his honor
- World Series champion
- Inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame
- “Face of the franchise for a decade”
Frank Fleming summed up the disbelief about the omission when he wrote, “How do you screw this up this badly? You make a graphic for black history and leave out Frank Thomas the best player in White Sox history.”
The Ledger-Enquirer tried to get an answer to that question but didn’t reach a White Sox official before publication.
