Auburn legend and Major League Baseball Hall of Fame member [autotag]Frank Thomas[/autotag] will be honored with a statue at Plainsman Park. The Auburn University Board of Trustees approved the statue in a meeting on Friday.
“At Auburn I became a man. I was blessed to have Coach Pat Dye and his staff who pushed me to new heights and instilled football toughness and a will to win that I never knew existed,” Thomas said. “I was also lucky enough to have Coach Hal Baird and his baseball staff to help mold and prepare me for the next level. My Hall of Fame career that followed resulted from hard work, dedication and commitment. I was also taught at Auburn that there are no shortcuts to success, all of which I carry with me to this day. War Damn Eagle!”
Thomas signed with Auburn to play both football and baseball in the 1980s. He played the 1986 season with the football team before deciding to focus on baseball after willing All-SEC honors as a freshman.
He went on to win All-SEC honors as a sophomore and a junior and was a consensus All-American as a junior. He led the team in home runs and RBIs in each of his three seasons. He finished his Auburn career as a .382 hitter with 49 home runs and 205 RBI.
He was taken seventh overall by the Chicago White Sox in the 1989 draft. Thomas played 19 years, including 16 with the White Sox before concluding his career with Oakland Athletics and Toronto Blue Jays.
He finished his MLB career with 2,468 hits, 521 home runs, 1,704 RBI, 1,484 runs scored, and a .301 batting average. He was a five-time all-star and was named the American League Most Valuable Player twice.
He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014 and is the only SEC baseball player in Cooperstown.
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