Latest / Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History / 1958 • Baseball Clip • Frank Thomas Interview - Radio

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1958 • Baseball Clip • Frank Thomas Interview - Radio · Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History

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  This is RetroSports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.
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  This is Frank Thomas of the Cincinnati Ridge. In a few moments I'll tell you about my greatest sports thrill.
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  Music
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  This is Harry Wismarff. What you're about to hear is a transcribed story of one of baseball's outstanding players.
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  And in event, our special guest Frank Thomas considers his greatest sports thrill.
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  And Frank himself is here to tell us all about it.
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  But first, here is Bill Radick with a message of interest from your United States Air Force.
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  In every sport, the importance of initiative cannot be overemphasized.
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  Recent servicemen, be sure you take the initiative today concerning your career.
• 0:56
  It will really pay you to take a new look at your future in the United States Air Force.
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  Here's why. The new age of space is just beginning.
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  It will be an exciting era full of challenge and promise.
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  Quite naturally, the Air Force will be on top of many new space age innovations as they're developed.
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  For this reason, the Air Force needs skilled technicians now.
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  If your specialty is needed, and it may be, you'll have an important job with a guaranteed future.
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  You'll find the Air Force is anxious to advance you according to your abilities.
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  Remember, your service gained skills are more important now where the age of space is now.
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  In the United States Air Force, see your local Air Force recruiter for full details on a great future in the new age of space.
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  And now, back to Harry Wismer.
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  On January the 30th, 1959, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds engineered a seven-player deal
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  in which it was generally conceded that the big man in the transaction was a large, brawny, young fellow
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  with a pleasant face, a menacing bat, a strong arm, a good glove, and with the unfortunate knack of not getting the credit to which he was entitled.
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  This, of course, was none other than Frank Thomas, now of the Cincinnati Reds,
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  who for years has been one of the power hitters of the National League.
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  Ever since Ralph Kiner left the Pirates in mid-1953, Frank Thomas was the top homer and run producer of that club.
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  For too long, he was the sole long ball threat in the pirate lineup.
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  Certainly, he was as valuable to the Pirates as were some of the more heralded players in the league to their clubs, if not more so.
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  Yet, Frank Thomas was more or less the unknown homerun hitter of the National League.
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  In six complete seasons and small portions of two others, Thomas accumulated 163 homeruns,
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  which places him among the elite of the majors in that department.
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  It wasn't until the 1958 season when the Brash Young Pirates came out of nowhere to scare the daylights out of the Milwaukee Braves
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  before finally settling for second place that Frank Thomas' value to the Pittsburgh Club was fully appreciated.
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  It was in that season that the 29-year-old slugger began crowding the threshold of fame.
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  Until a late season injury cut down the power of his swing, Frank Thomas was leading the National League in homeruns,
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  runs batted in, and was rated a solid bet to capture the highly prized, most valuable player award.
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  Equally impressive was Thomas' willingness and ability to play third base, sometimes in the outfield and occasionally at first base for the Pirates.
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  Frank Thomas finished the 1958 season with a 281 batting average, drove in 109 runs, and walloped 35 homeruns.
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  Forbes Field, the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, is a nightmare for homerun hitters and was the bane of Frank Thomas' existence before he went to Cincinnati.
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  In 1957, for example, when 219 homeruns were hit in Cincinnati's Crosley Field and 185 at the Polo Grounds and 172 in Evans Field,
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  only 73 were hit in Pittsburgh.
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  In 1958, 193 were hit in the Los Angeles Coliseum, 173 in Seal Stadium, San Francisco, and only 81 in Forbes Field.
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  Only nine of Thomas' 35 round trippers were hit in Pittsburgh.
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  By playing 77 home games in Crosley Field in 1959, Frank Thomas may have his most productive homerun season.
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  In 1953, Frank Thomas hit 30 home runs, and this was more than Ralph Kiner hit in his first full year as a pirate.
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  But in 1953, Forbes Field still included an appendage known as Greenberg Gardens.
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  A low fence built some 30 feet closer to home plate than the regular left field wall and constructed a repository for baseballs off the bat of Hank Greenberg.
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  When Greenberg retired at the end of that year, the garden was left intact.
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  For by then, Ralph Kiner was dropping baseballs in there with great regularity too.
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  When Kiner was traded to the Cubs, the pirates were suddenly confronted by a disturbing statistic.
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  More opposing home runs were going over the short fence than could be mustered by the home team, even with Frank Thomas' help.
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  So the fence came down.
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  For years, other clubs coveted a player like Frank Thomas, whom they knew could always produce 35 to 40 home runs a season.
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  They recognized him too as a skilled and versatile ball player with very good hands and reasonable speed for a man who stands 6 feet 3 inches and weighs 205 pounds.
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  They also were aware of his ability to play any one of a half a dozen positions and throw accurately.
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  As a result, the pirates were besieged every year with offers for his services.
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  They all were after him every year, says Joe Brown, the youthful general manager of the pirates.
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  I know Mr. Ricky once turned down $400,000 in cash for him, and that's a lot of cash.
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  Finally, desperately in need of catching, Thomas was traded to Cincinnati.
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  Along with smoky burges, the Red Legs also gave up pitcher Harvey Haddick's and third baseman, Don Hope.
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  Frank Thomas was raised in a devoutly religious home, and at the age of 12, he decided that his future lay in the priesthood.
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  Accordingly, he was bundled off to a seminary in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
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  Four years later, he decided he would rather play baseball, so he returned home to Pittsburgh.
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  He played sandlot ball for the Little Pirates at Carnegie, Pennsylvania, the hometown of Honest Wagner.
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  The coal managers of the Little Pirates were, logically enough, part-time scouts for the real pirates,
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  so it wasn't long before Frank was trying out at Forbes Field.
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  Frank Thomas signed a Pittsburgh contract on July 23, 1947, for a $3,200 bonus.
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  He used the money to pay off the mortgage on his parents' home and reported to Tallahassee, Florida, the next season.
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  Things went all right for Thomas in his first three years in organized baseball,
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  which saw him playing at Tallahassee, Waco, Charleston, and New Orleans.
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  But in 1951, when Branch Rickey took charge of the Pittsburgh organization, things began to go wrong for Frank Thomas.
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  There are those in baseball who firmly believe that Branch Rickey is the greatest man who ever lived.
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  From this group, Thomas would prefer to be excluded.
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  Mr. Rickey may know a great deal about baseball, says Frank now, but he didn't know too much about me.
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  He kept me in the minors after I was ready for the big leagues, and then, when I finally got up here, he wouldn't pay me what I was worth.
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  Frank came up to the Pirates as an outfielder.
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  He always had the ability to get a good jump on the ball.
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  He could run, and his arm always has been one of the best.
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  In 1956, Bobby Bragan, then Pittsburgh manager, had trouble at third base.
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  He tried eight different players at that position.
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  No one did the job.
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  Then Frank Thomas, who had long maintained that the 320 feet which separated the batter from him and left field, was just about as close as he wanted to get consented to try.
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  He didn't exactly start old Pittsburgh fans to talking about pie trainer, but he fitted, and the Pirates had no more worries at third.
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  For a man who never played that position before, says the current Pirate manager, Danny Murtaw, he did an outstanding job.
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  In 1957, when Pittsburgh found itself fresh out of first baseman, Thomas moved over there.
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  In 58, with Ted Klususki and then Dick Stewart available, Frank Thomas was needed more third, and that is where he spent nearly all of the campaign.
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  1958 was a good year for Frank Thomas. He won the starting third base job in the All-Star game, and won the National League Player of the Month Award in June.
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  The fans will miss Frank Thomas in Pittsburgh, because he is one of the most public relations conscious ball players in the game.
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  Frank never refused an autograph, and could frequently be found an hour and a half after games, standing outside Forbes field, writing his name on programs, baseballs, and bubble gum cards,
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  before an endless line of Pittsburgh youngsters.
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  Frank Thomas gets along well with newspaper men too, because he is friendly and cooperative, and never ducks a question.
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  Pittsburgh's loss is since and at his gain, because one thing is certain.
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  Wherever the Reds play him at third, first, or in the outfield, Frank Thomas will turn in a top-notch performance both on and off the field.
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  Now before you meet our special guest, Frank Thomas in person, in an interview from Crosley Field in Cincinnati, and hear about his greatest sports thrill,
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  here is a message of interest to all young men with an eye on the future.
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  Former servicemen, did you know that some Air Force jet fighters contain 15 times as much electrical wiring as did World War II aircraft?
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  It's true, and it points up the fact that today's Space Age Air Force is a highly technical organization.
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  Naturally, technical experts are needed to keep the many Air Force jets, rockets, and missiles operational.
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  Trained men, men like yourself, are needed right now.
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  If there's an opening in your field, you will have an important job with a guaranteed future.
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  Regular pay boosts, tax-free allowances for food, quarters, and clothing, and many other Air Force benefits.
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  Take advantage of your experience and background now.
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  And by the way, former service women are also needed by the Air Force, so all you recent servicemen and women see your local recruiter about joining the Space Age Air Force soon.
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  An important job in a promising career field could be your reward.
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  Now back to Harry Wismer.
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  Frank Thomas, what was your greatest sports thrill?
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  Well, Harry, if I'd have to go back to the greatest thing that happened to me in baseball, I'd have to say that last year, ending up in second place with the Pittsburgh Pirates,
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  coming from seventh place all the way up to second place where we were only eight games behind Milwaukee.
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  Frank, what's the story behind your signing with Pittsburgh when you first came up to the majors?
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  Well, I had a chance to sign either with the Cleveland Indians, but it so happened that a priest by the name of Father Moriarty and a sports writer by the name of Chili Doyle,
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  who was writing at that time for the Pittsburgh Son Telegraph, talked to Roy Hamey, who was the general manager at the time with the Pittsburgh Ball Club,
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  and they said that the youngsters here in Pittsburgh can't go to Cleveland to watch Frank play, so why don't you give him a Pittsburgh contract so they can watch him play here?
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  What was the big difference in the pitching and making the jump from the minors to the big leagues?
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  Well, Harry, I'd say the big difference in the pitching up here in the major leagues with respect to the pitching in the minor leagues is the pitchers up here know what they're doing all the time.
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  You face the best pitchers every day, they're around the plate, they don't give you too many good pitches to hit, so I'd say the pitching is more controlled than anything else.
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  As a power hitter, Frank, do you have any theories of your own on the art of hitting?
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  Well, as far as I'm concerned, as far as me telling somebody how to hit, I would say practice more than you actually play.
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  In other words, as far as hitting is concerned, try to hit the ball out in front, do not change your stance or have anybody change your stance.
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  If you feel comfortable hitting the way you are, hit that way all the time.
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  Frank, how much leeway is a hitter like yourself given at bat by the manager?
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  When I was over in Pittsburgh, Danny Murtaugh kind of gave me the hit sign almost at will. In other words, if I had 3-0 on me at a given time when we had men on base, he would give me the hit sign.
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  And it depends on the hitter himself because if you're up there and you have 3-0 or 2-0 and 2-1, the manager knows what kind of a hitter you are, whether you're going to swing at a bad ball at that particular time or not, and he'll know whether to give you the hit sign or not.
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  Do you, as a power hitter, accept being brushed back from the plate as part of the game?
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  I think it's wonderful to be brushed back. Harry, to be truthful with you, the reason why I say that sometimes your little lacks of days you go up there and when somebody throws at you, it kind of wakes you up.
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  So I feel myself that it's a part of the game and I take it as that.
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  What is a hitter's best answer to a pitcher's knockdown or a brushed back pitch?
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  Just go up there and try to hit the ball harder against them. In other words, when a pitcher throws at me, it kind of wakes me up and I say to myself, I want to hit that pitcher a lot more now than I did before.
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  Thank you very much, Frank Thomas of the Cincinnati Reds, one of baseball's outstanding players.