A Neotraditionalist Collector's Musings: ... Random Stuff... Because I like random stuff ... And #5 ...

"Randomness and chaos make Lance's world a little more balanced"

First up, endorsement time. Mega Pawn in North Charleston S.C. Family owned and operated. Solid, good, honest, hard working folks with integrity. In business for years. Link below pic.

Mega Pawn

Hop in, to 1990 we go....

Frank Thomas ... #5

"Ahh 1990...Sunshine...No Bills...No worries..."

Big Frank. The Big Hurt. 1990. Intriguing year personally. "We learnt a few things". Card collecting by the Summer of '90 featured three prospects everyone wanted. Frank Thomas, David Justice, Kevin Maas. Frank I had been aware of for a couple of years, same for Justice. Maas was a touch older, wasn't as highly thought of. One card maker, after a year of producing no cards, Leaf, was back. With a great design, a rolodex of stars and prospects, and an overall premium product. It was better than Upper Decks original 1989 offering. A beautiful set:

I still say Griff and Prime have never had better looking cards than their 90 Leaf examples. Frank's 90 Leaf rather quickly became the card to have. Had a few in Act I. Have 3 now. 2 ungraded, which are nice. But my favorite of the 3 I have is a PSA 5 (Yeah I know 😂) that I plucked off eBay:

It is a gorgeous PSA 5. For longtime 1990 Leaf collectors, you can guess what the issue is on the reverse of the card that drops it from a 10 to a 5 😏 Beautiful display card, is it not 😍

Frank would go on to a Hall of Fame career. From his call-up in August 1990 through the 1997 season he was the best hitter I've ever seen play. Seven and a half seasons of pure offensive excellence.

Stats link:

The Big Hurt

Frank would have one more "Vintage Frank" season in 2000:

.328BA .436OB .625SLG 43HR 143RBI 115R

Bonkers stats.

Injuries, off field interests and age related decline brought an end to Frank's historic seasons and stats. Though he did fashion a couple of really good slugger-esque, gonna pull the ball more, seasons in Oakland and Toronto. My guess is Frank knew the best way he could be productive as a DH at that point for Oakland and Toronto was less walks, willing to swing at pitches out of his zone more, and he certainly became more of a pull hitter. There's an argument to be made that Thomas was deserving of the 2006 AL MVP (he placed 3rd). In some ways he had two careers. The best Right Handed batter I've seen play, Frank was a generational player.

Frank found his way into my current collection in October 2014.

A few Frank cards link:

Frank Thomas

Intermezzo

Here's Faith No More with their Top 10 hit, Epic, from the Summer of '90