Today in Blue Jays History: Frank Thomas Hits 500th Home Run

13 Years Ago Today

Frank Thomas hit his 500th home run.

It was a three run shot, in the first inning, giving us an early lead on the Twins. Carlos Silva gave up a single to Alex Rios, got Howie Clark to fly out, Vernon Wells walked, Matt Stairs singled, scoring Rios, and then Thomas hit his 13th home run of the year.

Frank also drove in a run with a double, tin the 3rd inning of the game but his 4 RBI weren’t enough to win us the game. The Twins score a run in the 1st, 3rd and 4th innings, and then 4 more in the 5th, rolling to an 8-5 win. Silva got the win, even giving up 5 runs in 7 innings. Joe Nathan got the save. Jason Frasor took the loss, relieving A.J. Burnett with 2 on and none out in the 5th. He let the inherited runners score plus 2 runs of his own, off a Torii Hunter home run. Someone named Jordan De Jong pitched the final 3 innings for the Jays. I have no memory of him at all.

The 2 year contract that JP signed Thomas to before the 2007 season looked so good that first year. Frank hit 26 home runs and drove in 95, with a .277/.377/.480 line (one of the best seasons we’ve ever had from a DH), but the next year he started very slow, and the Jays released him after a handful of games, so that a vesting option, for the upcoming season, wouldn’t trigger. His release (and mistakes by our former GM) led to us be treated to the two-headed Menserson monster later in the season.

Frank finished with 521 career home runs and 1704 RBI, numbers that should get him into the Hall of Fame, unless, of course, we find out that he lied about not using PEDs.

Also on this day, three years ago, we shared this ad. I know it is an ad for Sport Chek, but I think it is pretty cool. After several tries, Kevin Pillar ‘blows’ out a candle with a thrown ball from 150 feet away. The throw that did it was perfect.