Atypical Players: Gorman Thomas

[Warner2BruceTD]

Picture a typical major league CF in your minds eye. He's probably thin, can run well, covers tons of ground in the OF, and is a good base stealer. He likely hits near the top of the order, and probably ages well because even when he loses speed he's faster than half the league.

He probably looks something like this:





I seriously doubt you would picture a guy who looks like this...

 

Besides looking like a plumber, Thomas was the atypical major league CF in many ways.

A feared slugger, Thomas led the league in home runs twice for the 'Harvey's Wallbangers' era Brewers, including 45 in 1979. Plenty of CF in baseball history have been big HR hitters (Mantle, Griffey, Dimaggio, Mays, Duke Snyder, Eric Davis, Jim Edmonds, etc), but just about all of them were also slick fielders, good base stealers, or both. Thomas was neither. He was a substandard fielder, and even in his younger days, was a large, hulking man who couldn't run very well (50 SB vs. 49 CS for his career, and he averaged one triple per season over 13 years).

A .225 hitter who led the league in strikeouts twice, combined with his large frame, beer belly, and lack of athletic ability, equals a profile much more similar to somebody like Rob Deer, Pete Incaviglia, or that fat guy who plays 1B on your rec softball team, as opposed to Kenny Lofton or Jim Edmonds. How did this guy end up in CF? Has there ever been another center fielder with this type of profile? He may be the only player in baseball history to go directly from full time center fielder to full time DH. Thomas finished five seasons batting under .200, but also had five season with over 30 HR's.

Gorman Thomas, the most atypical center fielder of all time.

[killgod]

Totally would peg him for a RP.

[EmpireWF]

So why the hell did they have him playing center? There had to have been a better fielding CF in the organization.

[Warner2BruceTD]

So why the hell did they have him playing center? There had to have been a better fielding CF in the organization.

He was blocked at 1B by Cecil Cooper. The other outfielders were similarly weak defenders like Ben Ogilve and Sixto Lezcano. Early on, the DH was Hank Aaron.

One year they moved Thomas to RF and tried Paul Molitor in CF, but then 3B Don Money got old and forced Molitor back into the IF. This forced the Brewers to trade Thomas to Cleveland for a more traditional CF, Rick Manning.

Thomas ended up in Seattle, where he settled in at DH, which is where he likely belonged to begin with. After Aaron retired, the Brewers were using patchwork DH's like an aging Larry Hisle and replacement bums like Dick Davis. Keep in mind, many team used the DH as more of a throwaway position in those days, rotating the bench guys to get them AB's. It wasn't a spot for slugging old guys like it is now, that would become the norm a few years later.

[Primetime]

Three black guys as typical CF'ers. Sounds about right.

[FirstTimer]

Thomas' is an interesting dude. I love atypical stuff like this. Like even with Thomas, the two seasons he lead the league in HR's and was a top 10 MVP candidate he didn't make the All-Star team.

Little shit like that is alway sinteresting. IIRC one season where Juan Gonzalez actually won the MVP he didn't even make the All-Star team either.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I should also note that Rick Manning completely bombed, and Robin Yount eventually ended up in CF.

[Senser81]

From what I remember, Thomas was kind of a dunce on the basepaths, and not a very good fielder, but he was pretty fast. Kind of like a Kirk Gibson type.

Another atypical guy I could never figure out was Keith Moreland. I remember hearing that he played defensive back at University of Texas, but he was one of the slowest players I had ever seen.

[Villain]

Add the handlebars, mullet, and maybe 8 years:



Not the same, but maybe the most atypical for today...?

[NAHSTE]

Awesome. Hope this becomes a regular series.

[dell71]

Love the atypical players threads. Keep them coming. Full disclosure though: i never liked Thomas, thought he was another Dave Kingman. I was a big fan of his longtime teammates Cecil Cooper and Robin Yount. Yount could probably qualify as atypical himself. How many perennial all-star shortstops ended up in CF?
TXT8026/T05_0 UP.Browser/6.2.3.2 (GUI) MMP/2.0

[NAHSTE]

Love the atypical players threads. Keep them coming. Full disclosure though: i never liked Thomas, thought he was another Dave Kingman. I was a big fan of his longtime teammates Cecil Cooper and Robin Yount. Yount could probably qualify as atypical himself. How many perennial all-star shortstops ended up in CF?
TXT8026/T05_0 UP.Browser/6.2.3.2 (GUI) MMP/2.0

I was thinking of this when Jeter moving positions was being discussed this offseason. Not a shortstop but Craig Biggio is the only perennial all-star I can think of who made the transition that late in their career.

[Mogriffjr]

This is great...only thing better would be some Gorman Thomas highlights of him in the field.

[Goober]

Ordered a Gorman Thomas jersey due to MLB's nazi policy of not allowing custom jerseys with most big name former players' name/number on them (Yount and Sheets are both forbidden for example on Brewer jerseys).

Bumping to demand more atypical player threads.

[NAHSTE]

Ordered a Gorman Thomas jersey due to MLB's nazi policy of not allowing custom jerseys with most big name former players' name/number on them (Yount and Sheets are both forbidden for example on Brewer jerseys).

Bumping to demand more atypical player threads.

We need one on fat shortstops who can't run and one on left handed catchers.