We all know Frank Thomas from those incredibly tacky ads for testosterone. You know, the one where he winks at his friend's wife and says, “And she will like it too,” while she looks shyly away from the camera. Yes, that one. But did you know that aside from hawking questionable products that cause violent mood swings, he also used to play baseball?
They called Frank “The Big Hurt” for the incredible damage he caused to any pitcher who made a mistake. After all, the guy had 521 home runs and 1,704 runs batted in. That does have to hurt. Despite spending much of his career as a designated hitter, Thomas was such a good hitter that he has been enshrined in Cooperstown despite a lack of defensive contribution.
Aside from being a phenomenal power hitter, Frank Thomas also has a genuine killer smile. They wouldn’t let just anyone sell male hormones. They wanted someone with raw charisma. And Thomas has buckets of that, which comes off in all his cards.
The Best Frank Thomas Rookie Cards
Frank came into his own at the peak of the “junk wax” era. He was also highly rated and selected 7th in the 1987 Major League Baseball draft. So, lots of collectors held on to his over-printed cards. As you might expect, that is not a recipe for great value. Therefore, most of “The Big Hurt’s” rookie cards are worth very little.
But as you probably already know, there are some beautiful exceptions to that rule. There are some really cool minor league cards featuring the slugger. And more importantly, there are some wonderful errors and variations, some of which are worth top dollar. Therefore, the Frank Thomas rookie card selection deserves a closer look than most of his junk wax contemporaries. And with that smile he has, if you buy one of Frank Thomas rookie cards, “she will like it too.”
Frank Thomas Minor League Cards
Thomas was not in the minor leagues for very long. In 1989, the slugger made his debut for single A Sarasota White Sox. The following year, he turned out for the AA Birmingham Barons. After hitting .323 and 18 home runs, he was called up to “The Show,” that same year. He was a man with a purpose and way too good for the minors. But even in that short tenure, Thomas managed to appear on three different minor league cards. Only one of them has any real value, but each has its own charm.
1988 Cape Cod Prospects P & L Productions Frank Thomas Rookie Card #126
A PSA 10 sold for $101
Frank has more minor league cards than most players of his generation. That tends to lower the value of all the items. The 1988 Cape Cod Prospects P & L Productions Frank Thomas #126 card has a nice classic design. Of course, the lighting is quite bad here, so you can’t see that trademark grin. The card is also very common for a 1980s minor league release. There are 1,385 garded copies of this card. For all these reasons, this item doesn’t have much value. But you have to admit, it has a good deal of charm.
1988 Cape Cod Prospects Ballpark Frank Thomas Rookie Card #14
A PSA 10 sold for $621
I have seen a lot of cheap-looking cards in my time. But the 1988 Cape Cod Prospects Ballpark Frank Thomas #14 looks like no effort was put into the design whatsoever. I could design a better one on Microsoft Paint in five minutes. Of course, the forceps on Frank are incredibly impressive. But what else is new?
The price is surprisingly low, considering the population count is extremely low. But that has to do with the horrible design and existence of an earlier card in the form of the 1987 Pan Am Team USA item. It's also worth noting that this minor (in both senses of the word) release includes a Jeff Bagwell card. It is arguably even more hideous.
1987 Pan Am Team USA Blue BDK Frank Thomas Rookie Card #36
A PSA 10 sold for $1,283
I find the picture in the 1987 Pan Am Team USA Blue BDK Frank Thomas #26 confusing. Frank looks both terrifyingly strong and like the kind of guy who would carry groceries for his elderly neighbor. Either way, this is particularly attractive if you love the “Team USA” genre of cards. The 1987 Pan Am games set is relatively small. There are only five of them, so we are lucky “The Big Hurt” is among the few.
This card also has a red version, which looks remarkably similar. But don’t be fooled by cheap imitations (as Frank may say in his next commercial). That one is from 1990 and, therefore, worth a good deal less. There are 248 PSA-graded copies of this card, and only 14 are PSA 10s. And with that winning smile, you just know the value will increase.
Frank Thomas Rookie Cards
In 1990, the baseball card market was very competitive. Topps was still the most popular card manufacturer. It had also launched its renewed Bowman brand. But in the 1980s it had lost its monopoly and many smaller and beloved manufacturers joined the fray. Most notably Fleer and Donruss. But the big new entry into the field was Upper Deck, whose 1989 baseball set changed the hobby forever. Because of the timing, Frank Thomas has a plethora of beautiful rookie cards. Some of them even have decent value.
1991 Upper Deck Frank Thomas Rookie Card #246
A PSA 10 sold for $28
Ok, this is not exactly a Frank Thomas rookie card. But Upper Deck releases were the defining cards of the early 1990s, and this is the first one they made of the slugger. The downside of Upper Deck only having one annual release, which was fairly early, was that they missed out on some rookied called up during the season. So, you get to see “The Big Hurt” in the maturity of his sophomore season. As usual, the star of the 1991 Upper Deck Frank Thomas Rookie Card #246 are the impressive forearms of our hero.
1990 Topps Frank Thomas Rookie Card #414
A PSA 10 sold for $78
The regular Topps card does not have much value. There are three variants of this card that are worth quite a bit more, making the 1990 Topps Frank Thomas Rookie Card #414 seem drab and uninteresting by comparison. The massive population count of 21,364 doesn’t help matters either. It's also worth noting that Frank’s face is out of focus in this picture.
1990 Score Frank Thomas Rookie Card #663
A PSA 10 sold for $201
The 1990 Score Frank Thomas Rookie Card #663 features a picture of Frank with his trademark smile. However, for some reason he is dripping sweat here. The cheap “junk wax” era design really works, and will appeal to fans of the genre. And I always liked that “1st Round Pick” logo that Score used. It's a solid looking card. And it has 10,448 graded copies. That is a large number, but lower than many of the other ones. So, the price may go up at some point.
1990 Score Rookie/Traded Frank Thomas #86T
A PSA 10 sold for $227
No, your eyes are not deceiving you. The picture on the 1990 Score Rookie/Traded Frank Thomas #86T captures the man fielding. He even looks pretty serious about it. The card has the cheap but lovable look we expect from Score in this era, and with such an attractive picture, it's a great card. The value of the card has gone up significantly recently. Sales early in the year were all for under $50 for a PSA 10. And the last two have been over $200. That is a very good sign for investors. And there is a solid reason for that, with less than 4,000 graded copies, it is scarce by the standards of the time.
1990 Leaf Frank Thomas Rookie Card #300
A PSA 10 sold for $240
Leaf 1990 baseball had a particularly bad design. I’m a fan of simple designs, so doing a clean white border card is fine with me. And the Leaf logo has always been nice, so that adds to the card. The problem is that little gray pattern in the lower left side. It makes the card seem boring AND lacking in class.
However, the action photo saves the 1990 Leaf Frank Thomas Rookie Card #300. Frank is caught after hitting the ball, and clearly trying to figure out if someone is going to catch it. Either way, an unattractive card with 21,449 PSA graded copies, will never have too much value.
1990 White Sox Coca Cola Frank Thomas
A PSA 10 sold for $325
In 1990, Coca Cola organized a card giveaway at Comiskey Park (may it rest in power), to mark its 80 year anniversary. That happy incident provides us with an oddball Frank Thomas release. The 1990 White Sox Coca Cola Frank Thomas may be cheaply produced, but it doesn’t look notably worse than many other “junk wax” released of the era.
1990 O-Pee-Chee Frank Thomas Rookie Card #414
A PSA 10 sold for $800
The Canadian versions of the Topps baseball cards traditionally have the O-Pee-Chee logo on them. But for whatever reason, the 1990 cards had the American Topps logo on them. That kind of ruins the fun of having an O-Pee-Chee copy. Still, the 1990 O-Pee-Chee Frank Thomas Rookie Card #414 has the trademark French on the back. Most importantly, the lower pop numbers raise the value of this card significantly in comparison to the American base version.
1990 Topps Tiffany Frank Thomas Rookie Card #414
A PSA 10 sold for $2,751
The market for this card keeps improving. In recent years collectors have coalesced around one agreement, the Topps TIffany cards are the best investment among the “junk wax” cards. Therefore, the value of the 1990 Topps Tiffany Frank Thomas Rookie Card #414 has more than doubled since 2020. Sure, the Tiffany cards are almost identical to the regular Topps release. However, with 1,093 graded copies, only 105 of which are gem mint, the value will keep rising.
1990 Topps Frank Thomas No Name #414
A PSA 10 sold for $170,400
There are many error laden baseball cards. But because this is a rookie card for a Hall of Famer, and because there are only 245 copies of this card (and a single PSA 10), the 1990 Score Frank Thomas Rookie Card #663 has become the ultimate card of the player. But even on this card, the picture is still out of focus. Just saying.
Final Word On The Frank Thomas Rookie Cards Explored
The wide variety of Frank Thomas rookie cards present a good range of options for collectors. Most are not particularly valuable, due to their high population counts. But if you pay closer attention to the prices, it's clear that “The Big Hurt” has a good market for cards. All his rookie cards with limited (not even small) supply, have a fairly good value. And the massive market worth of the nameless Topps rookie card proves that Frank’s million dollar smile is good for more than selling supplements.
