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From a historical perspective, Frank Thomas is perhaps one of only two sluggers (along with Ken Griffey Jr.) to make it out of the Steroid Era with his intially stellar reputation still pristinely intact. His career arc followed that of most of baseball’s greats before him: a quick, nimble bat hitting for power and average in his youth, injuries as his career progressed, and his final years showing good, but lower production as his slowing bat changed him into more of a guess/mistake hitter.
The “Big Hurt” will always hold a special place in my heart as an A’s fan as he was a key piece of the 2006 team that broke the five-year streak of playoff misery to finally deliver a playoff series win (only to get swept in the ALCS).
Big Frank was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2014 a a “first-ballot” HOFer. He received 83.7% of the vote and was the first player to primarily DH (58% of his games were DH-only) elected to the Hall of Fame. Thomas ended his career with 521 career home runs, 1,704 RBI, a .301 career batting average, .555 slugging average, 156 OPS+ for his career, and 73.8 WAR.
Which is all great and all, but did Frank have any pretty autographed cards during his playing career? Why, yes. Yes, he did. Here are his Top Ten “best” autographed cards during his playing career:
#10 – 1991 Arena Holograms – Signature Series
If your keen autograph-authenticating eye is sensing something awry with the above pictures, it’s right – those are facsimile autographs. The real autograph is on the back of this unlicensed card from an obscure set:
This card came in two different parallels: gold and silver. Silver turned out to be the rarer of the two as it is hand-numbered to only 1,250, while gold is numbered to 2,500. In the above picture, Frank started to drop the “35” off his signature on the silver card, so maybe he was over it before he got to his 5,000 autograph target.
Still, with 3,750 of these floating around, this is likely Frank’s most obtainable autograph. Given that it’s unlicensed, it’s not a must-have for any particular fanbase (though he is depicted wearing White Sox pinstripes on the front). It is his first or second autographed card, though, so that should add to its collectibility for Frank Thomas collectors.
I personally like the hologram image and I’m watching some of these auctions on eBay to find a good price to pounce. Recent sales are showing this card can be had for $33 – 55:
Shop – 1991 Arena Holograms – Signature Series on eBay
#9 – 1996 Leaf Signature Series – Autographs
1996 Leaf Signature Series pretty much set the bar that all other sets can be measured against. This set had a massive autograph checklist and tons of major stars signing. Frank was no exception. There were three parallels for this set: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Frank signed 700, 200, and 100 copies for each, respectively, for a total of 1,000 cards.
The set has nice photography and a clean white front with nice space for an autograph. The back has a unique image, a career summary, and some stats.
The only detraction I have for this card is that the front image shows Frank taking a pretty defensive swing. I’d guess he got sawed off on that one. THAT’S NOT HOW I WANT TO REMEMBER FRANK.
That said, I wouldn’t mind owning this card. Here are some recent sales:
Looks like you (or I) can have it for $40-50. There are always a couple of copies floating around on eBay.
Shop – 1996 Leaf Signature Series – Autographs on eBay
#8 – 2000 SkyBox – Autographics
In 2000, Fleer/Skybox issued an autographed checklist called “Autographics”. Cards in that checklist could be found in several Fleer and Skybox releases. This Frank Thomas card shown above could be pulled in 2000 E-X and 2000 Fleer Impact.
I love the on-card autos and the photography (the player’s images really “pop” on the muted backgrounds) in the Autographics set. This is a good image that clearly shows Frank’s face and his expression is fun to read (you think he thinks it’s gone? I can’t tell).
While I generally like the embossed authenticity stamp that overlaps the autograph, in some cases (like the above image) it seems to impact the quality of the autograph. That makes me think the cards were embossed before the autograph. You can see the ink get broken up on this card and I see it as well on several “Autographics” that I own.
The back is of course incredibly boring and ugly.
While I never got the impression that Autographics cards were “rare”, we don’t know how many of these cards Frank signed. Recently sales are not cheap ($120-185):
If you don’t want to pay these prices, I hope you don’t gamble and buy a Topps hobby box just to end up with a Gavin Sheets* relic as your “hit”. *Sheets is a tough out – please don’t email me 😉
Shop – 2000 SkyBox – Autographics on eBay
#7 – 2005 UD Ultimate Signature Edition – Immortal Inscriptions
The 2005 UD Ultimate Signature Edition set from Upper Deck was very heavily autographed-focused. I believe this set was a “one-and-done”, meaning 2005 was the first and last year it released it. Most (or all?) of the autographs were on-card and there was a good mix of rookies, veterans, and retired players.
This card is part of the “Immortal Inscriptions” insert series, which featured players writing their nickname on the card alongside their autograph. They are very rare as Frank signed 50 of the “standard” card and a “one-of-one” platinum version of this card, for a total of 51 cards.
The design is clean, with a big white space for Frank to sign a larger version of his signature and nickname. The reason this card ranks lower on my list is simply that its a card from later in Frank’s career and he looks a tad long-in-the-tooth in the photo (he’s probably 36 or so in the pic).
While a copy of this card hasn’t sold online recently, a Griffey Jr. and Chicken Man card have:
I would expect a Big Hurt card to go for a little north of Wade Boggs’ recent sale.
Shop – 2005 UD Ultimate Signature Edition – Immortal Inscriptions on eBay
#6 – 1993 Leaf – Frank Thomas Authentic Signature
1993 Leaf was the first major set to release a Frank Thomas autograph. This card was available only in “Update Series” packs. As you can see, the card is serial-numbered to 3,500.
What do I like about this card? It’s early in his career, right when he was blossoming into a superstar. The front features him at-bat, getting into his distinctive crouch. The card is hard-signed. The back is also pretty unique, featuring a unique, large image of Thomas.
What could be better? The gray space for Frank to sign his name is not very big and not conducive to his slanted-style autograph. In the above image, the signature is spilling half into the image, detracting from the overall visual appeal of the card.
As you might expect from the 3,500 print run, sales of these cards are fairly common on eBay. 130point.com has about one a month recently ($60-150):
Shop – 1993 Leaf – Frank Thomas Authentic Signature on eBay
#5 – 2001 Upper Deck Ovation – A Piece of History Autographs
This 2001 Upper Deck Ovation insert parallel is the rarest card on this list with only 35 copies produced. The regular insert set: “A Piece of History” is a relic-featured set inserted 1:40 packs. The autographed parallel features seven of the games best players with on-card autographs, hand-numbered to the player’s jersey number.
Thomas was actually the most common card because he had the highest jersey number. A-Rod has a card in this set with only three autographed copies.
I like the on-card auto and the relic combo on the front. Frank usually tries to do a good job with his autos and neatly used the space (in the above photo). While the card is well-composed, I’m not a huge fan of the dual images and the card is a little busy. The back featured a duplicate image and the long authentication statement from Upper Deck.
While I can’t find any evidence of this card changing hands recently, a copy of Barry Bonds’ card from this set old in April of 2025 from $1,400:
Bonds went a long time not signing autographs (though he started up recently for Topps) and this card is numbered /25. Because of that, I think a copy of Frank’s card would go for half (or less) of Bonds’.
Shop – 2001 Upper Deck Ovation – A Piece of History Autographs on eBay
#4 – 1999 SP Signature Edition – Autographs
The 1999 SP Signature Edition Autographs insert checklist is deep and good. It’s a 150 card checklist, all on-card autos from the stars of the day, the game’s legends (Reggie Jackson, Frank Robinson, Nolan Ryan, etc…), and young players.
All the cards are in the horizontal format you see in the above image of the Frank Thomas card. I’m not a huge horizontal card fan, but the design does offer ample room for a clean, visible autograph.
What I like best about the card is the image of Frank’s humongous arms – THIS IS HOW I LIKE TO REMEMBER FRANK. You didn’t want to have your team in a close game late only to have the cameraman pan to the shot of this man on deck.
The back is typically boring Upper Deck autographs, but this one does have his biographical information.
This card does sell quite often, so I’m guessing there’s at least a few hundred of these in print. You can have one for $50-100:
Shop – 1999 SP Signature Edition – Autographs on eBay
#3 – 1997 Donruss Signature Series – Notable Nicknames
“Notable Nicknames” is a rare insert set part of 1997 Donruss Signature Series. Featuring ten players, all signing 200 copies of their cards, it is the rarest insert in this release.
What makes Frank’s cards more interesting and chase-worthy, though, are that he didn’t sign his nickname “Big Hurt” on some of the cards. In the above image, you can see that he wrote “Big Hurt” on the right edge of the card. Given Frank’s selective ommission, that makes the “nicknamed” cards all the more valuable.
I think the card design is particuarly attractive and Frank’s image fits very well with the design. The space reserved for the autograph is very dark, however. A silver pen would’ve looked absolutely amazing here. What could have been.
There has been a recent sale of this card in May of 2025. The seller accepted $300 for it:
Shop 1997 Donruss Signature Series – Notable Nicknames on eBay
#2 – 1996 Leaf Signature Series – Extended Series Autographs
For those of you thinking I might be obsessed with 1996 Leaf Signature Series – you’re right, I am. Frank must’ve been, too, because he signed for both the regular and Extended Series. For the Extended Series, it is reported that he signed 1,000 copies but the cards aren’t serial-numbered.
There is a parallel in this set as well – Century Marks:
Frank signed 100 of this parallel.
I love the clean, white design and ample space for the autograph. The black ink looks great with his black jersey (I am seeing online that some copies have blue ink). The black elements from the card take your eye on a journey through the entire card (read: I took an art class in high school). Frank’s expression is quite pleased – if that’s not a dinger, that ball is comfortably in the gap.
The back features a unique image and a blurb about his career.
This card does change has fairly often, with the last eBay sale $150 (I’ve seen some go for around $50, though):
Shop 1996 Leaf Signature Series – Extended Series Autographs on eBay
#1 – 2001 Pacific – Gold Crown Die Cuts Autograph
While I definitely prefer cards that have some easy way (i.e. on-card) of being authenticated, this card is too pretty to not make my list. Pacific had some of the game’s biggest stars autograph copies of its “Gold Crown Die Cuts” insert and Frank was one of them.
Despite no dedicated “autograph space”, this card’s design does allow for very readable autographs. Combine that with Frank’s usually thoughtful signings, I imagine that most of these cards look gorgeous.
While there hasn’t been a known recent sale of this card on the major online marketplaces, there have been a couple of sales of other cards in the set:
I would expect Frank’s card to be valued around Chipper’s.
Shop 2001 Pacific – Gold Crown Die Cuts Autograph on eBay
There you have it – my picks for the top Frank Thomas autographed cards from this playing days. He’s signing for plenty of new releases, too, so there’s plenty of opportunities to pick up nice Big Hurt cards today.