A $25,000 bonus once kept George Thomas, a versatile utility player, stuck on a big-league bench as a teenager, yet he turned that odd start into 685 games and 46 home runs across 13 seasons, playing everywhere but the mound.
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That journey ended Friday when Minneapolis Star-Tribune sports columnist Patrick Reusse reported that Thomas passed away at 88. The Minneapolis native leaves behind a career that touched four big-league clubs and a coaching legacy at his alma mater.
Thomas wore Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, Boston Red Sox, and Minnesota Twins uniforms between 1957 and 1971, finishing with a .255/.316/.389 slash line, 430 hits, 71 doubles, and 202 RBIs. Those numbers came mostly in part-time duty, which fits the profile of a classic bench bat.
Thomas’s clubhouse presence drew praise from historians, too.
In a chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research book The 1967 Impossible Dream Red Sox, author Ray Birch wrote, “In 1966, Thomas played in only 69 games for the Red Sox and batted .237. But he had a sense of humor that was appreciated in the Red Sox clubhouse, and was a versatile, hustling player, a quality that earned him esteem in the eyes of manager Billy Herman.”
In 1966, after the Red Sox traded pitcher Bill Monbouquette to the Tigers for Thomas on October 4, 1965, Thomas hit .237 and became a backup after outfielder Don Demeter came in June.
But his path to that clubhouse started far less smoothly.
In August 1957, Thomas agreed to a $25,000 bonus baby contract with the Tigers. He stayed on the roster because of the Bonus Rule, and his only game in 1957 was on September 11.
Los Angeles gave him the breakthrough Detroit could not. The Angels bought his contract from the Tigers in June 1961, and he responded with 13 homers and a .280 average in 79 games.
Life after baseball stayed close to home.
George Thomas returned to the University of Minnesota, his alma mater, as an assistant from 1972 to 1978, then took over as Golden Gophers head coach in 1979.
Those three seasons produced a 95-43 record and a .688 winning percentage, and the 1981 team won a Big Ten divisional title and reached the NCAA Division I tournament.
Minnesota still presents the George Thomas Most Improved Player Award in his name.
That coaching legacy grew out of a playing career with one defining summer in Boston, and the details of that season show how Thomas earned his place.
How Thomas fit into Boston’s 1967 pennant chase
Few bench players can say they helped pull off a miracle, but Thomas can.
The 1967 Red Sox climbed from ninth place to the American League pennant through a four-team scramble, powered by outfielder Carl Yastrzemski’s Triple Crown, and Thomas contributed in 65 games for manager Dick Williams.
His bat was modest. Thomas hit .213 with 19 hits in 89 at-bats, drove in six runs and left the yard once. Still, he logged 43 games in the outfield, three at third base and one behind the plate, giving Williams options.
The October stage was brief.
Thomas pinch-hit in Game 3 against the St. Louis Cardinals and struck out against pitcher Nelson Briles. In the sixth game, he took the field as a defensive replacement in right field and grounded out to pitcher Hal Woodeshick.
Boston ultimately fell 7-2 to the Cardinals in Game 7, leaving the Impossible Dream one win short. Thomas never carried the lineup, but his glove, hustle, and willingness to play anywhere kept him in that pennant story.