BIG HURT MEANS BU$INESS : Frank Thomas Created His Own Company so He Could Give Back to the People of Chicago and Prepare for Life After Baseball

The president of Big Hurt Enterprises commands a spectacular view of the Lake Michigan shoreline from a corner office on the 26th floor of the John Hancock building.

It would be enough to make Michael Jordan envious, except that the office has been empty lately.

The Big Hurt has been hurting.

A stress fracture in his left foot has confined Frank Thomas to therapy in his southside office--the Comiskey Park clubhouse.

The injury, like the players’ strike in August of 1994, has interrupted a season in which the White Sox first baseman, recently rated the American League’s best hitter in a Baseball America managerial poll, was manufacturing triple crown-type numbers and more.

Thomas is expected back in two weeks--time enough to help the White Sox catch the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central or win a wild-card berth in the playoffs.

Although frustrated again by the interruption, the AL’s most valuable player of 1993 and ’94 continues to produce off the field--a corporate success through the company that carries his nickname.

Thomas is not at Jordan’s level yet, but what other athlete took control of his marketing and endorsement business by creating his own enterprise, and now represents other athletes as well?

“This is what I want to do when I retire,” said Thomas, who, at 27, is working on a six-year, $43-million contract with the White Sox and is not close to retirement.

“I majored in business [at Auburn], love the competitiveness of it and want to stay involved in sports.

“I was having a career year in ‘94, and then it was gone. It started me thinking about life after baseball, the fact that it wouldn’t last forever and that I wanted to take advantage of opportunities while they were there.”

Thomas recognized the need to get a better handle when bombarded by appearance, interview and fan requests after winning his first MVP award in ’93.

Opportunities, he felt, were slipping through cracks--some delivered to the White Sox, some to agent Robert Fraley of Leader Enterprises in Florida, some not reaching Thomas until it was too late.

“Things got out of control after the MVP,” said Barb Kozuh, who was working for the White Sox at the time and left to help Thomas form Big Hurt Enterprises out of her apartment in August of ’94.

“I mean, his fan mail was backed up by 30,000 letters alone.”

Big Hurt now operates out of the fashionable building on Michigan Ave., with eight full-time employees handling his endorsements, fan club, charitable foundation and other marketing clients--Brian McRae of the Chicago Cubs, Jason Bere of the White Sox, Al Martin of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Frank Sanders of the Arizona Cardinals.

The foundation recently distributed $85,000 to several Chicago area youth and literacy programs, along with the Leukemia Society.

Thomas was 10 when a 2-year-old sister died of leukemia. The foundation hopes to raise $350,000 in 1997.

“Charity was a way of life for us as a family while I was growing up,” Thomas said. “We had to have it to survive. My dad recently retired as a bail bondsman, but he had several jobs trying to keep us going.

“Nothing was ever candy coated. To be able to give something back makes me feel great.”

According to Forbes magazine, Jordan made $40 million from endorsements in 1995, far outdistancing Shaquille O’Neill ($17 million), Jack Nicklaus ($14.5 million) and Arnold Palmer ($14 million). Thomas reportedly made $1.5, but it is thought to be more and his 1996 marketing income could top $5 million.

While Jordan remains bigger than life here--”He always kids me by saying he’ll send over all the business he can’t handle,” Thomas said--thousands of commuters are attracted to the Big Hurt daily by a life-size mural on the wall of a building near the Kennedy expressway--an ad for a Chicago clothier.

There is a candy bar and pinball machine carrying his name.

If that’s not the ultimate, he also has endorsement contracts with Acclaim video games, Ameritech calling cards, Donruss and Pinnacle trading cards, the manufacturer of a toy bat and ball, and the big one: a new five-year deal with Reebok for a Big Hurt line of athletic footwear and apparel.

“Along with Emmitt Smith, Allen Iverson and Shaq, we consider Frank one of our signature athletes and certainly our baseball icon,” Kent Richard, Reebok’s baseball director, said. “We took him on a marketing trip to Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong last winter, and the response was overwhelming. I mean, his popularity transcended the brand.

“The playoffs are the key now. Frank needs to reach the postseason to get to the next level like [Ken] Griffey [Jr.].”

Baseball has long done an abysmal job of marketing its own stars, a situation that may change under a newly created marketing division in New York.

In the meantime, Reebok’s commitment to Thomas and a similar investment by Nike in Griffey, has changed the corporate perception, the Big Hurt said, that baseball players are best marketed only on a regional basis.

“I believe that Junior and I have opened some doors, and we’re proud of that,” Thomas said.

“When you think about it, baseball players are the most visible of all athletes. We basically play seven days a week, six months a year, all across the country. I’m hopeful Junior and I have started a trend.

“There are a lot of young stars out there.”

Thomas has the statistics and the smile. He also has the magic of that Big Hurt label going for him.

White Sox broadcaster Ken Harrelson put it on him soon after he came up in 1989, only a year after Thomas was the club’s first round-draft choice.

Harrelson noted the hurt the 6-foot-5, 250-pound Thomas put on the baseball and came up with the obvious.

“I spent about $2,500 trying to trademark it as protection for Frank because I didn’t want anyone else capitalizing on it,” Harrelson said.

“I was going to give any revenue from it to charity, but Frank and his agent beat me to it, and I’ve never pursued it with him because he’s been so great about donating money and time.”

Since Thomas owns the Big Hurt name, he can use it in connection with other products. Air Jordan, by contrast, is owned by Nike.

Asked if he will always be in Jordan’s shadow in Chicago, Thomas laughed and said, “I don’t care what market you’re in, you’re going to be in Michael Jordan’s shadow. He’s a good friend who’s taken marketing to another level.

“Things fall in his lap because he’s the man, one of a kind, but there’s plenty to go around, and I feel there’s a lot that will fall in my lap because people know where to find us now.”

The White Sox, of course, can’t wait to find him back in the lineup.

They compiled a 50-37 record and averaged 5.7 runs per game before the All-Star break. They are 5-7 and averaging 4.3 runs without Thomas, who still ranks among AL leaders with 85 runs batted in, 23 homers and a .349 average.

The magnitude of his presence is such that Manager Terry Bevington said: “If Babe Ruth was hitting behind Frank, half the teams would pitch to Frank and the other half would walk Frank and pitch to Babe.”

An embellishment?

Well. . . .

--Thomas began the season as the only player in modern history to bat over .300 with 20 homers, 100 RBIs, 100 runs and 100 walks for five consecutive years, a streak he will probably maintain despite this first appearance on the disabled list.

--And seldom has there been a power hitter with his discipline. Thomas came in fifth all-time in on-base percentage and sixth in slugging percentage. The only other players to drive in 100 or more runs in their first five full seasons were Joe DiMaggio, Al Rosen, Chuck Klein, Hal Trosky and Al Simmons.

Full seasons? Not really.

Thomas had 38 homers and 101 RBIs when the strike began on Aug. 12 in ‘94--”I think 60 homers and 150 RBIs were a real possibility,” he said--and he was on pace this year to collect more than 200 hits, with 116 in 87 games.

“That’s something I never thought a big man would accomplish, but this was my best offensive start in many ways,” he said.

“In the past I’d look for one pitch to hit out of the park every at-bat. I’m a better hitter now, a more complete hitter.”

“I mean, ’94 was going to be a career year and this might have been. It’s frustrating, but I can’t get it back. There’s always going to be maybes and what ifs. I just have to make sure I’m locked in when I get back. My main goal is the playoffs, and there’s still time.”

What a time.

Thomas considers it a golden age for hitters in which “there are some real monsters out there doing some remarkable things . . . a period in which eight to 10 hitters may be headed to the Hall of Fame.” As one of the monsters, Thomas said he, Albert Belle, Mo Vaughn and Griffey, among others, tend to feed off each other.

He called it a friendly competition and a source of motivation that’s “beautiful for us, the fans and the game, even though the pitchers may not appreciate it.”

The beleaguered pitchers, having paid their dues, are helping Thomas build a seven-bedroom estate for wife Elise and their three children in suburban Oak Brook.

The public is also contributing.

Fan club memberships go for $19.99 or $39.99, depending on what value you place on his autograph and which package of Big Hurt key chains, pencils and stickers you desire. Both packages include a quarterly newsletter. Thomas has taken some hits for those rates, and they are currently being revised. At Big Hurt Enterprises, the president is asked to endorse more than products.