Excerpt: "The Honorees"

"For seven years, Frank Thomas was the best hitter I'd ever seen, batting .330/.452/.604 and walking about 200 more times than he struck out. He won consecutive AL MVP awards and finished in the top ten every year from 1991 through '97. He had a case for being the best player in baseball, which is an incredibly high standard given that he was a poor first baseman. He was just a beast in the batter's box, patient enough to work deep counts and take his walks, strong enough to destroy pitches when he decided to swing, coordinated enough to combine those talents and still not strike out much. We've seen a lot of amazing batters over the past 20 years, but it was Thomas who came first."