Andre Thornton was a first baseman and designated hitter who
hit 253 home runs in the 70s and 80s, playing mostly for the Indians but
originally for the Cubs. He is both the best and the best-documented player to
randomly pop up so far; he has an excellent biography at sabr.org as well as a
pretty decent Wikipedia page, so there’s no point in me attempting anything
major here.
Andre was born in Alabama, but his family moved to
Pennsylvania when he was a child. After graduating from high school in 1967 he
was signed by the Phillies. He spent six years in the minors, gradually
improving as a hitter and moving from the Phillies organization to the Braves
to the Cubs, for whom he made his major league debut in 1973. He had an
excellent year in 1975, hitting .293/.428/.516 with 18 home runs in 372
at-bats, and 88 walks. In May of 1976 he was traded to the Expos; he hit poorly
both before and after the trade, then was traded again, to the Indians, after
the season. In his first three seasons in Cleveland he averaged 29 homers, 89
RBI and 84 walks, though his batting average fell off from the .260s to .233 in
1979. Meanwhile, after the ’77 season he and his family had been in an auto
accident that killed his wife and one of their two children. This and his
devout Christianity are the two personal things that I have always remembered
about Andre.
Andre missed the entire 1980 season with a knee injury, and
part of 1981 with a broken hand (before this point he had been mainly a first
baseman, afterwards he was mainly a designated hitter). But in 1982 he came
back big, with 32 homers and career highs with 116 RBI and 109 walks. In ’83 his
power fell off, but in ’84 he was back to 33 home runs and 99 RBI. He was 35
years old by the end of the season and it was his last really good year; 1985
and 1986 were not up to his previous standards, and in 1987 he only played in
36 games and then retired. Thanks to playing mainly with the Cubs and Indians,
he never played in the playoffs, let alone the World Series. In the years since
he has been a successful entrepreneur and inspirational speaker.
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