Muscling in at #36 is “the Big Hurt” Frank Thomas. Thomas combined patience, power, and an elite hit tool to put together a truly unique career at first base.  He won back-to-back AL MVPs for the White Sox in 1993 and 1994, finishing in the top-4 six times and the top-10 nine times. He led the league in on-base percentage, runs created, and walks four times, and OPS+ three times. He’s the only player since 1959 with at least 1,000 career plate appearances to hit .300 with a .419 OBP and a .554 slugging %. Thomas joins Babe Ruth and Ted Williams as the only three players in history with 520 home runs, 1,600 walks, and fewer than 1,400 strikeouts. He’s the only first baseman since 1930 with a least 500 home runs and a .419 on-base percentage. He’s the only player since 1960 to hit at least .300 with 500 home runs and an OPS+ of 156., and he joins Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds as the only three players in history with 10,000 career plate appearances, a 156 ops+ and 1,600 walks.

Hittin’ the list at #38 is Cardinals starter Bob Gibson. Gibson’s legendary performance in the 1964 World Series helped propel the Cardinals over the Yankees in a 7-game thriller, but it was his performance in the 1967 World Series that would solidify him as one of the best big-game pitchers baseball has ever seen. Gibson won all three of his starts yielding just three earned runs over 27 innings. His complete game, 10 strikeout performance in Game 7 propelled the Cardinals to victory.  Gibson’s brilliance over nine World Series starts places him right at the top of the list of greatest postseason pitchers in history. He’s the only pitcher to throw 30 strikeouts in a single World Series, and he did it twice. He also holds the 5th highest single World Series strikeout mark for good measure.  He holds the record for career K/9 innings in the World Series (min. 30 innings) and his eight complete games in the World Series are the most since 1940. He’s the only pitcher since the dead-ball era to average at least nine innings per start in the World Series (min. five starts). Gibson’s heroics weren’t just limited to the postseason. His 1968 Cy Young-winning regular season is arguably the greatest season by a pitcher since the dead-ball era. His 1.12 ERA in ’68 is the lowest single-season ERA by a starting pitcher since the dead-ball era (min. 150 innings). His .853 WHIP in ’68 is the lowest single-season WHIP by a starting pitcher since the dead-ball era (min. 275 innings). It remains the only season in baseball history that yielded 300 innings, a 1.12 ERA, and a .853 WHIP. After winning another Cy Young in 1970, Gibson joined Sandy Koufax as the only two pitchers in history with at least two Cy Youngs, two World Series MVPs, and a regular-season MVP.