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The Big Hurt and Twitter, so bad it's good

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Frank Thomas
  • AP Photo/Mike Carlson
  • Frank Thomas
A few weeks ago, former Chicago White Sox power-hitting first baseman Frank Thomas placed an ad in Time magazine for the beer bearing the bruising nickname from his playing days, Big Hurt Beer.

I know this, without having purchased the issue, because he tweeted it:


And retweeted someone who took a picture of it. And another. And another. And one more for good measure.

In fact, Hurt mostly uses Twitter as the promotional arm for his imperial lager. Here are just a few examples from Thomas's tweet history.

Worried about the Mayan Apocalypse? Have a Big Hurt Beer:


Big Hurt Beer is perfect for time with your family at Thanksgiving:


Nothing is more American than grilling outside on Labor Day and slinging back a few Big Hurt Beers:


Of course, Hurt being a sports figure, there are many great tie-ins to the inextricable American pastimes of sports spectating and boozing.

After Thomas's beloved Auburn Tigers got stomped by Alabama, 49-0, in the Iron Bowl, you can bet Hurt was ready to drown his sorrows:


But hey, sports are fun, too! Like the time Monday Night Football and the National League Championship Series went up against each other:


And in some sort of amalgamation of Follow Friday and sports excitement, we get this:


Worse still, Hurt's followers have picked up on his love for promoting brew, and they will tweet their pictures and admiration, which Thomas retweets relentlessly.

Frank Thomas is "bad at Twitter"—"bad" in the sense that most of the time he is on there to flog product and offer cornball shout-outs to said product. Despite all of this, it's impossible to hate the guy. Because even when he is shilling for BHB (but especially when he is not), Hurt seems like an affable, happy-go-lucky kind of guy. Thomas is the anti-Jose Canseco: He doesn't take to Twitter to stroke his own ego or publicly bout with delusions of grandeur. Rather, Hurt comes across as a gentle giant—a big ol' teddy bear who loves connecting with fans.

Take, for example, his tweet to a BHB hater (whose criticism, it's worth noting, he retweeted):


Hurt's response:


Come Christmas, Hurt was full of holiday cheer, being one of the first to send season's greetings:


And also expressing joy when seeing his children get excited about a visit from Santa:


Partying it up on New Year's!


Marking the best of the start to the weekend:




Being humbled by old age:


Sharing a bottle of Jack Daniel's with Kevin Millar:


And Hurt always makes sure his followers start their week right with Make a Difference Monday:



The two Hurts, the pitchman and the gleeful slugger, converged in a series of tweets following the passing of Thomas's uncle:






I think I know where this is going.

Wait for it . . .



Of course! Did you really just turn the death of your uncle into a sales pitch for Big Hurt Beer? It sure seems like you did. Oh well, it made me smile. I bet you did, too.

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