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:

My friends check out Time Magazine this week!! Big Hurt Beer has a cool full page ad in there!!
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) January 14, 2013

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:

12/12/12 Just Saying!! Great Day For BHB!!
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) December 12, 2012

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

Nothing like Family!! We Have 30 people over for Dinner!! The BHB is Flowing Nice!!
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) November 22, 2012

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

Happy Labor Day!! I hope your enjoying family with a nice barbecue!! Don't forget the BHB!!!
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) September 3, 2012

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:

After This Iron Bowl I will need to drink a case of BHB!! #Unreal
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) November 24, 2012

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

What a Night Tonight!!MNF and Game 7 NLCS!! 2 TV's and BHB Baby!!!
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) October 22, 2012

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

It's Follow Friday!! What a exciting weekend of Sports!! Lots of Baseball and Football!! Go Hard for your favorite Team!! BHB Weekend!!
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) August 31, 2012

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):

The worst beer ever. @thebighurt_35 you let me down twitter.com/paddys_place/s…
— Patrick Nowlin (@paddys_place) September 22, 2012

Hurt's response:

@paddys_place Still Love You My Man!! Stick with the Natural Light!!
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) September 22, 2012

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

I would like to wish all my friends a very Merry Christmas!! I know its early but I wanted to be first!!
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) December 24, 2012

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

Merry Christmas!! I hope Santa was great to you all!! He was a big hit at my house Lil Frank is still fired up!!!
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) December 25, 2012

Partying it up on New Year's!

Happy New Year My Friends!! What a Party!!
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) January 1, 2013

Marking the best of the start to the weekend:

The Start Of The Weekend What A Feeling!! TGIF
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) September 14, 2012

You Got To Love Fridays!!
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) July 27, 2012

Being humbled by old age:

At Golds gym working out!! Man this shit is becoming difficult!! LOL
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) October 18, 2012

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

Me and MillarGot Himmmmm!! twitter.com/TheBigHurt_35/…
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) October 28, 2012

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

It's my favorite day of the week! Make a difference MONDAY!! Set the tone for your week my friends!
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) August 13, 2012

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

Sorry my Twitter Family I was off line for 48 hours!! I had a death in the Family! My Uncle Donald Stroy Sr passed away!! RIP Uncle Duck!!
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) December 28, 2012

It was a rough 7 days but Family is what we all Value in this World!! When your mom loses her best friend It makes you reflect on life!!
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) December 28, 2012

So in his Honor lets have a fun night!! Uncle Duck never had a bad day always the life of the Party!!
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) December 28, 2012

I think I know where this is going.

Wait for it . . .

Well If you didn't know I'm drinking BHB as I TYPE!!!! Cheers!!
— Frank Thomas (@TheBigHurt_35) December 28, 2012

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.