{"id":641141,"date":"2026-03-24T18:47:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/641141\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T18:47:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:47:26","slug":"frank-thomas-suing-white-sox-nike-and-fanatics-over-city-connect-jersey-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/641141\/","title":{"rendered":"Frank Thomas suing White Sox, Nike and Fanatics over City Connect jersey sales"},"content":{"rendered":"

Frank Thomas has filed a lawsuit against the Chicago White Sox, Nike and Fanatics, accusing them of profiting from the sale of City Connect 2.0 jerseys<\/a> bearing his name without his consent.<\/p>\n

The former White Sox slugger is seeking at least $50,000 and punitive damages, according to the lawsuit filed through Cook County (Ill.) circuit court.<\/p>\n

Thomas claims he has received no compensation or other consideration from Nike, Fanatics and the White Sox for the use of his name and likeness, and the retention of benefits those companies received outside of Thomas\u2019 consent violates \u201cfundamental principles of justice, equity, good conscience, and fair play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe White Sox do not comment on on-going litigation,\u201d the team said in a statement to The Athletic.<\/p>\n

Nike would not comment on the lawsuit, while Fanatics couldn\u2019t be reached for comment. The City Connect 2.0 jersey with Thomas\u2019 name and number on it is still available on Nike and Fanatics\u2019 websites.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Frank<\/p>\n

\n The White Sox City Connect 2.0 jersey, bearing Thomas\u2019 name and number. (Courtesy of Nike)<\/p>\n

Thomas\u2019 lawsuit attaches the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Chicago Bulls (the City Connect 2.0 uniform\u2019s design was inspired by those of the Bulls, who, like the White Sox, are owned by Jerry Reinsdorf) and a slew of retailers, including Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods, Academy, Kohl\u2019s, Lids and Macy\u2019s as respondents in discovery.<\/p>\n

An attorney for Thomas told Front Office Sports, \u201cThe lawsuit speaks for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas spent much of his Hall of Fame career with the White Sox, hitting 448 of his 521 career home runs for Chicago. The team retired his No. 35 in 2010, and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014. Thomas also served as a White Sox consultant for business operations in 2016.<\/p>\n

However, the lawsuit is the latest issue in Thomas\u2019 up-and-down relationship with the White Sox. Last month, Thomas criticized the team\u2019s handling<\/a> of a post via X commemorating the start of Black History Month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The White Sox shared a timeline of the franchise\u2019s \u201cmomentous firsts\u201d with Thomas, the organization\u2019s career home-run leader, isn\u2019t mentioned once on the graphic, where it is noted that Dick Allen was the first Black player to win league MVP as a member of the White Sox, with Thomas joining the late Hall of Famer with MVP nods in 1993 and 1994.<\/p>\n

Thomas replied to the team\u2019s post on X. \u201cI guess the black player who made you rich over there and holds all your records is forgettable! Don\u2019t worry I\u2019m taking receipts,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Near the end of Thomas\u2019 playing career, he clashed publicly with then White Sox general manager Ken Williams, with the most notable dispute centered on the team\u2019s 2002 decision to invoke a \u201cdiminished skills\u201d clause in Thomas\u2019 contract, which allowed the organization to reduce his pay.<\/p>\n

Williams, who in 2000 became the White Sox\u2019s first Black general manager and the third Black GM in MLB history, was mentioned three times in the team\u2019s Black History Month graphic.<\/p>\n

The bitter feud between Thomas and Williams<\/a> remained evident in 2006 after the slugger had joined the Athletics.<\/p>\n

\u201cBelieve me, it\u2019s not easy to deal with an idiot,\u201d Williams told reporters. \u201cAnd this man, over the course of the years, has tried my patience and tried it and tried it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Athletic maintains full editorial independence in all our coverage. When you click or make purchases through our links, we may earn a commission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Frank Thomas has filed a lawsuit against the Chicago White Sox, Nike and Fanatics, accusing them of profiting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2379],"tags":[5,138,49,2561,5110,4,165,396,2562],"class_list":{"0":"post-641141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-white-sox","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-white-sox","11":"tag-chicagowhitesox","12":"tag-memorabilia-collectibles","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-sports-business","15":"tag-white-sox","16":"tag-whitesox"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116285647766342546","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}