André Thornton (born August 13, 1949 in Tuskegee, Alabama), nicknamed "Thunder," is a former first baseman and designated hitter in Major League Baseball who played for the Chicago Cubs, Montreal Expos and Cleveland Indians during a 14-year career. André grew up in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, in a family of athletes, and graduated from Phoenixville Area High School.

Amateur[link]

In 1967, a week before his 18th birthday, the Philadelphia Phillies signed Thornton as an amateur free agent. In 1972, the Phillies traded André to the Atlanta Braves, who traded him to the Chicago Cubs the following year.

Chicago Cubs[link]

Thornton, playing first base, made his major-league debut with the Cubs on July 28, 1973 and played for the Cubs until May 1976. He was named to the 1974 All-Rookie Team as a first baseman by Baseball Digest. Thornton had one of his best seasons in 1975; although his 18 home runs were only the seventh-best season total of his career, he hit .293 with a .428 on base percentage and a slugging percentage of .516. It was the first of six seasons in which Thornton walked more than he struck out.

Montreal Expos/Cleveland Indians[link]

After a relatively disappointing 1976 season, in which he battled injuries, Thorton split time between the Cubs and the Montreal Expos. After a short stay in Montreal, the Expos traded Thornton to the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Jackie Brown. The trade would prove to be one of the most lopsided deals of the 1970s; Brown would only pitch one more year in the majors.

Thornton sustained high levels of production through much of his Cleveland career. After hitting 28 home runs in his debut season in Cleveland, Thornton hit a career-high 33 home runs in 1978 (a total he would match in 1984). In 1979, he was honored with the Roberto Clemente Award, given to the player who best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement, and team contribution. In 1982, Thornton hit 32 home runs and batted in 116 runs, a career high. He also had 109 walks. From 1981 to 1984, he played primarily as a designated hitter; he won a Silver Slugger award as a designated hitter in 1984. Thornton played exclusively as a designated hitter from 1985 to 1987.

He missed all of 1980 with a severe knee injury that required two surgeries.^[1] In 1987, he started 12 of the first 20 games, but injuries and a decision to essentially bench him kept him out of all but 24 games for the rest of the season, including only seven starts. He retired after the season.

Thornton spent most of his career as one of the few marquee players on a dreadful team; he only played on a winning team twice (not counting the strike year of 1981) in his 11 years in Cleveland. He later said that while the Indians had some very good players, management simply couldn't keep them in Cleveland for any period of time.^[1]

Accomplishments[link]

He is a two-time American League All-Star. He finished his career with 244 doubles, 253 home runs, a batting average of .254, an on base percentage of .360, and a slugging percentage of .452. For three seasons, he was in the top 5 in home runs in his league, and he was in his league's top 5 in walks four times. Thornton finished his career with more bases on balls (876) than strikeouts (851).

Personal history[link]

In 1977, Thornton and his son Andy (André Jr.) were injured in an automobile accident that took the life of his wife Gertrude and three-year old daughter Theresa Gertrude. In 1983 he wrote the book Triumph Born of Tragedy, which is an account of the accident and his Christian faith.

In 1979, Thornton married Gail Jones, a gifted singer and former member of the Jones Sisters gospel group. In addition to André Jr., the couple have two other sons, Jonathan and Dean. Today, Thornton is a successful businessman. He is President and CEO of ASW Global, a supply chain management company.

Thornton continues to be involved in the Cleveland community. He sits on the Board of the Cleveland Council on World Affairs, The Cleveland Zoological Society, and the Cuyahoga Community College Fund. He is a member of Leadership Cleveland. He is also involved with The First Tee of Cleveland Program, a golf program which is geared to provide youth with educational programs and facilities that promote character development. Finally, he is a member of the Board of Trustees of Nyack College.

In August 2007, he was inducted into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame along with Jim Bagby, Sr., Mike Garcia, and Charles Nagy. Thornton is also a member of the minor league Reading Phillies Hall of Fame.

See also[link]

• List of top 300 Major League Baseball home run hitters
• Hitting for the cycle

References[link]

External links[link]

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• Indians All-Time Team

Shawn Thornton
Born	(1977-07-23) July 23, 1977 (age 34) Oshawa, ON, CAN
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight	217 lb (98 kg; 15 st 7 lb)
Position	Left/right wing
Shoots	Right
NHL team Former teams	Boston Bruins Chicago Blackhawks Anaheim Ducks
NHL Draft	190th overall, 1997 Toronto Maple Leafs
Playing career	1997–present

Shawn Thornton (born July 23, 1977) is a Canadian professional hockey forward for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. He is known to be an enforcer.

Playing career[link]

Thornton grew up playing minor hockey for his hometown Oshawa Minor Generals of the OMHA's Eastern AAA League. He was drafted in the 9th round (145th overall) by the Peterborough Petes in the 1995 OHL Priority Selection, one year after being originally passed over in the draft as a Midget-aged player.

He was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1997, 190th overall. He won the Stanley Cup in 2007 with the Anaheim Ducks and again in 2011 with the Boston Bruins.

On July 1, 2007, he became an unrestricted free agent and signed a three-year, 1.5 million dollar deal with the Boston Bruins.^[1]

Shawn Thornton warming up before a game in 2007.

With the Bruins, Thornton finally became an NHL regular, and he has become famous for taking on famous enforcers like Georges Laraque, Donald Brashear and Riley Cote. He also has his own video blog on the Bruins website.

Thornton was involved in the first fight in the history of the Winter Classic with Philadelphia Flyers agitator Daniel Carcillo on January 1, 2010 at Boston's Fenway Park.^[2]

During the 2011 Stanley Cup run, Thornton was a healthy scratch for several games as the Bruins chose to play rookie Tyler Seguin to gain more offense. However, many^[who?] credit the insertion of Thornton into the line-up during Game 3 of the Finals as a turning point for the series. Thornton's physical play changed the tone of the series and the Bruins went on to win four of the last five games with him in the line-up. On June 15, 2011, Shawn Thornton got to lift the Stanley Cup for the second time in 2011, the first time Boston has won since 1972.

Personal life[link]

On October 2, 2010, he and the Boston Bruins played an exhibition game against the Belfast Giants in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where his mother was born.^[3]

Thornton is a cousin of Bill Greer of the Edmonton Rush, Chris Brunt of West Bromwich Albion and Zack Greer of the Minnesota Swarm.^[4][5] He is not related to cousins Joe Thornton (currently with San Jose) and Scott Thornton (a former NHL player who retired in 2008).

Career statistics[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Shawn Thornton's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database

Andre Deveaux (born February 23, 1984) is a Bahamaian-born Canadian professional ice hockey player who currently plays for the Connecticut Whale of the American Hockey League (AHL). He was selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the 6th round (182nd overall) of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.

Deveaux was born in Freeport, Bahamas, but he is a naturalized Canadian citizen who was raised in Welland, Ontario.

Playing career[link]

Initially drafted by the Montreal Canadiens, 182nd overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, He made his NHL debut with the Toronto Maple Leafs on November 27, 2008 against the Ottawa Senators. In addition to playing with the Maple Leafs, Deveaux has been a member of the Toronto Marlies, Chicago Wolves and Springfield Falcons of the AHL and the Johnstown Chiefs of the ECHL. Deveaux is the first person born in the Bahamas to play in the NHL.^[1]

On February 12, 2010, after getting penalized for a melee in a game between the Marlies and the Manitoba Moose in Winnipeg involving almost all the players on the ice, Deveaux was alleged to have been taunted with racial slurs by a fan while in the penalty box. Deveaux subsequently threw a roll of hockey tape into the heckler's direction and was suspended for three games by the AHL.^[2]

On August 24, 2010, Deveaux signed as a free agent to a one-year contract to return to the AHL's Chicago Wolves.^[3]

On August 16, 2011, Deveaux signed as a unrestricted free agent with the New York Rangers.^[4]

On November 25, 2011, Deveaux was suspended by the NHL for 3 games. The reason given for this was delivering an illegal check to the head of Florida forward Tomas Fleischmann on a game between the New York Rangers and the Florida Panthers played on November 23, 2011.^[5] Deveaux was eligible to return December 1, 2011, however this did not happen as New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced Deveaux had instead been assigned to the Connecticut Whale of the American Hockey League.^[6]

Career statistics[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Andre Deveaux's career stats at Eliteprospects.com
• Andre Deveaux's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Andre Deveaux's NHL player profile