CHICAGO -- Frank Thomas shed a few tears moments after seeing his picture and No. 35 unveiled on the outfield wall as the Chicago White Sox retired the number of their greatest hitter in team history on Sunday before a game against the New York Yankees.

Frank Thomas left the White Sox in 2005 with 448 home runs, a team record. Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Thomas, who batted .307 and hit 448 home runs of his 521 career home runs with the White Sox from 1990-2005, was celebrated by a number of former coaches and teammates as part of "Frank Thomas Day" at U.S. Cellular Field.

White Sox broadcaster Ken "Hawk" Harrelson was the emcee of on-field the ceremony.

"At this point, I'm emotionally drained," Thomas said. "I didn't expect it but to see a montage like that and to give Hawk a hug, the tears started flowing with Hawk; it got me. And then to see the picture on the wall just broke me down.

"Eighteen years in this game and 16 full ones here, it brought back a lot of memories, thinking about all the teammates and all the great times, good and bad times. It just got to me. I was emotionally caught up. I'm a very proud man and this probably was the proudest day of my life."

Among those on hand to see Thomas become the ninth White Sox player to have his number retired were Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk and Jermaine Dye, who both played with him. They got big ovations along with Billy Pierce and Minnie Minoso, while former manager Terry Bevington got booed.

There was a video tribute for Thomas, who was then presented a painting and framed jersey by chairman Jerry Reinsdorf near home plate before his image with the No. 35 was unveiled along the wall in left-center and fireworks went off.

Thomas is smiling with a bat on his shoulder in his outfield wall photo that is located between the photos and numbers of Pierce and Carlton Fisk. In fact, Pierce and Fisk revealed Thomas' wall portrait during the ceremony.

The honors for Thomas didn't stop with his number being retired. The White Sox also announced on Sunday that Thomas will get a life-size bronze statue on the outfield concourse to be unveiled in 2011.

"That's going to be great," Thomas said. "We've measured up for it already. ... It's going be a swinging stance, so it's going to be nice."