http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2010-09-08-twins-royals-thome_N.htm -------------------------------------------------- "Just seconds after the White Sox score flashed final, he went deep in the sixth inning on a 3-2 count to make it 10-2. This was Thome's 22nd homer of the season, estimated by the team's media relations staff at 452 feet. It tied him with Frank Robinson for eighth place on the career list with 586.
"He keeps hitting it farther and farther and farther," Young said. -------------------------------------------------- It's amazing how over the past two weeks listening to the fans come alive more and more when Thome comes to the plate. Last night was just nuts! Keep it up, Big Jim.
It is amazing that Thome is creeping up on 600 home runs and he's never gotten the attention commensurate with being one of the all-time great sluggers.
Of course, of the 7 players who have reached that mark, four have done so fairly recently--and three of those four have been pretty conclusively linked to steroid use. Thome either has gotten away with using steroids, OR he's really been shortchanged in attention and credit because he's was doing it cleanly and getting overshadowed by players who weren't. I certainly hope it's the latter.
Had the pleasure of running into Thome a few years ago at a work function, and the stories of him being a grade-A nice guy are true. He couldn't have been friendlier or more generous with his time.
It's for this reason that I think he'll get into the HOF no questions asked, and not just because of the lack of taint on his home runs. He's beloved by the media, teammates and the baseball world in general even though he never quite got the attention of the other slugging stars. (And even playing in Chicago and Philly.)
He was always that hitter you DIDN'T want up if your team was beating his. Hopefully he'll move up[ the charts and get a nice HOF buzz going before he retires.
Thread ahead: Justin Morneau working out on the field. Next thread: Bob Davidson just threw out a FAN! Previous thread: Nyjer Morgan charges mound; suspension obviously imminent
We just traded away our LOCKED IN choice of catcher through 2005 to the Mariners for... ...ANOTHER SHORT STOP. Here are the guys I can remember playing SS for the team since 1998:
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