Tuesday, August 16, 2011

A salute to Jim Thome

Thome, currently of the Minnesota Twins, hit his 599th and 600th home runs last night. Out of all the umpteen thousand guys that have played major league baseball -- he's only the 8th man to reach that plateau. That in itself is very impressive. That fact that he did it against the Detroit Tigers is irrelevant. However, for a little local perspective, consider that Al Kaline, who many Tiger fans think was the best player ever to wear the Olde English D throughout his long and brilliant career -- hit 399 home runs. That's no small feat, but it's a far cry from 600.

Further consider that Thome has always been amongst the most popular players with both teammates and opponents alike. He plays hard, but he's a gentleman, a good sport, and has a sense of humor.

Throw in he's a devoted family man; no sordid affairs, no DUIs, no drugs or 'roids, no gambling, no dead dogs, no gun incidents, no talking smack, and no acts of stupidity at after hours clubs. He doesn't wreck cars. He wrecks fastballs.

I'm happy to see a class act like Thome reach such a milestone.

Cooperstown awaits him in a few years and it couldn't happen to a nicer and more deserving guy.

Bravo.





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