Local Sports
Thome donates 500th home run ball
THE DAILY STAR
Jim Thome had an off day
to remember.
Chicago White Sox designated
hitter Thome visited
the National Baseball Hall of
Fame on Thursday to donate
the ball he hit Sept. 16
against the Los Angeles Angels
of Anaheim for the 500th
home run of his career.
His homer, a two-run
drive against Dustin Moseley,
came on a 3-2 pitch in
the bottom of the ninth inning
with the score tied at 7.
Thome’s shot gave the White
Sox a 9-7 victory as he became
the 23rd Major League
Baseball player to hit 500
home runs and the first to do
so with a walkoff.
Thome has since hit 36
more homers and tied Mickey
Mantle for 14th all-time
with a home run on Friday,
the day after he visited the
museum. Barry Bonds, a free
agent who did not play this
season but has yet to retire,
has 762 home runs as the career
leader.
Thome and his father,
Chuck, toured the museum
for 2 1/2 hours Thursday,
Hall Director of Communications
Craig Muder said.
Muder added that the two
got a chance to see the Hall’s
archives room and that
Thome got his hands on a bat
and a jersey used by Babe
Ruth.
“We walked around and
got to see the town a little
bit,” said Thome, who added
that snow canceled two previous
attempts to deliver the
ball during the offseason.
“It’s a surreal place, a magical
place. It’s definitely the
best off day I’ve ever spent, I
will tell you that. It’s wonderful.”
The White Sox lost, 11-3,
at Baltimore on Wednesday
night and start a three-game
set at Boston today. Going
into Thursday, Chicago led
the American League Central
Division by one game
over Minnesota.
Thome said Thursday’s
off day was the perfect opportunity
to visit the Hall,
especially since his team was
already on the East Coast.
“What a special place this
is. It’s special enough to hit
your 500th home run, and to
share it with your father is
even more special,” Thome
said before handing the ball
over to Ted Spencer, the
Hall’s vice president and
chief curator. “As a baseball
player, I know why fans of
baseball come here now. You
get a true appreciation for
how special this place is. It’s
something that I’ll never forget.
This day has been incredible.”
Chuck Thome, 73, fought
his emotions during the presentation
and while recounting
the events of the afternoon.
He’ll have at least one
special souvenir that will
help him remember the visit,
too.
Upon their arrival at the
Hall, Chuck Thome said, he
saw a fan wearing his son’s
No. 25 jersey from his playing
days with the Philadelphia
Phillies. Chuck Thome
said he asked the fan to take
a photo with his back to the
camera.
“He looked at me kind of
funny, but he really looked
at me funny when I asked
him to turn around because I
wanted to get the Baseball
Hall of Fame over the top (of
Thome’s name on the jersey),”
Chuck Thome said.
“Then I explained it to him,
so he understood I wasn’t
some fruitcake.”
Thome, 38, might return
some day as a Hall of Famer.
In addition to his 535 homers,
Thome has amassed
1,475 RBIs, 394 doubles and
a .280 career batting average
over 18 major league seasons
with the Cleveland Indians,
Philadelphia and the White
Sox.
His homers alone should
be enough to make the Baseball
Writers’ Association of
America consider him as a
first-ballot selection. As of
2008, the only player in the
500 home-run club who is eligible
for election and has
been overlooked is Mark Mc-
Gwire, whose career was
marred by allegations of steroid
use.
“This is the most awesome
place in the world,” Chuck
Thome said, his voice cracking.
“I think he’s going to
come up these steps one of
these days (as a Hall of Famer).”
A total of 24 major leaguers
have reached the 500-HR
milestone. Seven of those
players are still active. The
BBWAA passed on McGwire
(583) the last two elections
and will probably do the
same when Rafael Palmeiro
(569) — another former star
linked to performance-enhancing
drugs — becomes
eligible in 2011.
The other 15 are Hall of
Famers, and since Thome
has never been associated
with the steroids scandal,
that number is likely to go
up five years after he retires.
“I think that’s what we
dealt with. It’s in our era,”
Thome said about statistics
big hitters compiled during
the steroids era, which started
in the 1990s and continued
past the turn of the century.
“The bottom line is
baseball has done a good job
at cleaning it up and moving
on toward positive things.
You’re always going to have
opinions and everybody is
going to have their own opinion.
Ultimately in the end,
you know you did it the right
way.”
Thome said he believes
baseball is making the right
call with instant replay as
well. As of Thursday, MLB
will allow umpires to verify
home runs via video replay.
“I think the one thing that
it is going to do, especially
with tight races around baseball,
it’s going to help those
close calls,” Thome said. “Say
they call it foul. Then they
can go do the replay and figure
out if it’s fair or foul.
That end of it is good. It’ll
definitely determine what
the right call is. It will be interesting
to see how it all
plays out and how it goes
about.”
When asked if instant replay
might have given him a
few more homers over the
years, Thome said: “You
know, you never know.”
Thome hasn’t reached the
postseason since 2001 with
the Indians. He and Cleveland
also lost two World Series,
to Atlanta in 1995 and
to Florida in 1997. With the
2008 season nearing completion
and his White Sox in
first place at the moment,
Thome said this is a special
time.
“I was very blessed for a
lot of years in Cleveland to
be able to go to the postseason
and went to two World
Series and lost both of them,”
he said. “To get a chance to
be on a competing team close
to the start of September,
that’s ultimately why you
play. I always say, individual
things are great and you accomplish
those and are proud
of those, but when you walk
away from the game, you
want to be able to walk away
and be able to win that last
game of the year played in
baseball that year.
“I haven’t been fortunate
to do that yet, but it sure
would be a great thrill,” he
continued. “It would be something
for me that I would always
cherish. I think every
player strives to get to the
last game and win it all.”
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