Thome Thumps 600th

Of the more than 36,000 people who took their seats at Comerica Park for last night's mid-August tilt between the scuffling Twins and first place Tigers, I'm guesssing not even the most optimistic fans were expecting to witness history from Minnesota's Designated Hitter that evening.  Jim Thome had been stuck on career home run number 598 for eleven days, and hadn't enjoyed a multi-homer game since before Memorial Day.  His pursuit of number 600 had been a slow and steady crawl, and it culminated last night in consecutive plate appearances.

Thome may be old, but he can still hit

With Jason Kubel on first and the score knotted at three in the top of the sixth, Thome stepped in against Rick Porcello.  The 40 year-old slugger had already lined out and stroked a single, but this time he hacked at the first pitch and connected for a two-run shot to left-center field, no easy feat given Comerica's spacious outfield.  Since Thome probably had only one or two more ups left in this one and no one had ever notched his 600th career blast in a mult-homer game, many assumed the big guy had achieved enough history for one night.  But how long would he take to get his next big fly?  Would he pull an Alex Rodriguez and endure 47 pressure packed at-bats, make everyone wait another week or two before ushering him in to the exclusive 600 club?

Thome spared us the suspense and belted number 600 the very next inning, this time with a three-run job to left field that gave the Twins some much needed insurance runs in their eventual 9-6 victory.  It was fitting that he went deep to the opposite field, where only the strongest and most powerful hitters can consistently muscle them out.  Number 600 reflected the strength and skill that helped him become an elite basher who has done something only Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., A-Rod and Sammy Sosa had ever done before. 

The sad part is that few seemed to notice or care, a stark contrast to Derek Jeter's hyped quest to 3,000 hits a month ago.  It was appropriate that Thome's listless journey 600 ended then and there (not at home in front of packed crowds toting corny homemade signs while hoping for a slice of history), before reporters saturated us with depressing stories of how this great man and player was getting ignored and shafted by baseball fans from Boston to Seattle, before it became a hot topic for sports radio and pundits and twitter.  If he had waited a bit and let the hype build, his 600th and subsequent celebration would have just felt awkward and forced (as it is, he was lucky to get a nice ovation from Detroit's fans and a video message from the game's legends).  It happened 24 hours ago, and everyone has already moved on.  The steroid era has tainted home run accomplishments and stained its best players, even if they never sniffed steroids.  Thome has never been associated with PEDs, yet we treat him (and his peers like Jeff Bagwell amd Frank Thomas) like he has.  He's guilty by association, an unwitting accomplice in a decade long drug-fueled assault on baseball's most hallowed records.  It's not fair in a country where you're supposedly innocent until proven guilty, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles with this proverbial elephant in the dugout.  We've lost some of our reasoning and most of our faith.  We're quick to make snap judgments about players, careers, and achievements.  It's that kind of mentality that makes so many baseball fans skeptical of a guy like Jose Bautista, who went from a journeyman nobody to one of baseball's best hitters.  They disregard his hard work that drastically improved his swing and timing because surely, they argue, he must be on something.  For some, that's become the only possible explanation, and Thome is just another victim of this skewed mentality.

But Thome had long been underrated before he ever got a whiff of 600.  I think of him as a modern day Harmon Killebrew, another big strong country boy who made a living off the long ball (Interestingly, neutralizing his statistics indicates he would have finished with 596 career home runs; surely he would have hung on for 600 if he could have).  Neither could field nor run worth a lick, but both were gentle giants, excellent teammates and class acts that were widely regarded as the best men in the game.  Despite their prodigious power numbers, they were routinely underappreciated stars who played in Minnesota and never wound up on the roster of a World Series winner.  The Killer was undone by low batting averages, lack of respect for his high walk totals in a less informed time and a swift decline--he was done at 36, like many other stars from his era--and paid for these faults by not getting into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.  Thome deserves to be a first ballot Hall of Famer, as Killebrew did, and I believe he'll earn it.
 
So other than having the misfortune of playing with tainted sluggers during a period of inflated offensive statistics, why did Big Jim never get his due?  While I'm comparing him to Killebrew, he outhit Harmon by 21 points, eclipsed 100 walks in season nine times in an era when free passes finally got their due and posted a stellar 1.039 OPS during his age 39 season, the "Year of the Pitcher" and while playing half his games in a pitching friendly venue.  Sure, he wasn't a complete player with his meager 19 career steals and negative 3.8 defensive WAR, his .277 average is unimpressive and he's whiffed more than anyone not named Reggie Jackson.  But the guy did more than just swat home runs; he was a complete hitter and lethal offensive force that compiled a .403 OBP (higher than Joe DiMaggio), .558 SLG (higher than Mickey Mantle), and over 1,000 extra base hits (more than Al Kaline), 1,500 runs (more than Roberto Clemente), 1,600 RBI (more than Mike Schmidt) and 1,700 walks (more than Pete Rose).  His career statistics are superb, and he also played in two World Series and hit 17 postseason home runs, so it's not like he never got exposure on baseball's biggest stage.  So what gives?

I think I have three good reasons why baseball's version of Paul Bunyan never got enough credit;

Thome was never the dominant slugger in baseball
The guy mashes 600 homers, and managed to lead the league exactly once, with 47 in 2003.  He also led the league in walks three times, slugging percentage once and OPS once during his 21 seasons, and never finishEd Higher than fourth in the MVP balloting.  He has only one Silver Slugger (as a third baseman--scary thought) to his name!  How is that possible?  He was simply overshadowed by Griffey, Bonds, Sosa, Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Albert Pujols and Mark McGwire.  Check it: in 2001 he slammed 49 over the fences and set a career high the following year with 52, but didn't lead the league either year because a pumped-up A-Rod topped him with 52 and 57.  (Did I mention how this wasn't fair?) He only made five All-Star teams in this day and age where it seems like every big leaguer and his mother gets to play in the Midsummer Classic.  Thome put up outstanding numbers year in and year out, but he never had a season where he was the clear cut best hitter in baseball.  He was more like a rich man's Adam Dunn.

Bad Timing
Besides having his prime land smack dab in the heart of the steroid era, he also wore the wrong uniform at the wrong times.  After leaving Cleveland he played three seasons for the Phillies...before they won a World Series in 2008 and had the fearsome foursome of Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels.  Then he moved on to the White Sox...the year after they broke out of an 88 year World Series drought.  The Sox traded him to the Dodgers...who were overpowered by Thome's previous employer in Philadelphia.  And now he plays for Minnesota...the American League's perennial postseason doormats.  In short, Thome's had some tough luck with his career destinations and has zero World Series rings to prove it (in fairness, Ted Williams, Ernie Banks and Barry Bonds didn't win a title, either).  If he reverses his stints with Chicago and Philly, he ends up with a pair of World Series rings instead.  Go figure...

Bland Personality
He didn't chase strippers, play poker or say all the wrong things like A-Rod, alienate fans and reporters like Bonds, become a caricature and goofball like Manny, or hit dramatic game winning home runs with a warm grin like David Ortiz.  He didn't fight with teammates and throw temper tantrums like Carlos Zambrano, date supermodels and build mansions like Jeter, or grow a lumberjack beard and wear a spandex suit like Brian Wilson.  He was humble, modest, and quiet, a great clubhouse guy and role model who just went about his business and never attracted unnecessary attention to himself or get into trouble off the field.  He's a family man, not fodder for gossip magazines, so the spotlight never shined his way unless he was in the batter's box.  Although he's made a ton of money, he didn't sign any outlandish contracts and never earned more than $16 million in any season.  The worst thing he ever did was delay Ryan Howard's career by three years by holding down the first base job for Philadelphia.  Nice guys don't finish last, but they don't sell a lot of papers, either.

So congratulations, Jim Thome, on 600 homers and a wonderful career and a future plaque in Cooperstown.  And while I'm sorry you didn't get the attention and recognition you deserved, I have this sneaky feeling you probably wouldn't have wanted it anyways.