BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…August 15, 2011:
Just short of his 41st birthday, the Minnesota Twins’ Jim Thome hits the 600th home run of his career in a 9-6 win at Detroit. The landmark homer was a three-run shot and was Thome’s second in as many at-bats. He had 12 homers left to go in his career and would end up at 612, currently eighth in Major League Baseball history. (Little-known fact: Thome is the all-time leader in walk-off homers with 13.)
The sports world made sure the milestone was celebrated. Thome became only the eighth player ever to reach the 600 threshold, but three of the sluggers ahead of him were all tainted by the Steroid Era (Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, and all-time leader Barry Bonds). In Thome you had no suspicion of PEDs, no oversized ego. Just a blue-collar guy, great teammate and family man working hard to reach a pinnacle.
Early on in his career, Thome was not well-known outside of Cleveland, where he spent his first 12 seasons after not being drafted until the 13th round in 1989. That didn’t change much during the seven stops he made in the following 10 years, despite the fact he clubbed 30 home runs in 12 different seasons and topped 40 in six of those. But Thome was always recognized for his positive attitude and was known in MLB circles as one of the friendliest players in the game.
Later in the 2011 season, Thome would return to Cleveland, where he was indeed famous. The Indians held a ceremony for him on September 23, when they announced plans to put up a statue honoring Thome in the team’s Heritage Park. He would, however, join the Philadelphia Phillies during the offseason and would finish his career with them. Thome was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
