Last May I paid tribute to one of baseball's great sluggers - Harmon Killebrew - who had recently died. What's more, I noted the 'Killer' - a misnomer if there ever was one - was truly one of baseball's nicest guys. He was just a humble kid from Payette, ID, who could hit the ball a country mile.
Last week, a guy similar to Killebrew, slugger Jim Thome, reached a milestone that Harmon never achieved - 600 home runs. In fact, only seven others have reached that milestone. Thome became the oldest player (40) to do it but required the second fewest at-bats to do so. He also has the fifth fewest at-bats per home run (13.68). Only Mark McGuire, Babe Ruth, Ryan Howard, and Barry Bonds have lower figures.
Like Killebrew, Thome is a nice guy, once voted the second friendliest player in the major leagues by his peers. He still lives in his hometown of Peoria, IL. He is putting his ten nieces and nephews through college.
In the minor leagues he once got into a fight with the Braves' Chipper Jones, but the two became good friends.
Some question whether Thome will make the Hall of Fame. To me, it's a no-brainer, but he will be tarred with the stigma of playing in the 'steroids era', even though as far as I know, no one has ever implicated him and he has the repuation of being a 'clean' player. His career stats are already better than Killlebrew's. But Killebrew did win a Most Valuable Player (MVP) award and led the American League in home runs (6 times) and runs-batted-in (3 times). Thome is the better all-around hitter, although his strikeouts rank #2 behind Reggie Jackson. He has a higher on-base percentage, scores a lot of runs, and has well over 1, 000 extra-base hits. It is true that he has not played in the field much since 2007.
Like Killebrew, he will not be remembered for his fielding although he was a decent first basemen. During his best years he played mostly with a small-market team (Cleveland), overshadowed by the likes of Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez, so he did not get the media attention that others got. He was also a 'lunch bucket guy', meaning that he came to work each day, ready to play, without much fanfare or fuss. He's good in the clubhouse, and "plays the game the way it should be played".
Will he dilute or diminish the Hall of Fame? No way; he'll enhance it.
Just like Harmon Killebrew did.
"My dad told me when I went into high school, 'It's not what you do when you walk in the door that matters. It's what you do when you walk out.' That's when you've made a lasting impression." -- Jim Thome
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