Posted on July 20 2011 by Caitlin Carver

MSF QuickCast #3: Jim Thome Deserves More Attention and Respect as He Pursues 600 Home Runs and the Hall of Fame

In the third MSF QuickCast, Jerod Morris discusses the lack of attention surrounding Jim Thomes quest for 600 home runs, as well as Thomes Hall of Fame credentials and why they merit the Bunyanesque masher being a first ballot entrant.

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For those of you who would rather read than listen, here is the transcript for this quickcast:

If you would have told me as recently as 5-6 years ago that I would be saying what I am about to say, I would have said you are crazy. But here I am, about to extol the virtues of a baseball player who for years was my sworn, mortal enemy.

You see, I’m a little miffed. Im miffed that Jim Thome is not getting more attention as he approaches entry into one of the most sacred clubs in sports history: the 600 home run club.

I also a little miffed at, and definitely do not understand, the questioning I have seen and heard of Thome’s Hall of Fame credentials.

When Jim Thome gets to 600 home runs, he will be just the 8th man to reach that rarified air, joining Barry, Hank, The Babe, Willie, The Kid, ARod, and Slammin’ Sammy. And if you want to insert a little real talk into this debate, Thome will become just the fifth member of the 600 home run club who was not either proven or strongly, strongly suspected of juicing.

So where is the attention for this extremely rare and exciting feat?

It was not long ago that ARod was approaching 600 home runs. It seemed like an eternity passed between his 599th and 600th home run, and I remember being constantly inundated with updates and live look-ins at his at bats. I realize that ARod is a much higher profile player than Thome, and I realize that the pinstripes have a lot to do the excess attention, but shouldn’t a man like Thome, who embodies absolutely everything we supposedly want our athletes to be, galvanize at least 40-50% of that attention?

I don’t care that he’s not playing every day. I don’t care that he’s toiling for a team struggling in 4th place. And I don’t care that he’s only a DH tasked with pretty much one job at this point: mash home runs. This is Jim Thome.  In baseball, there is nothing more productive that one man can do in a single action than hit a home run. Nothing. And in baseball’s history, only seven men have done it more often than Jim Thome.

That’s worth celebrating, yet Thome – who spent the vast majority of his career in the Midwest – is flying so far under the radar that his quest for 600 home runs isn’t even common knowledge to the casual baseball fan. Which is ridiculous.

What is also ridiculous is questioning of Thome’s Hall of Fame credentials.

It used to be that 500 home runs was an automatic ticket to Cooperstown. It isn’t any longer now that steroids and jackwagons like Rafael Palmeiro ruined it. That’s fine with me though. But 600 home runs?

Again, only seven people in the history of Major League Baseball have hit more home runs than Thome has right now. Seven. The magnitude of the home run is so great that being that high up on the all-time list should make you a no-brainer, automatic, no questions asked Hall of Famer even if the rest of your numbers are subpar.

But have you looked at Jim Thome’s career stats? They are far from subpar.

  • He’s a .277 career hitter; not bad for a Bunyanesque masher.
  • And if you have a gripe with his batting average, consider that Thome’s career on base percentage is .403 which, for comparison’s sake, is 20 points higher than Derek Jeter’s.
  • Thome’s career OPS is .960, the 17th highest total of all time.
  • He also has 1,646 RBIs and 8 seasons of 100+ runs.

I hear the arguments against him. He struck out a lot – true, over 2400 times – and he wasn’t the greatest defender, and he never finished in the top 3 in the MVP voting, and he’s just hanging on accumulating numbers and blah, blah, frieking blah.

Excuse my strong language, but would you cut the malarkey? Seriously.

You don’t just, quote, “accumulate” 600 home runs. Jim Thome is still playing because he brings value to the Minnesota Twins, just like he brought value to my White Sox before they foolishly let him go. He’s still a threat to go deep every time he steps to the plate and points his bat menacingly at the bleachers, and that’s a rare, valuable commodity in baseball.

You know what else is a rare and valuable commodity in baseball, heck in sports? Thome’s character and leadership, both of which should be factored in when his name comes up for Hall consideration.

My feeling on character and leadership is that they should not necessarily work against a player when it comes to the Hall of Fame, especially if their talent and achievements were so great as to make them Hall worthy despite their shortcomings. I actually think guys like Pete Rose and the best of the steroid turds like Bonds, Sosa, and McGwire, should all be in the Hall of Fame in spite of their swollen heads, shrunken balls, and sold-out integrity, though that’s a debate for another day.

I do, however, think that excessively strong character and leadership should work for a player, especially if people have foolishly placed him on the Hall’s borderline. If you don’t think Jim Thome is a Hall of Famer just based on the merit of his on-field accomplishments, fine. Reasonable minds can disagree I suppose.

But consider Thome’s integrity during a time when so many of peers sacrificed theirs. Consider his impeccable attitude, which is why proven winners like Ozzie Guillen, Joe Torre, and Ron Gardenhire have wanted him around despite his declining skills. Consider his presence in the lineup and what it meant for the great players who hit in front of Thome and benefitted from the damn near peerless protection he provided behind them. None of these things will show up on Thome’s baseball reference page, but they matter. At least, they should.

Jim Thome will get to 600 home runs whether America notices or not. And when he does, it shouldn’t be a question of if he makes the Hall of Fame, it should be a question of by how wide a margin he makes it on the first ballot. Because if the Hall of Fame isn’t there to celebrate and honor a guy like Jim Thome, who is deserving of enshrinement in every way, then what’s the point of even having one?

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