This past week Jim Thome of the Minnesota Twins hit his 600th home run, becoming only the eighth player in MLB history to do so, still a huge accomplishment regardless of the bloated steroid users who’ve reached this milestone in the past decade. Thome has never been linked to PEDs meaning he’d be only the 5th player to hit 600 without resorting to pharmaceutical help.
Why then has there been all this questioning of the importance of this feat? The value of 600 home runs has been questioned because it’s been reached 3 times recently by players who were cheating. Doesn’t this make his achievement more meaningful? If you forget about Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa, who’ve all been strongly implicated or admitted to using steroids, that means only Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr. and Thome have hit 600 while following the rules. This is pretty amazing considering there have been roughly 17,000 MLB players in its 135 year history.
Thome’s quality as a player has also been challenged and even dismissed. The fact that he’s made only 5 All-Star appearances has been cited as reason his not hall-worthy. Critics also bring up that he’s never finished higher than fourth in MVP voting. So what! This just points out how consistent he’s been over his 20-year career and how many other players haven’t been (Alfonso Soriano; Garrett Anderson; Bret Boone to name a few). A whole lot of players have had a big year or two but a so-so career. Thome’s had a lot of excellent seasons and a great career.
You just have to look at his career numbers to see how good a player Thome has been over 20 years. Check out his totals for OBP, SLG and OPS, see how high he ranks, and ask if he should be in the hall of fame. The closer you look at his career the less you’ll question his status as one of baseball’s all-time greats.
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