Jim Thome
James Howard Thome is an American former professional baseball player—a first baseman, third baseman and designated hitter—who played in Major League Baseball for 22 seasons. A prolific power hitter, Thome hit 612 home runs during his career—the eighth-most all time. He amassed a total of 2,328 hits and 1,699 runs batted in. His career batting average was.276. He was a member of five All-Star teams and won a Silver Slugger Award in 1996.
Thome grew up in Peoria, Illinois, as part of a large blue-collar family of athletes. After attending Illinois Central College, he was drafted by the Indians in the 1989 draft, and made his big league debut in 1991. With the Indians, he was part of a core of players that led the franchise to five consecutive playoff appearances in the 1990s, including World Series appearances in 1995 and 1997. Thome spent over a decade with Cleveland, before leaving via free agency after the 2002 season, to join the Philadelphia Phillies, with whom he spent the following three seasons. Traded to the Chicago White Sox before the 2006 season, he won the American League Comeback Player of the Year Award that year and joined the 500 home run club during his three-season tenure with the White Sox. By this point in his career, back pain limited Thome to being a designated hitter. After stints with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Minnesota Twins, he made brief returns to Cleveland and Philadelphia, before ending his career with the Baltimore Orioles. Upon retiring, Thome accepted an executive position with the White Sox.
Throughout his career, Thome's strength was power hitting. In 12 different seasons, he hit at least 30 home runs, topping 40 home runs in six of those seasons. He hit a career-high 52 home runs in 2002, and in 2003 he led the National League in home runs with 47. Due in part to his ability to draw walks, with 12 seasons of at least 90 bases on balls, he finished his career with a.402 on-base percentage. Thome's career on-base plus slugging of.956 ranks 19th all-time. In 2011, he became only the eighth MLB player to hit 600 home runs. Thome is the career leader in walk-off home runs with 13. One of his trademarks was his unique batting stance, in which he held the bat out with his right hand and pointed it at right field before the pitcher threw, something he first saw in The Natural. Thome was known for his consistently positive attitude and "gregarious" personality. An active philanthropist during his playing career, he was honored with two Marvin Miller Man of the Year Awards, a Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, and a Roberto Clemente Award for his community involvement. In 2018, Thome was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
Early life
Thome was born in Peoria, Illinois, on August 27, 1970, and is the youngest of five children. Many of the Thome family played sports: Jim's grandmother was hired at a local Caterpillar plant solely to play for the company's softball team; his father built bulldozers for Caterpillar and played slow-pitch softball; his aunt Caroline Thome Hart is in the Women's Softball Hall of Fame; and his two older brothers, Chuck III and Randy, played baseball at Limestone High School. Thome learned to play baseball from his father on a tennis court, and also played basketball in what he described as the "ghetto" of Peoria, noting that he was the only white kid there but that he earned the respect of his fellow players. One day during his youth, Thome sneaked into the Cubs' clubhouse at Wrigley Field in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain an autograph from his favorite player, Dave Kingman. Though Thome received signatures from several other players, this experience influenced him to be generous with signing autographs for fans during his playing career.As with his older brothers, Thome attended Limestone High School where he achieved all-state honors in basketball and as a baseball shortstop. He played American Legion Baseball for Bartonville Limestone Post 979 in his hometown, as well. Although he had hoped to draw the attention of scouts, at just he was relatively underweight for his height, meaning that he attracted only passing interest—the average Major League Baseball player weighed in 1993. Thome graduated in 1988 and, after not being drafted, enrolled at Illinois Central College where he continued his baseball and basketball careers. After one season, he was drafted by MLB's Cleveland Indians as an "afterthought" in the 13th round of the 1989 MLB draft.
Professional career
Minor leagues (1989–1991)
For the 1989 season, Thome was assigned to the Gulf Coast League Indians, a minor league affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. He finished the year with a.237 batting average, no home runs, and 22 runs batted in in 55 games. After his rookie season, he met "hitting guru" Charlie Manuel, who later became his manager and mentor. Unlike most Indians staff, Manuel saw potential in Thome and worked hard with him, particularly on his hip motion while swinging the bat. Thome later said, " saw something in me I didn't." During this work, Manuel suggested to Thome that he point his bat out to center field before the pitch to relax himself like Roy Hobbs did when batting in the baseball film The Natural. The work paid off; in 1990, Thome hit.340 and totaled 16 home runs and 50 RBIs in 67 games playing at both the Rookie and Class A levels of the minor leagues. Thome spent most of the 1991 season splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A where, in combination, he hit.319 with seven home runs and 73 RBIs in 125 games.Cleveland Indians (1991–2002)
Thome made his MLB debut on September 4, 1991, as a third baseman against the Minnesota Twins. In the game, he recorded two hits in four at bats. He hit his first career home run on October 4. Injuries shortened his 1992 campaign, during which he played for both the Indians and their Triple-A affiliate, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. Across the minor and major leagues that year, he combined to hit.236 with four home runs and 26 RBIs in 52 games. In 1993, playing mostly for the Charlotte Knights, the Indians' new Triple-A affiliate, he led the International League with a.332 batting average and 102 RBIs, complemented by 25 home runs in 115 games. This performance earned him a late season promotion to the major league, where he hit.266 with seven home runs and 22 RBIs in 47 games.Thome spent the entire 1994 season with Cleveland, playing in 98 games while hitting.268 with 20 home runs and 52 RBIs, before the 1994 players' strike forced cancellation of the season's remaining games. Thome achieved his first career multi-home run game, hitting two solo home runs on June 22, 1994, against Detroit Tigers' pitcher John Doherty.
Part of a strong Cleveland lineup in 1995, Thome hit.314 with 25 home runs and 73 RBIs in 137 games. The Indians won the American League pennant but lost the 1995 World Series to the Atlanta Braves in six games. Thome hit.211 in the World Series with one home run and two RBIs. During the 1996 season, Thome hit 38 home runs.
Before their 1997 season, the Indians moved Thome, originally a third baseman, to first base after acquiring third baseman Matt Williams from the San Francisco Giants. That year, Thome helped the Indians set a new franchise single-season record for home runs, contributing 40 of them. Thome also totaled an AL-high 120 walks to go along with 102 RBIs in 147 games. Cleveland returned to the World Series, but they lost to the Florida Marlins in seven games; Thome hit.286 with two home runs and four RBIs in the World Series.
An article in Sports Illustrated published in July 1998 commented that despite Thome's early career success, he was only "faintly famous" nationally and was not particularly well known outside of Cleveland or his hometown, Peoria. His former teammate Jeromy Burnitz said, "You can't really say he's underrated, because everybody considers him one of the top hitters in the American League, but he's surrounded by so many good players, it's hard to stand out on that team." In August, Thome broke a bone in his right hand and spent several weeks on the disabled list, missing 35 games. He finished the year with 30 home runs and 85 RBIs while posting a.293 batting average in 123 games. Thome hit four home runs in the AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees, but Cleveland lost the series in six games.
In 1999, Thome's batting average fell to.277, but he increased both his home run and RBI totals to 33 and 108, respectively. On July 3, 1999, against Kansas City Royals pitcher Don Wengert, Thome hit a home run at Jacobs Field, the longest home run ever at a Cleveland ballpark. Thome hit four home runs in the AL Division Series against the Boston Red Sox, but the Indians lost the series three games to two.
During the 2000 season, Thome hit.269 with 37 home runs and 106 RBIs in 158 games. In 2001, he finished second in the AL with 49 home runs. In addition, Thome had 124 RBIs and 111 walks in 156 games. However, he led the league with 185 strikeouts.
Thome had his best season with Cleveland in 2002, leading the AL in walks, slugging percentage and on-base plus slugging , while batting.304 with a.445 on-base percentage. He also hit a career-high 52 home runs and collected 118 RBIs. The 52 home runs set a new Cleveland Indians' single-season record and made Thome the 21st major league player to join the 50 home run club. During his stint with the Cleveland Indians, when Jim Thome would hit a home run, the scoreboard would often display "THOME RUN" to mark this accomplishment. He was also known as the "THOMENATOR" during this time. On December 6, 2002, Thome, who was a free agent, signed a six-year, $85 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies – he thought the Phillies were closer to winning a championship than the Indians. With the Phillies, Thome's salary rose from $8 million per year to $11 million per year. Thome hit a franchise record 334 home runs in his first stint with the Indians.