I agree with Wax Heaven about banishing the steroid era players who have been caught. We can't change the games themselves, but we can ignore tainted statistics. Roger Maris still owns the single season home run record of 61. No asterisk, just skill. Sorry Babe, the asterisk is gone from Maris' record. Hank Aaron is still the Home Run King. Welcome back Roger and welcome back Hank. We missed you. If there has to be someone who broke Aaron's record in 2007, change the name to Kurt Brown. I outlined my reasons why in an earlier post.Most of the high profile steroid users, sorry *alleged steroid users, wore the number 25. Bonds, McGwire, Palmeiro, Giambi, even Sosa at one point with the White Sox. I would like to proclaim the greatest hitter to wear number 25 in the steroid era is Jim Thome.
Jim is a constant professional, who volunteers his off-time to help worthy charities. He's unselfish enough to swing a pink bat on Mother's Day, wear number 42 on Jackie Robinson day, and loves being a team player. See, you can still be a team player and get your numbers. Yes White Sox fans, I loved Aaron Rownd and Frank Thomas too, but Jim Thome is so much better than Aaron Rowand at the plate and Jim is so much better with the media and fans than Frank ever was. I think at some point Frank may have "believed the hype". Although, I am so glad that McGwire for Thomas trade never happened that was almost a done deal around 1992.
When Jim Thome hit his 500th home run, he put a prize package together for whatever fan caught it. Then the fan gave part of that prize to Jim's charity. In turn, Jim offered to fly the fan and a few friends in to the Cubs-Sox game to watch the action in his personal suite. This is the kind of guy the fans should be rooting for. And why did Jim want that home run ball so badly? So he and his father could take a trip and personally deliver it to the Hall Of Fame during the off-season. That is the complete opposite of what Barry Bonds stands for.
C'mon, this is the type of player we need to be rooting for. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was standing in my living room for Jim's entire at bat when he hit 500. I had the grin of a child and started to tear up with joy when that ball went out. I wasn't even angry that he didn't do it the previous night, because I was at that game. It was the first 500th home run to be a game winning home run. Appropriately enough, it came on Jim Thome bobblehead giveaway day.
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Thanks!
Over the years I began to appreciate Thome more and more. I hope he makes it to 600 and ultimately, the Hall of Fame.
I have been a Thome fan ever since before he was a Triber. I had not known about the 500th ball story before tonight, and though I am not surprised by his actions, I am still in awe of his generosity and genuine-ness. :-)
The fan who caught the ball bought the ticket that day on a whim. He was originally in town on business and got into town that morning. His name is Will Stewart and he lives in Texas. Will said he wants to visit all of the major league parks because he is such a baseball fan and going out of town on business allows him to get closer to that goal. I couldn't think of a better fan to catch this ball.
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