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Jim Thome: Humble Hall of Famer
Humble Hall of Famer
Slugger Jim Thome brings a personality as stellar as his career stats to the 13th Annual Law Foundation/PICPA Reading Chapter Holiday Benefit Luncheon
By Brian C. Engelhardt
PHOTO CREDITS: Susan L. Angstadt
In Glory Days in Tribe Town, a book about the golden period from 1994-1997 when the former Cleveland Indians won two pennants and three division titles, co-authors Terry Pluto and Tom Hamilton wrote how, on a team with All-Stars at virtually every position, a key player, Jim Thome, “Made baseball history the same way he played. Don’t brag. Respect the game. Have a grateful heart.”
Almost 30 years after those glory days in Cleveland and 10 years after retiring from a 22-year major league career, Thome exuded these same qualities in serving as the keynote speaker at the 13th Annual Law Foundation of Berks County and PICPA Reading Chapter Holiday Benefit Luncheon, held on December 3 at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel. The event is the largest fundraiser for the Law Foundation, benefitting programs in the community that serve local youth and preserve equal access to legal services. More than 400 people attended this year’s event and helped raise more than $37,000.
Inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018, Thome’s baseball resume includes (here come some numbers): 612 career home runs (8th on the All-Time list) 9 consecutive seasons with 30 or more home runs, then after a one-year gap 3 more consecutive seasons 1,699 Runs Batted In (28th all time) 9 seasons with at least 100 RBIs 3 seasons posting a batting average above .300 (and now for some Super Geek numbers) 6 seasons posting an OPS (total of a player’s on-base percentage and slugging percentage) of more than 1.000, plus 7 seasons of more than .900 2,543 major league games with six different teams including two stints with the former Cleveland Indians, 2 stints with the Philadelphia Phillies and time with the Chicago White
Sox, Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore
Orioles which included at least one post-season appearance with each franchise he played for ... except for the Phillies (not his fault). 5 times selected to the All-Star Team 2006 American League Comeback Player of the Year (42 Home Runs and 109 RBIs with Chicago White Sox) 47 Home Runs with Phillies in 2003 (led National League) 52 home runs with Cleveland in 2002 (franchise record)
While you roll Jim Thome’s numbers around, we will return to the events of December 3 at the DoubleTree where, prior to addressing the audience at the luncheon, he was interviewed by Reading Eagle Sports Editor Brian Smith. Both my colleague Mark Caltagirone and I were invited to sit in, and witnessed Thome’s manner of addressing Smith’s questions, which was not only cordial, but engaging – he would make eye contact with everyone in the room. The only thing Thome was reluctant to freely discuss was the Major League lockout due to his position in the front office of the Chicago White Sox and his part-time position as an MLB Network analyst.
Despite that, Smith described Thome as “humble and affable.” The story in the Eagle can be found at https://bit. ly/3KtcrPv.
That level of courtesy and attentiveness to anyone asking him questions continued during the armchair interview portion of events, which Mark and I moderated. I will interject here that the more I have worked with Mark over the years, the more I appreciate his attention to detail in our interviews with the players even as he juggles any number of tasks in organizing and keeping a handle on all aspects of the luncheon. My job is easy in this; research the player and questions we pose, and then try not to ask anything dumb. Questions from the audience were insightful, as usual.
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Continued from page 9
Cleveland to Philly
Mark and I covered a wide range of topics, the first being (not surprisingly) both of Thome’s Philadelphia tours of duty. The first tour began with the recruiting and negotiation that eventually brought him to the Phillies for the 2003 season. Rhapsodizing about his welcome in Philadelphia during his first visit in the offseason, Thome fondly recalled the electrical workers who had signs to welcome him, urging him to come play for the Phillies. Characterizing Phillies fans as coming from the same kind of blue collar mold as the Cleveland fans (with whom he had a great relationship over the first 12 years of his Big League career) Thome repeatedly said it was a fan base that he could plainly see wanted a winner.
Thome talked of his time with the Phils during the first tour, where he watched young talent grow in the organization as the team improved. His trade to Chicago after an injury-plagued 2005 season opened the way for Ryan Howard at first base and led to his being selected as American League comeback player of the year. Thome recalled the challenges during his second tour of duty with the Phillies, when he was brought back to the team following Howard’s injury to his Achilles tendon on the last play of the 2011 season. At that point in Thome’s career his physical limitations relegated his role to pinch hitting or serving as a designated hitter in the Phillies interleague games. Once the interleague schedule was completed, the Phillies traded him to Baltimore for future Reading Phillies Gabriel Lino and Kyle Simon.
When the discussion focused on Charlie Manuel, Thome had a number of rich memories they shared, beginning with the story of Charlie’s suggestion that Thome point his bat at the pitcher as part of his routine at the plate. Explaining that Charlie got this idea from the film The Natural, Thome went on to explain that aside from it being a somewhat intimidating action, it served batting mechanics well in that it helped the batter get his weight distributed to his back foot. Calling Charlie a father figure, Thome talked of how Manuel began to coach him early in his minor league career and followed him through AAA up to Cleveland. Describing Manuel as someone who would “give you hell for two hours at batting practice, then put his arm around you and let you know how you’ve been improving.” Thome said, this caused him to think, “Here’s a guy who’s got my back.” Watching the 2008 Phillies World Series was a joy for Thome. Even though he was no longer a member of the team, he was happy to see Manuel and so many of his friends win a World Championship.
Baseball in His Blood
Speaking about the “baseball in his blood,” Thome related how his grandfather, Chuck Thome, Sr., played professionally in Three I League, while his father, Chuck Jr., played fastpitch softball, his Uncle Art played semi-pro ball, and his Aunt Carolyn was inducted into the National Softball Hall of Fame. The Thomes had a family team which played various local teams and on one occasion played against a national team, “The Queen and Her Court.” Throughout his career Thome played with an “old school” look of pulled up socks as a tribute to his grandfather and uncle who wore them that way.
Born and raised in Peoria, Ill., a scant two and a half hours from Chicago (as Midwesterners perceive distances), Thome was reared as a Cubs fan with Dave Kingman, as he relates it, “being my guy.” On one trip to Wrigley Field the 9-year-old Thome snuck into the Cubs dugout seeking Kingman’s autograph, only to be picked up by Cubs catcher Barry Foote, who delivered the young Kingman fan to his father. (Thome eventually got Kingman’s autograph at the 1998 All-Star Game.)
Hall of Fame
Meshed with Thome’s feelings of love and respect for his family and for baseball is a special relationship he has with the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Upon hitting his 500th home run as a member of the Chicago White Sox on Septebmer 16, 2007– a walk-off shot off of Dustin Moseley of the California Angels – Thome declared that he was going to personally present the ball to the Hall of Fame with his father. Due to weather and scheduling issues, it took three tries, but they finally flew to Cooperstown in August of 2008 to present the ball personally. At a small ceremony Thome’s ball was well received, to say the least. Thome was characteristically modest while his father beamed that Thome should be in the Hall of Fame some day. In August of 2011, as a member of the Minnesota Twins, Thome hit his 600th home run. In May of 2014, he and his six-year-old son, Landon, formally presented the ball to the Hall of Fame as part of the ceremonies for that year’s “Hall of Fame Classic.” When Tome was personally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018, he prepared for several weeks by rehearsing his acceptance speech out in an open field so he would be familiar with the acoustics of giving a speech at an outdoor ceremony. Not content with that degree of preparation, two weeks ahead of his actual ceremony he asked the management at the Hall of Fame if he could rehearse the speech at the actual location. The Hall of Fame happily consented to the request, noting that in the more than 80 years of ceremonies there, no one had ever asked to do that. When referring to the Hall and its plaques, Thome always refers to it as “surreal.” Over the years he’s treated it with a reverence which in itself has bordered on the “surreal.” A brief time was spent discussing the success Thome had against Roger Clemens – an OPS of 1.355 (back to those Geek Numbers) with 8 career home runs. Thome said Clemens was a power pitcher, and, with a smile said, “I was a power hitter. I did well there.” Thome mentioned that another pitcher against whom he had some success was Justin Verlander, with an OPS of 1.136 and 7 home runs. He had no more than 4 career home runs against any other pitcher – although there were quite a few of them. Finally, given the bleakness of the January day as I look out the window of the snow coming down and ice on my driveway, I offer the following Tidbits and Nuggets to warm the cockles of the hearts of baseball fans reading this:
Thome reached the 600 home-run plateau in 8,167 at-bats.
Only the Babe was faster - it took the Bambino only 6,821 at-bats to get to the magic number.
Thome played for 5 different franchises in the post-season, exceeded only by Kenny Lofton, playing for 6 different franchises (Others who played for 5 franchises are Carlos
Beltran, Don Baylor and Octavio Dotel.)
In 10,313 plate appearances Thome had 2,135 strikeouts (second highest of all time) but also had 1,747 walks (seventh highest of all time), which with his .276 lifetime batting average game him a .403 lifetime on base percentage.
Hall of Fame Baseball writer Joe Posnanski noted this as being 25th all time for players with at least 7,500 plate appearances, “higher than Dimaggio, higher than Wagner, higher than Mays, or Yaz or Rose or Ichiro.” Calling Thome,
“(A) great hitter. Not a good hitter. Not a very good hitter.
But a slam dunk first ballot no doubt Hall of Fame hitter.”
Posnanski concluded that, “Many people will never respect on base percentage the way they should because many people just don’t like walks. But walking is an art and Thome is Picasso.”
A congratulatory note to F. Donald Smith, Esq., for his receipt of the Sidney D. Kline, Jr. Award for his efforts. Well deserved. (Don is an aficionado of the Hall of Fame himself.)
