James Howard "Jim" Thome (born August 27, 1970) is an American former baseball player. He was primarily a first baseman but also spent significant time as a third baseman and late in his career was most often used as a designated hitter. He has played for the Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, and Baltimore Orioles. In 1996, Thome won the Silver Slugger Award and in 2006, he won the Comeback Player of the Year Award. He has also received the Roberto Clemente Award (2002), Babe Ruth Home Run Award (2003), and Lou Gehrig Memorial Award (2004). In 2011, he became the eighth MLB player to hit 600 home runs (HR). He has hit the seventh-most home runs of all-time with 612 and is 24th all-time for runs batted in (RBIs) with 1,699.
Cleveland Indians (1991–2002)Thome was originally drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 13th round of the 1989 Major League Baseball Draft. While in the minors, he got into a fight with future Major League star Chipper Jones. Thome and Jones would later become good friends. Thome made his Major League debut on September 4, 1991 as a third baseman against the Minnesota Twins. He was 2 for 4 in that game, with his first hit coming off pitcher Tom Edens in the fourth inning. He hit his first career home run on October 4 against New York Yankees pitcher Steve Farr.
Originally a third baseman, he was shifted to first base when the Indians traded for Matt Williams in 1997.
At the plate, Thome hit 25 home runs and 73 runs batted in with a .314 batting average in 1995. Thome then hit 38 home runs in 1996 and 40 in 1997. Thome soon became a prolific home run hitter, once hitting a 511-foot (156 m) shot at Cleveland's Progressive Field (then known as Jacobs Field). It is the longest home run ever recorded at a Cleveland ballpark. He hit 49 home runs with the Indians in 2001, followed by a career-high 52 homers in 2002.
Thome has been nicknamed "The Thomenator," "The Pride of Peoria," and more recently as a member of the White Sox "Mr. Incredible"." Wildly beloved by Indians fans, a Plain Dealer fan poll in 2003 named Thome the most popular athlete in Cleveland sports history. Some of Thome's trademarks are his high socks that he helped make popular again in the mid-'90s, at a time when players wore their pant cuffs down around their ankles and his batting stance in which he holds the bat out with his right hand and points it at right field before the pitcher comes set, a gesture he borrowed from "The Whammer" in the film The Natural.
Philadelphia Phillies (2003–2005)After the 2002 season, Thome accepted a six-year $85 million offer from the Philadelphia Phillies. Thome hit 47 home runs in his first season with the Phillies to finish one behind Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt's single-season team record of 48 in 1980.
On June 14, 2004, Thome hit his 400th career home run to the left-center field seats at Citizens Bank Park., surpassing Al Kaline for 37th on the all-time home run list. He ended the 2004 season with 42 homers, giving him 423 for his career, which placed him 35th on the career list.
Injuries caught up with Thome during the first half of the 2005 season, where he hit only .207 with seven home runs and 30 RBI going into the All-Star break. He had season-ending surgery on his right elbow in August. Ryan Howard proved to be a very successful replacement at first base in the 2005 season, leading all National League rookies in home runs and winning the NL Rookie of the Year award. The emergence of Ryan Howard made Thome expendable to the Phillies. On November 25, 2005, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox along with $22.0 million. The White Sox sent CF Aaron Rowand and minor league pitching prospects Gio Gonzalez and Daniel Haigwood to Philadelphia in return.
Chicago White Sox (2006–2009)Thome became the White Sox's regular designated hitter in April 2006 and flourished in his first season in Chicago. In April, he set the team record for most home runs in the month of April (10), beating Frank Thomas's record by one. He also set a major league record by scoring in each of the White Sox's first 17 games. The modern and AL record for consecutive games with a run scored is 18 held by Red Rolfe (1939) and Kenny Lofton (2000). For the season, Thome hit 42 homers, batted in 109 runs, and hit .288. He also struck out 30.0% of the time, the highest percentage in the American League.
On May 1, 2006, Thome returned to Cleveland to play his first game as a visitor at Jacobs Field. The "loud boos Thome heard in each of his six at-bats" were in "sharp contrast" to the "exhilarating reaction Johnny Damon received from Red Sox Nation upon his return to Fenway Park with the Yankees."
On April 15, 2007, Thome was one of three White Sox players (also two coaches) who wore jersey number 42 in recognition of the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's Major League debut in the White Sox vs. Indians game in Cleveland. Thome pinch-hit for Brian Anderson in the ninth inning and hit an infield single. Alex Cintron, also wearing 42, pinch ran for Thome.
Thome in 2008.On September 16, 2007, Thome hit his 500th career home run off Los Angeles Angels pitcher Dustin Moseley. The home run was a walk-off in the bottom of the ninth inning with one man on base, which gave the White Sox a 9–7 victory. Thome became the 23rd major leaguer to reach the milestone and the third in the 2007 season (the others were Frank Thomas and Alex Rodriguez) as well as the first ever to do it with a walk-off shot.
25 members of Thome's family and friends were in attendance to witness his milestone, including his father and wife. The game in which Thome hit the home run was also the Jim Thome bobblehead giveaway day at U.S. Cellular Field. Thome rounded the bases pointing upward in homage to his mother, who died from breast cancer in January 2005.
On June 4, 2008, Thome hit a 464 foot home run—the ninth longest home run in U.S. Cellular Field history—off of Kansas City Royals pitcher Luke Hochevar in a 6–4 White Sox victory. On August 14 of that year, Thome hit the first of four consecutive home runs by the White Sox. On September 30, he hit a solo shot in the AL Central Tiebreaker game which proved to be the difference as the White Sox defeated the Minnesota Twins 1–0.
Thome's hitting continued to be strong in 2009, and on June 1, he hit his 550th career home run in a win against the Oakland A's. On July 17, 2009, Thome hit a grand slam and a three-run homer in the same game for a career-high seven RBIs. On August 15, Thome passed Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson and moved up to 11th on the all time home run list with 564 home runs.
On August 31, 2009, Thome was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers with cash for minor league infielder Justin Fuller. Thome's only appearances with the Dodgers were as a pinch hitter. He had four hits in seventeen at-bats with the Dodgers.
When the Twins opened their new ballpark, Target Field, on April 12, 2010 in Minneapolis, Thome, for the third time in his career, was a part of an organization that celebrated the grand opening of a brand new home ballpark. The other two openings he was part of were the 1994 Cleveland Indians as they opened Jacobs Field (now known as Progressive Field) and the 2004 Philadelphia Phillies as they opened Citizens Bank Park. He hit his first homer with the Twins on April 8, 2010, during the Twins' season-opening road trip. Thome hit his first triple since 2004 on June 28, 2010, in a home game.
On July 3, 2010, Thome hit his 573rd and 574th Home Runs. In doing so he displaced fellow Twins player Harmon Killebrew as the #10 all-time home run hitter. The game was stopped and the Twins played a pre-recorded message from Harmon Killebrew congratulating Thome on the achievement during which he said, "...I'm glad he was able to hit it in a Twins uniform. I only wish I could have been there to see it."
On August 17, 2010, Thome hit the first walk-off hit in Target Field, a 445-foot 2-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning against the Chicago White Sox reliever Matt Thornton. It was the 12th walk-off home run of his career, tying him for first all time with Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Frank Robinson, and Babe Ruth. On September 4, 2010, Thome again hit two home runs in a single game to tie and then pass Mark McGwire for the 9th spot on the career home run list. Thome passed Frank Robinson on September 11, 2010 when he hit his 587th career home run in the top of the 12th inning in Cleveland. The home run was the only run scored in the game.
Thome finished the 2010 season with a .283 average, 25 home runs and 59 runs batted in. Statistically, in terms of power measurements such as slugging percentage and at bats per home run, it was the best season for Thome since 2002.
On January 14, 2011, Thome accepted a one-year, $3 million contract with incentives to continue playing for the Twins.
On July 17, 2011, Thome hit the longest home run in Target Field for his 596th. The ball went high into the right-center-field upper deck at an estimated distance of 490 feet.
On August 15, 2011, Thome hit his 599th and 600th career home runs (in two straight at bats) off of Rick Porcello and Daniel Schlereth respectively, against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. This made him only the eighth baseball player to have achieved that feat.
In August, Thome was traded to Cleveland after waiving his no-trade clause. On September 18, the clubs announced that Minnesota had received $20,000 for Thome. On September 23, Cleveland held a ceremony honoring Thome, and revealed plans for a statue depicting him in Heritage Park. In the game, Thome hit a home run that landed near the proposed location for his statue. Through 2011, Thome was second among all active major leaguers in home runs (604; behind Alex Rodriguez) and RBIs (1,674; Rodriguez), and fifth in career slugging percentage (.556; behind Albert Pujols, Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, and Howard). Thome is the Indians' all-time leader in home runs (337), walks (1,008), and strikeouts (1,400).
After the season, Thome agreed to a one-year, $1.25 million deal that returned him to Philadelphia. He called coming back to Philadelphia a "no-brainer" in his news conference. He also mentioned that, due to Ryan Howard's Achilles tendon injury, he would "spend the offseason preparing himself to play first base once or twice a week", despite not having played the field since 2007.
Thome started his first game at first base since 2007 on April 8, 2012, during which he started a 3–6–3 double play. Thome experienced stiffness in his lower back in a game against the Chicago Cubs on April 28. In May, he was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained lower back. Thome was only batting .100 at the time. Thome returned to the club in early June, and prepared for interleague play against the Baltimore Orioles as the DH. Thome finished the nine-game interleague road trip with four home runs and 14 RBIs.
On June 17, Thome became the fourth major league player to hit 100 home runs with three different teams, joining Reggie Jackson, Darrell Evans and Rodriguez. Six days later, Thome hit a pinch-hit walk-off home run in the ninth inning off of Jake McGee to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7–6. This was Thome's 609th home run, tying Sammy Sosa for seventh all-time in home runs while also setting the new record for most walk-off home runs (13) in the modern era. Thome's last game as a Phillie was an afternoon loss to the Miami Marlins on June 30. After the game (which coincided with Howard's return from the disabled list), the team announced that Thome had been traded to Baltimore to serve as their designated hitter.
The Orioles noted Thome's veteran experience on a playoff bound team as a primary factor in acquiring him. Orioles catcher Matt Wieters said of Thome,
"I think you look at him and say: This is a guy who loves the game more than anyone. He's the first guy to the park, the first guy to the weight room, the first guy hitting."
On July 20, Thome hit his first home run with the Orioles, his 610th of all time moving him pass Sosa for seventh place all-time, against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. On August 6, Thome was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a herniated disk; he remained on the DL until September 21. In his first game back, he drove in the game-winning RBI in extra innings against the Boston Red Sox. After beating the Indians in a game where he hit his 611th career home run, Thome said, "There's a lot memories. I've had great memories on that side and then coming in here as an opponent against them. Any time you come home, they say, it's very special. It's even more special to get the W's. That's, I think, the main thing. The bottom line is I played here a long time."[88] Orioles teammates have remarked at Thome's commitment to talking about the game while in the dugout. Thome remarked, "I talk the game. When I set in the dugout during games I talk baseball to these guys. They'll ask, 'Hey, what's this pitcher like?' or 'What about the game?' 'What about all those Indians teams you were on?' I did it to Eddie Murray when he was in his 40s." The Orioles did make the playoffs, but lost in five games to the Yankees during the ALDS. Thome hit .133 in the playoffs with no home runs or RBIs.
Thome has been named Player of the Month three times: July 2001, September 2003 and June 2004. He is one of only six players to be named Player of the Month in each league (Vladimir Guerrero, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Gaylord Perry and Dave Winfield are the others).
Jim Thome has the fifth-lowest career AB/HR (at bats per home run) average in major-league history. His 13.68 is eclipsed only by Mark McGwire (10.61), Babe Ruth (11.76), Ryan Howard (12.16), and Barry Bonds (12.90). Stretching behind Thome, all with averages greater than 14, are such hall-of-famers as Ralph Kiner, Harmon Killebrew, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Jimmie Foxx, and Mike Schmidt, in that order.
Although once a fine first baseman, with a career fielding percentage of .994, injuries have hampered Thome so that he is almost completely limited to the DH position. Thome played one game at first base for the Chicago White Sox in 2007, but he has not played the field since.
On Mother's Day, May 14, 2006, Thome was one of more than 50 hitters who brandished a pink bat to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation.
Off the field, Thome is putting all 10 of his nieces and nephews through college. It was reported on ESPN's SportsCenter that shortly after his nephew, Brandon, was paralyzed in a tragic accident, he asked Jim to hit a home run for him; not only did Thome fulfill the request but he hit two homers in the game. In a 2007 poll of 464 Major League Baseball players, he was voted the second friendliest player in a tie with Mike Sweeney.