Classic Thome

Flashback twenty four hours ago Jim Thome sat at 598 home runs.  Return to the present time and that same man is now the eight member of an impossibly impossible (not a typo) club.  And you know what, Thome did it the only way he knows... Without drama or suspense or even publicity.  Two weeks ago, how many of you really knew that Thome was even remotely close to 600 bombs.  I certainly didn't realize exactly how close he was and I watch sports at least two hours a day and visit sports sites more times a day than I care to estimate or admit.  Only Jim Thome could have pulled that off.  He is the most underspoken (did I just make that word up) superstar in sports.  The eight player to do something in the 100+ year history of the sport. And let's be honest, the fifth to do it legitimately.  Jim Thome reached this remarkable feat without the need for the press and publicity that every modern day star has grown to demand.   Further, he didn't relish in the spotlight and sit at 599.  He hit his 600th an inning later. ONE INNING.  How many did it take A. Rod to get there last year?   How long did we have to here about Jeter's 3000th hit this year?  That moves me onto my next point.  People are having serious discussions about whether or not Thome is Hall of Fame bound.  The only serious question is whether or not he's a first balloter.  No disrespect to Derek Jeter but there are 28 members of the 3,000 hit club and all but four are already in the hall (Jeter, Raffy Palmeiro, Craig Biggio and of course Pete Rose).  Jeter's still playing and Biggio retired in '07 so exclude them from this for a moment.  The other two are probably not going to ever be in the hall (Pete Rose has a chance when Bud Selig gives up the commisioner's throne).  Other than that, every single member is a part of the Hall.  There's only ten players not in the 500 home run club and only two of them are even eligible for the hall.  Those two aren't getting in anytime soon and neither are the majority of the others in that group.  That's because the majority of these players are linked to performance enhancing drugs; one that has never even been put in the same sentence of PEDs goes by the name of Jim Thome.  Before the steroid era, the instant you hit your 500th, Cooperstown confirmed their order of your plaque.  Since then, the long ball has suffered because certain players have tainted the prestige of the home run and difficulty to hit just one.   More than likely Thome's going to retire at the end of the year and anyone besides the Scarecrow (no brain) will be voting for Jim Thome to get into the Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible.  The only legitimate question is whether he gets the equally rare feat of being elected on his first try.  From what I know about the guy, he won't make a big deal of it either way.