• Silver Slugger Award (1996)
• 5× All-Star (1997, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2006)
• Led NL in home runs in 2003
• Tied 1st all time for walk-off home runs (12)
• 600 home run club
• In his first year 2006 after his trade to ChiSox, 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.
• He is considered one of the most complete power hitters of his era due to his ability to create extra base hits, maintain a solid batting average for a power hitter (his career batting average is .277), and ability to get on base. Despite this, he is still very prone to striking out. He is 2nd on the all-time list of strikeouts by a batter, and the active leader in that category, with 2,395. Thome also has 1,708 walks. Only 7 other major league players have more career walks than Thome.
• 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.
@Rockhead,
Did he DH a lot before he joined the Sox? Did he make a lot of outs on the basepaths? If he was notorious for it, I had no idea. Surely he didn't steal a lot of bases, but SBs don't contribute significantly to run production.
But these are different arguments altogether. I was just arguing against the significance of strikeouts for a player who gets on base a lot.
@Gargamel,
my point is this, I think...
we are talking about him because of the 600 thing.
If he were not a DH, he retires in 2005.
far short of the number.
McGriff was a better overall player by far.
my argument with myself over this...
If I could not bring myself to put him on my fantasy baseball team. (i think he was there for a day or two once)
how can I think he should be in the hall?
Junior Griffey goes first ballot...
@Rockhead,
Yeah, I don't know where I sit on his HOF worthiness. No one gets in just on the merits of their defense, so why should it go the other way?
@Ragman,
Ragman wrote:
Personally, being a long-time baseball fan, I feel that the high amount of strikeouts a player has had is but one issue or drawback to Cooperstown status - but it's no THE issue. (After all, Babe was a high strike-out hitter, but for sure it doesn't disqualify him or many of the other great HOF players who struck out a lot .)
Babe Ruth struck out a lot for a player in the 1920s, but not a lot in comparison to today's players. His highest strikeout total was 93 in 1923. That doesn't even put him in the
top 500 for most strikeouts in a season.
Ragman wrote:But, couple his strikeout totals and his less-than-stellar productive years in his declining years, he has a weight on his Cooperstown vote. You can't penalize him ytoo much for his later years that he is a DH, but it doesn't earn him a lot of positive votes either. It's all dependent on his competition with respect to the group that is up for votes at time of his eligibility.
It would have a lot of weight with me, but then I'm not a fan of the DH. And I'm not a member of the BBWAA, which must make Thome feel a little better.
Ragman wrote:As for Fred McGriff eligibility: may he NEVER enter Cooperstown. He's tainted big time with steroids.
Really? I had never heard that.
Ragman wrote:How many team MVPs has Thome won? Off-hand, I know of no MLB MVP awards he has won?
That's correct.
@Rockhead,
Rockhead wrote:
my point is this, I think...
we are talking about him because of the 600 thing.
If he were not a DH, he retires in 2005.
far short of the number.
And that's my big gripe with the DH. Like I said before, the only reason Thome is still in the game is because he can hit home runs. He's a one-dimensional player, and has been since he came to the White Sox in 2006.
@Gargamel,
Gargamel wrote:
Yeah, I don't know where I sit on his HOF worthiness. No one gets in just on the merits of their defense, so why should it go the other way?
Off the top of my head, I can think of three players who are in the HoF primarily because of their fielding: Ozzie Smith; Brooks Robinson; and Rabbit Maranville. You could probably throw Luis Aparicio and Bobby Wallace into that category too. And Bill Mazeroski would be in that group as well, except that we all know he's really in the HoF because he once hit a home run against the Yankees.
@Rockhead,
Quote:contact advances base runners.
not always.
with a runner on first and less than two outs, a whiff is much better than a
GIDP...
@Region Philbis,
especially if Thome is on first at the time.
@joefromchicago,
IMHO, Ozzie Smith belongs in the HOF because of great fielding, decent hitting, stealing bases and that acrobatic flip. Man...what a trip!
Brooks belongs there because besides being one of the best fielders of ALL-TIME, he was a clutch hitter and hit in clutch in WS not just reg games. plus he was league MVP in 1964. He hit some qty of HR..far better hitter than I recalled.
What's up with Cubs owner Tom Ricketts letting fired GM Hendry run operations right around the trade deadline.?
@panzade,
Hendry hadn't completed his job of totally screwing up the organization, so Ricketts let him stick around until he finished.
@panzade,
panzade wrote:
What's up with Cubs owner Tom Ricketts letting fired GM Hendry run operations right around the trade deadline.?
He's a mole for the Cards.
Anyway, really looking forward to Giambi signing a five-year deal as the Cubs new first baseman this December.
@Gargamel,
Garg, remember when I wrote that the Cards were going to give the Brew Crew a run for their money?
Well, I gotta admit it. I was wrong.
@fbaezer,
MLB season still has time left though with about 20% remaining. However, it seems pretty unlikely as Cards are not hot at all and Brew crew is white-hot.
@joefromchicago,
OK. I'll admit to my ignorance, though I'm a big beisbol fan. I've show 'fanny' more than edu-ca-mated fan. 1000 pardons!
In deed, Babe R did not strikeout a lot per season for free-swinging HR hitter. His SO rate of 15.8% of the time (equiv 83 SO/ out of typical 550 AB season). FWIW, in comparison Ty Cobb was a career 3.1% SO rate. However, their hitting styles were vastly different.
Also, Fred McGriff, as far as all reports goes, has been viewed as squeaky clean steroid-wise. His HR totals pre-1993 and after it are relatively similiar with the exception of a spurt happening in '99 season.
Exposed myself there. In my feverish mind I had him linked/equated with McGwire who has been tainted from the same era.
@Ragman,
And ..McGwire also admitted (after bing exposed) to repeated and sporadic steroid use (for recovery from injuries).
@fbaezer,
fbaezer wrote:
Garg, remember when I wrote that the Cards were going to give the Brew Crew a run for their money?
Well, I gotta admit it. I was wrong.
I am cherishing the unusual experience of enjoying late-August baseball. This 8.5 game divisional lead is tied for the largest in Brewers history.
When did they last have such a lead? In 2008. And they BLEW IT IN LESS THAN A MONTH.
So I am as anxious as I am elated.
