Minnesota’s Jim Thome Becomes 8th Man To Hit 600th Homer
I was watching TV today and everyone was saying how quiet this milestone was reached. The Manager for Boston said it right. To be able to hit this way for a long time consistently is a credit to the man. The thing is, Jime Thome wasn't part of the juicing part of baseball. Always been clean.Let's give him an award for hard work and showing kids that you can play the game by the rules and do well.
Jim Thome’s back was aching, his toe was throbbing and his quad was cramping, turning his pursuit of 600 home runs into a painful endeavor that made him wonder if he would even reach the milestone before season’s end.
On Monday night, Thome finally harnessed the power again in that pure left-handed swing of his, sending two home runs sailing over the fence at spacious Comerica Park. When No. 600 disappeared over left fielder Delmon Young’s(notes) head in the seventh inning, Thome raised his right fist while rounding first base.
His quiet chase, which seemed to vanish from baseball’s consciousness as injuries slowed him down, was finally complete.
The Twins' Jim Thome, at age 40, is the oldest player to reach 600 home runs for his career.
“You dream about it but when it finally happens it’s kind of surreal,” Thome said. “It’s a neat thing, it really is.”
The 40-year-old Thome became the eighth player to reach 600, hitting a two-run homer in the sixth inning for No. 599, then a three-run shot in the seventh. The milestone came on a 2-1 pitch from Daniel Schlereth(notes).
Both homers were hit to the opposite field. When No. 600 went over the fence, the crowd in Detroit came to its feet to applaud Thome. Only Babe Ruth needed fewer at-bats to reach 600, doing so in 6,921. Thome’s milestone came in No. 8,167.
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