Jim Thome became the 8th MLB player to hit 600 career home runs last night. He did so against my Detroit Tigers, and he did so by actually hitting number 599 earlier in the game. Thome has made his living, for the most part, in the American League Central, he has always been a rival so having him reach a career milestone in my city against my team puts me in a strange place. There is a number of takes I could do on this story, but much like the Detroit baseball fans I am going to choose to stay classy.
Thome is one of the few players to reach this milestone recently and to appear to do it relatively clean. Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Alex Rodriguez all cheated, or we strongly suspect they all did it the wrong way. Thome did it the right way, much like his contemporary 600 HR club member Ken Griffey Jr. So far Jim has played 21 MLB seasons and beyond three years with the Philadelphia Phillies, and a year with the Los Angels Dodgers he has been with AL Central team starting with the Cleveland Indians, then the Chicago White Sox, and now with the Minnesota Twins.
I think he has hit 60 some of his 600, or just over 10%, of his home runs against my Detroit Tigers. I tell you I have watched this cat for a long time and it certainly feels like more. For years he ahs been one of those Tiger killers, and while I hated competing against him, I am glad he got this honor and punched his ticket straight to Cooperstown.