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But once he did, on a towering shot to the left-field bleachers at Toronto's SkyDome, Sheffield immediately dreamed of pursuing 100 more. Guerrero joined elite company when he became one of only six players to hit 400 home runs while also hitting .320 or better, accompanied by Ruth, Musial, Williams, Gehrig and Foxx. Ortiz became the sixth player to reach 400 homers while in a Red Sox uniform, and the first since Ramirez in 2005. Soriano snapped a five-game homerless streak by going deep in consecutive at-bats against Toronto southpaw J.A. The seven-time All-Star helped lead the Yankees to a 7-1 win behind Andy Pettitte.
"Welcome to the club," Mays said in a video shown on the Twins' television broadcast. The Tigers posted a congratulatory message on the scoreboard after Thome's homer, and the Twins came out to greet him at home plate. His quiet chase, which seemed to vanish from baseball's consciousness as injuries slowed him down, was finally complete. He entered the at-bat with 12 walk-off home runs, tied with Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Jimmie Foxx, Stan Musial, and Frank Robinson. The aforementioned string of home runs Thome would hit in the final June of his celebrated career would be the final one he would hit in a Phillies uniform. Thome hit his 40th home run of the season in a forgettable 8-4 loss in Pittsburgh in September.
Playing characteristics
But Thome returned to play for old pal Charlie Manuel and hopefully provide some of the power Howard and Utley wouldn’t be providing. He became the eighth-most all-time—along with 2,328 hits, 1,699 runs batted in RBI, and a .276 batting average. He served as a member of five All-Star teams and won a Silver Slugger Award in 1996. Jim Thome became the 37th major league player to hit 400 homers, connecting for a two-run shot in the first inning last night for the host Philadelphia Phillies against Cincinnati. Thome is regarded as a great example of a "pure" power hitter, as indicated by his .278 Isolated Power rating. Thome's consistency was a draw for clubs to continue to sign him, even toward the very end of his 22-year career and after most sluggers' productivity fades.
Fans gasped on several foul balls, thinking each swing would be the one. The sellout crowd of 44,710, the largest ever at Philadelphia's new ballpark, erupted when Thome homered. There couldn't have been any other reaction by the fans who have embraced Thome like few others. They decided to wait at least another day to try for his 500th homer. On January 14, 2011, Thome accepted a one-year, US $3 million contract with incentives to continue playing for the Twins.
Center City Philadelphia. This is how we holiday.
Cellular Field history—against Kansas City Royals pitcher Luke Hochevar in a 6–4 White Sox victory. He hit a solo home run 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 remained strong during Chicago's 2009 season, as he hit 23 home runs in 107 games, including his 550th career home run on June 1. On July 17, 2009, he hit a grand slam and a three-run home run for a single-game career-high seven RBIs. By the conclusion of the season, he had passed Reggie Jackson for 11th place on the all-time home run list with 564 home runs.
With a down-home demeanor and an uncanny ability for hitting home runs in a ballpark that has proven too big for most hitters, it hasn't taken long for Thome to reach heightened status in the Twin Cities. He dressed up as Paul Bunyan and led Babe the Blue Ox by a leash for a television commercial, and the lumberjack shirt with his No. 25 on the back is a hot item at the park. 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.
killed in Philadelphia house fire
Thome became Chicago's regular designated hitter in April 2006 and flourished in his first season in Chicago. He set the team record for most home runs in the month of April , overtaking Frank Thomas's previous record by one. He also set a major league record by scoring in each of Chicago's first 17 games.
The work paid off; in 1990, Thome hit .340 and totaled 16 home runs and 50 RBIs playing at both the Rookie and Class A levels of the minor leagues. Thome spent most of the 1991 season splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A where, in combination, he hit .319 with 7 home runs and 73 RBIs. After seven consecutive seasons with a losing record, "a new ballpark and a few offseason acquisitions coupled with rising young stars have made the Indians legitimate contenders" for the division title during their 1994 season.
Thome started his first game at first base since 2007 on April 8, 2012, during which he started a 3–6–3 double play. Ryan Madson (4-1) earned the win and John Riedling (4-1) lost - both in relief. There were 13 hits by each team, and Sean Casey and Jason LaRue each hit two homers for the Reds. 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.
In 2011, he was ranked the sixth-best designated hitter in MLB history by Fox Sports. During his career, he compiled a .284 batting average against fastballs but compiled just a .170 batting average against sliders. On June 4, 2008, Thome hit a 464-foot home run—which at the time was the ninth-longest home run in U.S.
It was his third home run of the year for the Devil Rays in an eventual 7-6, extra-inning loss to the Blue Jays. Ripken hit his 400th home run in his 19th season as an Oriole, and less than six months after his father, Cal Sr., passed away from lung cancer. Ripken received two curtain calls at Camden Yards, as he pointed to his mother in the stands his second time out of the dugout. Sammy Sosa had a hit in four at-bats yesterday in the second game of a rehabilitation assignment with the Chicago Cubs' Class AA affiliate in Jackson, Tenn.
September 21, 2012 Baltimore Orioles activated DH Jim Thome from the 15-day disabled list. Gehrig hit 306 home runs from 1931 through the end of his career in '39 -- the second-highest total for that decade behind Foxx. On July 10, 1936, Gehrig joined the retired Ruth as the only players to hit 400 home runs.
Like a fine wine, Cruz's power has only gotten better with age; more than half of his 400 homers came at age 34 and older. His 400th homer clinched his fourth career 40-homer season at age 39 with Minnesota in 2019. Thome and his wife, Andrea, have two children, Lila Grace and Landon.
He ended the 2004 season with 42 homers, giving him 423 for his career, which placed him 35th on the career list. Fighting injuries during a frustrating season in Minnesota, Thome hasn't received nearly the amount of national publicity that his predecessors who reached the milestone did. Even Derek Jeter's accomplishment of 3,000 hits earlier this season dwarfed the attention Thome has been getting for a chase that's far more rare.
Jim Thome Phillies
Rodriguez needed two weeks to hit No. 600 after reaching 599 last year. But when healthy, he's still as capable as anyone of putting a powerful swing on the ball. It was perhaps fitting that Thome reached No. 600 in a matchup of AL Central rivals. From the moment he belted his first homer — off Steve Farr on Oct. 4, 1991 — to the big one on Monday night, Thome has always seemed like a natural.
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