Jim Thome Now Alone at #7 in Career HR!
Speaking of home run records, one of the quietest names to ever climb so high on the career home run charts has just edged further into the upper stratosphere. On Friday, July 20, 2012, and now hitting DH for the Baltimore Orioles, Jim Thome signaled his latest return to the site of his original club, the Cleveland Indians, and blasted Home Run # 610 of his 22-season MLB career. It came in the 6th, with nobody on and nobody out, off Tribe starter Derek Lowe as the Orange Birds went on to demolish the Indians by a 10-2 down and out count. The blast took the 41-year-old Thome out of his tie with Sammy Sosa and gave him sole possession of 7th place behind 6th place Ken Griffey and his 630 HR total.total. Alex Rodriguez occupies 5th place with 643 clouts and is the only active player ahead of Thome, but at age 38 and in better player shape, it is likely that A Rod will remain in the lead over the Orioles slugger.
At his current pace, it’s likely that Thome would need a couple of more years, at least, to catch and pass Griffey, but that probably will not happen. That’s OK. When we look at the names surrounding Thome, it’s easy to see that he’s in the company of his peers on the production side of power-hitting greatness. You just hope too that the peer factor with career era contemporaries does not include the steroids taint that may keep them all away from their otherwise deserved places in the Hall of Fame.
Congratulations, Jim Thome! And keep it up! I just wish the stench of that other poison cloud would go away, but that’s kind of a hard and slippery hope when you look at the career HR list and have to see whose name sits at the top of the list.
TOP 20 MLB CAREER HOME RUN LEADERS (THROUGH 7/21/12):
| Rank | Player (yrs, age) | Home Runs | Bats | HR Log |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Barry Bonds (22) | 762 | L | HR Log |
| 2. | Hank Aaron+ (23) | 755 | R | HR Log |
| 3. | Babe Ruth+ (22) | 714 | L | HR Log |
| 4. | Willie Mays+ (22) | 660 | R | HR Log |
| 5. | Alex Rodriguez (19, 36) | 643 | R | HR Log |
| 6. | Ken Griffey (22) | 630 | L | HR Log |
| 7. | Jim Thome (22, 41) | 610 | L | HR Log |
| 8. | Sammy Sosa (18) | 609 | R | HR Log |
| 9. | Frank Robinson+ (21) | 586 | R | HR Log |
| 10. | Mark McGwire (16) | 583 | R | HR Log |
| 11. | Harmon Killebrew+ (22) | 573 | R | HR Log |
| 12. | Rafael Palmeiro (20) | 569 | L | HR Log |
| 13. | Reggie Jackson+ (21) | 563 | L | HR Log |
| 14. | Manny Ramirez (19, 40) | 555 | R | HR Log |
| 15. | Mike Schmidt+ (18) | 548 | R | HR Log |
| 16. | Mickey Mantle+ (18) | 536 | B | HR Log |
| 17. | Jimmie Foxx+ (20) | 534 | R | HR Log |
| 18. | Willie McCovey+ (22) | 521 | L | HR Log |
| Frank Thomas (19) | 521 | R | HR Log | |
| Ted Williams+ (19) | 521 | L | HR Log |
DATA AVAILABLE COURTESY OF BASEBALL REFERENCE.COM
The Pecan Park Eagle 
Leave a comment