Jack Curry, a New York Times Sports writer, clearly wants attention. As Jim Thome soared past more home run kings this year (513 as of 4/27), Curry decided to become Mr. Controversial by penning a piece suggesting that Thome is not a clear choice for the Hall.
That is bullshit, Jack.
But his piece gives me a chance to say one thing about Thome that has always amazed me. When the guy puts the bat on the ball, he hits over .570. That's correct. If you add up his walks and strikeouts over his career, and subtract those from his ABs, and then calculate his BA, it's amazing. Right up there with the guy who I think Thome is truly similar to, Ted Williams. You see, Thome, like The Splinter, is extremely picky at the plate. As a Tribe fan, I saw him take many a called strike. I truly believe his batting eye is just about as good as Teddy's, but that Teddy actually had the umps convinced that his version of the strike zone was better than theirs. So Ted would get the ball call, Thome gets a called strike.
Nonetheless, when you have a large, slow slugger, it is far better to have him walking a lot and striking out a lot than hitting into double plays. Only one year did Thome even appear on a leader board for GIDP. Compare this to Killebrew, who was on it five times and led the league one year; Ernie Banks (6 times on the GIDP leader board); and Jim Rice (led league 4X, on the board 11 times). (Even Ted Williams was on the GIDP leader board twice.)
I love Thome for many reasons, but I have always found his unique ability to get a clean hit more than half the time when he hits the ball into play uncanny. Here's some more support for his claim to a spot in the Hall: he'[s #44 career in Runs Created; #18 in walks; #16 in slugging; #17 in OPS; #4 in home runs per AB. Why wait, just vote him in now!
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