Jim Thome
- Cleveland Indians (1991-2002)
- Philadelphia Phillies (2003-2005)
- Chicago White Sox (2006-2009)
- Los Angeles Dodgers (2009)
- Minnesota Twins (2010-2011)
- Cleveland Indians (2011)
- Philadelphia Phillies (2012 )
- Baltimore Orioles (2012 -present)
- 5x MLB All- Star Game ( 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2006 )
- 1x Silver Slugger Award ( 1996)
- 1x AL Comeback Player of the Year (2006)
- 1x ML Roberto Clemente Award ( 2002)
- 1x ML Lou Gehrig Memorial Award (2004)
- 7 all-time home run list
James Howard "Jim" Thome ( born August 27, 1970 in Peoria, Illinois, USA) is an American professional baseball player in Major League Baseball who is currently with the Baltimore Orioles under contract.
Youth
Thome spent his youth in a lot of time watching the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. At the age of 8 he jumped to in hopes of getting an autograph from Dave Kingman, before the national anthem in the dugout of the Cubs. A dugout is the area in which the player's bench is located.
In his high school Thome then showed his athletic talent and was in two school teams the star. Besides baseball, he was also on the basketball team one of the best. As a junior, Thome hit 12 home runs, and then went to the Illinois Central College, where he continued to play both sports successfully. In Major League Draft 1989, then the Cleveland Indians secured the rights to Thome.
Career in Major League Baseball
After the Thome drafted he celebrated his MLB debut in 1991 at the third base. After the 1997 Indians Matt Williams had traded Thome moved to the first base. Offensive he was first in 1995 conspicuous when he reached a batting average of .314, 25 home runs and scored 73 runs batted in. In 1996 he rose to 38 home runs in 1997 even on 40 Thome developed into a typical home-run hitter. Among other things, he hit a ball 511 feet ( 156 meters ) from the Jacobs Field. This was the longest home run ever recorded in Cleveland. From fans and press, he then got the nickname "The Thomenator ".
After the 2002 season, Thome's contract ran out and became a free agent. Thome tried to stay with the Chicago Cubs, he observed since childhood. However, the Cubs declined the player, even though he had specially lowered his demands for the Cubs. Instead, Thome signed a six-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. Many feared that the move from the American League would be problematic in the National League Thome because he did not know the pitcher there. But the player showed his class, hit 47 home runs in the first season with the Phillies, and was thus only one home run behind Mike Schmidt, with 48 homeruns holds the record for the Phillies since 1979.
In the 2004 season, Thome hit the brand new Citizen Bank Park in Philadelphia, the 400th home run of his career. He finished the season with 42 home runs and thereby increased the total of home runs of his career on 423 Thus he slipped to 35th place in the eternal home run leaderboard.
In the first half of the 2005 season, Thome has been plagued by some injuries and made it to the All- Star game just a batting average of .207, including seven home runs. In July Thome decided to end the season early in order to cure his injury completely. Substitute Ryan Howard took his chance at first base and hit most home runs of all rookies in the National League. Howard was elected logical for Rookie of the Year. The good performances of rookies made Thome at the Phillies suddenly expendable. On 23 November 2005 Thome was then traded for 22 million U.S. dollars to the Chicago White Sox. In addition, three players the White Sox changed to Philadelphia.
From April 2006, Thome was then used for the Chicago White Sox as a designated hitter. He also holds since April 2006 the record for most home runs of a White Sox player in April (10). As he was able to score in each of the first 17 season games, he was in these statistics new record holder of the Major League. On Mother's Day, May 14, 2006 Thome was one of the 50 players who played in favor of the American Breast Cancer Foundation with a pink bat. That same year, Thome was voted Comeback Player of the Year.
On 1 June 2009, he hit his 550 home run in the game against the Oakland Athletics on August 15, and he passed with his 564 homerun Reggie Jackson and since then has been ranked 11th all time leader list of MLB.
On August 15, 2011 Thome hit his home runs No. 599 and 600 in the game against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
On 4 November 2011 Thome signed a one-year contract for $ 1.25 million with the Philadelphia Phillies.
On June 30, 2012, he moved to the Baltimore Orioles. There he proposed on July 20, his 610.Homerun. He overtook Sammy Sosa and is now seventh on the all-time home run list.