Kingdom

We continue to live in a baseball world where most offensive statistical achievements are brought into question. Countless number of products are being placed on the banned list. We point the finger at everyone, without any concrete evidence. Sometimes circumstantial evidence is simply overrated and misused. Or abused. Funny, cause we say athletes do things like...abuse performance enhancers. And it ultimately doesn't matter if they ever tested positive or not. My objective is to just simply paint a picture of a player who should have no trouble being a hall of famer. I am not a person that harshly criticizes a player if they tested positive or were associated with steroids, unless they're a complete moron like Manny Ramirez. I still question how much a drug can put you into "God Mode".. in the case of someone like Barry Bonds for example.

For me, Jim Thome is a big hulking mass of a man who looks like he could be driving a beer truck or bailing hay. In my mind, he's a blue collar player, never a superstar, never a big ego, but also consistently good and worthwhile of a player for the heart of your lineup. He was part of some nice lineups in Cleveland. He got the seat warm in Philly for Ryan Howard. He had one of his best years as a 35 year old, when he first joined the White Sox. It's quick to judge him based on hardware, since he has never won an MVP and has just a handful of all-star nods. 1B/DH has always been a loaded field, but few have had his consistency and few have had his controversy free career. As such Jim, you had me at 500. Now you're sitting on 600.

You know, he also sits on 1,700 plus walks, 1,600 plus RBI, and an OPS over .950. He also has 17 seasons with 20 or more home runs and 12 seasons with 90 or more walks. Again, consistent. There's a place in the Hall for the good guys of the game. OR at least, there should be.