Adding Up

Class act Jim Thome didn't let too much grass grow between nearing the 600 home run mark and reaching it, doing so against the Detroit Tigers in consecutive at-bats Monday evening.

Thome's 20-year career has been spent out of baseball's most glaring lights, as he's spent more time in the midwestern cities of Cleveland, Minnesota and Chicago than playing on the coastal stages during stints in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Other players -- including the pitchers whose mistakes he sends on their no-return voyages over the fence -- seem unanimous in their claims that Thome is a good guy whose home run totals will not wear the chemically enhanced stains that mar Barry Bonds or Alex Rodriguez' totals.

He hit the milestone number in Detroit and earned a standing ovation from the opposing fans even though his runs helped the Twins to a 9-6 win over the hometown Tigers. But then the Tigers are used to seeing Thome at-bats end badly for them, as he has homered against them more than against any other team. Rick Reed has had the honor of waving goodbye to more of his pitches at Thome's hands than anyone else (9), but Roger Clemens paid the big price for eight wrong guesses and Detroit's ace Justin Verlander for seven. Verlander is one of Thome's boosters, saying, "I'm a bit disappointed that he's not getting more attention than he is because I think he's somebody that's done it the right way this whole time."

The slide show at the link shows all eight players with 600 or more homers -- well, seven of them, anyway, because I think that picture with Babe Ruth is of some kind of scary statue. It's worth the click-through if for no other reason than to see the picture of Thome at bat and the way it illustrates one of baseball's most essential qualities, timelessness. Erase the batting gloves and the shin guards and the modern spikes, and you have a picture that could be from any time in the game's history, of any big, brawny guy muscling around on a pitch to give the ball -- and the emotions of his team's fans -- one heckuva ride.