Jim Thome IS A HOF, Period!

On 8-15-2011, Jim Thome hit his 599th and 600th home runs.  I expected to see a media frenzy giving him his due respect, and for the most part they did.  Then, the dialogue shifted to the question of whether or not he was a hall of famer.  I am pretty well shocked by the assertion that this guy is not a hall of famer.

There are actually quite a few people who doubt he's got HOF statistics.  These people aren't even mentioning any kind of "steroid-era" excuses to not put him in, but are actually trying to point to his statistics as the reason he won't get in.  So let me get this straight, he hit 600 home runs clean with a .961 OPS and a .403 career OBP and he's not a HOF?

One statistic that people keep pointing to is the fact that Thome is second all time in career strikeouts with 2,453.  They say that a guy who strikes out this much is not a hall of famer, to which I reply "You're insane!"  Lots of guys on the top strikeout list are in the hall of fame including Reggie Jackson(2,597, 1st), Willie Stargell(1,936, 6th), Mike Schmidt(1,883, 9th), Tony Perez(1,867, 11th), and rounding out the top 30 are Lou Brock, Mickey Mantle, Harmon Killebrew, Rickey Henderson and Dave Winfield.  A few guys in the top 30 not currently in the HOF(Biggio, Griffey, Bagwell, Jeter) should eventually be in the HOF IMO.

So with strikeouts as a "keep-out" statistic busted, let's move on to these people's second attack.  I have read multiple times now that a DH should NEVER be allowed into the HOF.  I will answer this question two ways.  First of all, Jim Thome has played a lot more 1B in his career than DH.  He's had almost 1600 more plate appearances as a first baseman in his career.  He hit 310 of his 600 HR as a 1B.  He also played 3rd base for 1958 plate appearances.  He hit 93 of his home runs as a 3B.  That's 403 of 600 HR as a position player, or 67% of his career HR.

Secondly, who cares if he DH'd?  DH is a legal position in a Major League batting order.  To say that a player should not be allowed into the HOF because they played one legal position instead of another is preposterous.  I believe great hitters who play DH should be allowed into the HOF.  I hear this argument against Frank Thomas and Edgar Martinez, but both of those guys should be in the HOF and even so, both of those guys played positions in their career.  To me, this argument is like saying that even though you scored the most points in NFL history, you don't get into Canton because you did it as a kicker and not a QB/RB/WR/TE.  There are kickers in Canton, and there should be DH in Cooperstown.

There is no legitimate argument against Jim Thome unless you think he was a steroid user, but he has never officially been linked or even suggested as having been one by anyone.  Jim Thome is in on his statistics and his character.  It's true that being a "good guy" isn't enough to be a HOF, but it should put him over the top.  It is the people you encountered in your baseball career in the media who ultimately put you in the HOF, and if those people like you, your chances are that much better.

If you needed even more statistical proof that Thome is one of the greatest to ever play the game, look at his RBI total.  He is currently 27th all time in RBI, but look at the HOFers he's ahead of: DiMaggio, Banks, Brett, Lajoie, Schmidt, Dawson, Hornsby, Killebrew, McCovey, Kaline, Mantle, Matthews, Rice, Billy Williams, etc etc.  Also, look at his walk total.  Thome is 8th in career walks, ahead of most of the guys I just named, and every player (except Bonds) that is ahead of him is in the HOF.

Jim Thome is 20th in career slugging(.5577), 23rd in career runs created(1952), and 23rd in career XBH(1066).  He is 5th in career AB/HR(13.61).  He also has a pretty respectable .320 BABIP.  He holds the White Sox' record for home runs in a season by a left handed batter with 42.  He holds the Indians' record for home runs in a season with 52 in 2002.  He also holds the Indians' team record for home runs with 334.

Now come awards, which we all know are completely subjective.  Why was he only an all star 5 times?  Why did he never win a MVP?  Why was he only a one time silver slugger?  Because he played clean during the steroid era.  His numbers would have landed him at least one MVP had most of the other top sluggers not been using steroids.

In 2002, I feel Thome may have gotten the shaft, since overall he put up the best season.  ARod admitted he used substances in Texas, so if we eliminate his numbers, which aren't that much better than Thome's in a lot of categories, you get Thome as having had the best season.

Thome lead the AL that year in BB(122), Slugging(.677), OPS(1.122) and OPS+(197).  He was second in HR(52) and was in the top five in RBI(118) and scored 101 runs.  He did all of this in only 480 at bats.  Most of the other guys had over 550 at bats and didn't put up bigger numbers except ARod.  Only ARod(8.2) had a higher WAR than Thome's 8.1.  So looking at his numbers in his best years, if MLB had been clean, he would have definitely stood out like he should have.

For me, there is no legitimate argument whether or not Jim Thome is a hall of fame player.  The only real question I can see on this issue is whether or not he is a first ballot hall of famer.  I say yes, but only if Frank Thomas gets in on his first ballot.  What uniform will he wear?  Well I think it is fairly obvious that he played for the Indians the longest by far, so it would only be fitting for him to go in as a Cleveland Indian.