Thome

I'm always a sucker for a good story. Baseball provides plenty: The Josh Hamilton story. The '91 series. The Subway Series. The list goes on. Right now my favorite story is, of course, Jim Thome.

Thome is as unassuming and humble as he is a masher. He's played for playoff teams ('08 White Sox) and cellar-dwellers (Phils/Indians) alike. He's nearing 600 home runs, yet here he is playing for $1.5 million plus incentives. Does he want to win? Sure he does. But he doesn't yearn for attention. He doesn't fake injuries and play the media.

I mean, for a guy to hit like Thome is hitting right now is astounding, especially after having the kind of career that he has had.

What's more remarkable?

That Thome has been getting better as the year has been going on?
That Thome has been getting better despite being nearly 40 years old?
That Thome has been getting better in the midst of a pennant race?
That Thome has been getting better as he's been used more?

Tuesday night all of those factors came into play: Thome came up to the plate in the bottom of the 10th against his former team, the White Sox. The White Sox who elected to platoon Mark Kotsay et al at DH instead of Thome. The White Sox who traded Thome to the Dodgers at the deadline in '09.

Those White Sox. With himself being the winning run in one of the few remaining games between the two teams still contending for the AL Central crown.

I think maybe Thome is a little peeved at his former team. I think his .387/.472/.645 line against Chicago this year speaks for itself. On the field. Not at his ranch. Not at a press conference. On the field.

Should the Twins bury the White Sox down the stretch, this game will be looked at as a nail in that coffin. And Thome, that guy who the White Sox turned down, might be a huge reason why the AL pennant race will turn the White Sox down.

Thome knows how to be an athlete. Thome knows how to be a man. There's another guy that just got into town today that could learn a thing or two from Thome.