(Homers) Flying Under the Radar

Just over a month ago, New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter became the 28th member of baseball's 3,000 hit club, and the baseball universe nearly exploded.  When Jeter reached the milestone in predictably historic fashion, becoming only the second man (along with Wade Boggs) to hit a homerun for number 3,000, it seemed as if the entire sports world was watching and rooting for Number 2.  The "DJ3K" watch spanned almost the entire first half of the season (or so it seemed), had its own logo (see right) and overshadowed every single other MLB-related event in June and July, somehow even including the days when Jeter was on the DL.

Contrast that with Jim Thome's 600th homerun last night, which got about 1/100th of the press coverage but is arguably a much more impressive feat.  Thome became the eighth person ever to reach the 600 HR mark, but if you remove the steroid-fueled Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa from the list, the Twins 1B/DH now belongs in a group that only all-time greats Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Ken Griffey Jr. can stake a claim to.  Admittedly, Jeter has amassed some career accomplishments that Thome cannot come close to matching, including postseason success, defensive prowess (at one time, anyway), having spent his entire career with one team and having played under the New York spotlight for the last two decades.  But Thome has gone about his business for the past twenty years as a true professional - no matter what team he's been on (he's played for five different clubs) - and has produced consistently and without PED-related speculation.

Not to hate on Jeter too much here or diminish his admittedly impressive accomplishment, but I do think it's a shame that Jim Thome's pursuit of homerun number 600 received just a fraction of the attention that DJ's 3,000 hit parade got.  While some will argue that Thome's decreased production at the age of 42, and the fact that he doesn't play everyday anymore, takes away from his milestone a bit, I will counter with the fact that it's not Thome's fault that he's stuck on a team with a number of talented 1B/DH types (Cuddyer, Kubel, Morneau and, until yesterday's trade, Delmon Young) and a manager that doesn't value reputation over production.  Had Thome been given an everyday starting job in spite of his increased age and decreased production like Jeter has been, the Twins slugger would have reached 600 weeks ago.  Would that have changed anything?  Probably not.

The Thome 600 versus Jeter 3,000 debate was brought up last night during the Twins TV broadcast (which I saw via live look-in on MLB Network) just before Thome cranked number 600, and will likely chug along for the next day or two before people drop it in favor of going back to talking about Yankees-Red Sox.  Sadly, this might not be the last time a Thome accomplishment will be overshadowed by Jeter.  If the two happen to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in the same year (a definite possibility), you can guess that the always professional Thome will step aside as Jeter steals the spotlight once again.