Nothing Less Than Great

By: Angie Wiatrowski

Like a kid in a toy store, Jim Thome walks around the Chicago White Sox clubhouse with an ear-to-ear grin. He’s happy to see everybody and when asked how he’s doing he responds with a smile and says he’s nothing less than great.

Thome, the Sox designated hitter, has a way of brightening up the locker room and making everyone feel at home.

“I’m just so blessed and fortunate,” Thome said of his success as a professional baseball player. “It’s a thrill and an honor. I never fathomed this.”

Another thing Thome never fathomed was hitting 500 career home runs, a feat he achieved Sept. 16, 2007. His two-run home run off the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim’s Dustin Moseley gave the Sox a 9-7 victory.

“It was the best,” Thome said. “To do it on a walk-off and have your teammates waiting for you is a thrill. You couldn’t have dreamed it any better. Really.”

Thome’s inspiration is his family, and the slugger said his mother, Joyce, and father, Chuck Jr., are very important to him.

“I was just a big baseball fan and I liked a lot of different players,” Thome said of his childhood growing up in Peoria, Illinois. “But (my hero) I would say is my dad.”

Thome added that being able to be a part of the organization itself is very inspiring.

“When you put that uniform on not only do you represent your family’s name but you represent the organization, the city, the fans, and giving back.

“It’s playing hard and working, coming here to work every day and to try to get better for all those reasons.”

The next aspiration is to win a championship, which Thome said would be the ultimate goal and that it really should be every ball players. His winning spirit has definitely traveled through the clubhouse and he has motivated many of his teammates.

“I’m just grateful I can tell my kids I played with him,” said Sox third baseman Joe Crede. “I looked up to him when he was with Cleveland, and he was portrayed as such a nice and great guy in the game.

“He seemed like a guy you would want to play with. You wanted to root for him. To play with him and experience the things he is experiencing at this time in his career is a true honor.”

His popularity hasn’t gone to his head, though. Thome is very grateful for what he has and for the fans.

“I think you respect where you came from and how hard you worked in order to get here,” he said. “Never lose track of that.”

Tags: 500, Chicago White Sox, Jim Thome, Joe Crede

Angie Wiatrowski is a journalism student at Columbia College Chicago and has been an active journalist since freshman year of high school. She attended Minooka Community High school, where she was the Special Features editor for the school newspaper. She was born and raised around baseball and is a diehard Chicago White Sox fan. Also, check out her blog.