“I said this to my wife: There is never a happy ending,” Thome said. “You can’t script it. You can’t look in the mirror and go, ‘I want to go out like Ray Lewis did

So the goal is to go out accused of using deer antler spray and with everyone asking about your involvement in a double murderer? I think that is attainable.

612 HR and no (serious) steroids whispers. He's in (eventually).

Not sure I can name a Phillie that was so beloved based on such a short stint (um, stints) with the team. I doubt Jim will ever have to buy a beer in Philly again. I hope he latches on with someone this season. If not, it was a real pleasure watching his career.

Just looking at his stats I'm a bit surprised by a couple of things...
1) Just 5 all-star games, a low total for a 600 HR hitter
2) Just 3 times in the top 10 for bWAR, just once in the top 5
3) Just 13 black ink (27 average HOF), 118 grey (avg HOF 144)
4) Just once in top 5 for MVP (4th in 2003, came in 7th the year he had a 197 OPS+)

Very odd for a guy to have as long and productive an overall career to have so few 'wow' seasons. Says a lot about how bizarre the league was in the 90's/00's. 10 times with a 150+ OPS+ yet only led once (took a 197 to do it).

The WAR finishes are mainly about position and defense and expansion, not sillyball. If you look at, say, runs created, he led the league in 02, has 4 other top 5 finishes and is 23rd all-time. He does a bit better in adj win % (whatever that is) and offensive win %. He was one of the best hitters of his era and (especially in raw terms) of all-time.

McGwire had only one top 5 finish in WAR and doesn't even do that well in oWAR although he did lead the league in 98. Frank Thomas has only 4 top 5 and only 6 top 10 WARpos finishes with two #1 in oWAR.

But from earlier eras, players reasonably similar to Thome: Reggie only had 5 top 5 WARpos finishes, led the league in oWAR once (in 1969 when he was a CF). McCovey had only 3 top 5 WARpos finishes despite leading in oWAR twice. Killebrew had 2 top 5 WARpos and 5 top 5 oWAR. Robinson led the league once and had 7 top 5 finishes. This just in, Jim Thome not as good as Frank Robinson. :-)

McCovey is really as good a comp for Thome as you can hope for. The sillyball era is captured in McCovey's 5.4% HR/PA vs. Thome's 5.9% HR/PA vs. league averages of 2.1% and 2.7% respectively.

So, there you go, a handy conversion factor: 612 sillyball HR = 521 "real" HR. Actually Thome picks up 37 HR from the extra season's of PAs so it's more like 575 = 521 which gives us 550 = 500 or 11=10. Ergo, sillyball added 6-7 HR to McGwire and Bonds' season totals and they still break the record although Bonds doesn't catch Aaron. :-)

He's about 135 at-bats from owning the all time strikeout record.

I'm surprised that the Rays didn't sign him. Their current DH options are Luke Scott and Jack Cust. Even at age 42, Thome has to have a good shot at outperforming those guys.

My plan is to kind of stay in shape...

Hmm. Not exactly what I want to hear if I'm considering a 42 year old ballplayer.

So the goal is to go out accused of using deer antler spray and with everyone asking about your involvement in a double murderer? I think that is attainable.

I laughed. What on earth does this refer to?

Ray Lewis.

#8 - that's a normal Saturday night for Ray Lewis.