BASEBALL BREAK:

Jim Thome hit home run number 600 in Detroit monday night. It was his second home run of the night.

Let me be just the latest person to say this. It couldn't have happened to a better guy.

One time, Thome signed an autograpgh for my grandfather. Afterword, I asked my grandpa what he was like. "Oh, he was real nice," grandpa said. "We sat and talked for fifteen minutes or so about some players I used to like when I was in the service."

Imagine that. There's a line of people waiting from a Cleveland grocery store back to the corn fields in Iowa, and a baseball player playing in a me-first era not only takes the time to talk to an old man about his own glory days, but also knows enough about the history of the game to stay in that conversation and make an old man's day.

Here in Cleveland, we've watched so many great players move on to other teams. Some were in their prime (Manny Ramirez, C.C. Sabathia, Thome), some were not too far removed (Omar Vizquel, Kenny Lofton).

Most of them we love, some we're embarrassed to say we used to. Thome and Ramirez are usually linked together in for their time in Cleveland because they were about the same age and came up together in the minors.

They grew as baseball players in a town that was regenerating it's love for baseball in the nineties. They also almost always batted next to each in the lineup. They hit gigantic home runs. That's where the similarities end.

Ramirez had about as much love for the game and personal integrity as Thome has in his left pinky.

Put Ramirez in that situation with my grandfather, and he'd probably ask his interpreter for help. "Huh, they had baseball in the 1940's you say?"

Sure, Thome left town with a bagful of memories and accomplishments to go cash his check, too, in another towns bank. But I'll bet you he'd do it different if he could all over again. There's a lot the public doesn't know about that situation.

It's a shame for Thome, having to play his career during the steroids era. PED's have done almost as much damage to his accomplishment as they have the players bodies who took them.

So, Thome now stands as just the eighth player ever to hit 600 home runs behind Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714), Willie Mays (660), Ken Griffey Jr. (630), Alex Rodrigues (626), and Sammy Sosa (609).

Only the big three, Aaron, Ruth, and Mays are untouched by skepticism, but I'd ad Thome in there as well.

And I'd doubt he hits too many more before it's all over. But, Thome's accomplishment may well help us remember what it was like to admire the big three before the steroids era.

You can safely admire Thome's record, to be sure.