Jim Thome, who helped bring baseball back to the forefront of the city’s sports landscape when he signed with the Phillies in December of 2002, learned Wednesday night that he is headed to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
It was Thome’s first-time on the ballot and surpassing the mark players need to be selected, at least 75-percent of the voters to be enshrined in Cooperstown, N.Y. A voter can select up to 10 players.
Thome, 47, is one of just nine players to hit 600 home runs and just one of five to hit 500 home runs, drive in 1,600 runs, score 1,500 runs, and walk 1,700 times.