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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Jim Thome was elected to the National Baseball
3Hall of Fame on January 24, 2018 as a first ballot inductee,
4after an illustrious 22-year career in Major League Baseball
5(MLB); and
 
6    WHEREAS, Over the course of his baseball career, Jim Thome
7hit 612 home runs, batted in 1,699 runs, had a batting average
8of .276, and a total of 2,328 hits; he was a five time
9all-star, Silver Slugger Award Winner, American League
10Comeback Player of the Year, Roberto Clemente Award Winner, and
11National League home run leader in 2003; he has been inducted
12into both the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame and the
13Philadelphia Phillies Hall of Fame; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Jim Thome was born in Peoria on August 27, 1970,
15the youngest of five children, all of whom were athletic and
16involved in sports; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Jim Thome's earliest baseball instruction came
18from his father and older brothers before he began to play
19American Legion Baseball for Bartonville Limestone Post 979;
20and
 
21    WHEREAS, Jim Thome attended Limestone High School, where he

 

 

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1received all-state honors in both basketball and baseball; he
2continued his career in both basketball and baseball at
3Illinois Central College, where he was drafted by the Cleveland
4Indians in the 13th round of the 1989 MLB draft; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Jim Thome's 22-year professional career began
6with the Cleveland Indians in 1991, where he was an offensive
7leader for a team that went to two World Series in the mid-90s;
8and
 
9    WHEREAS, Jim Thome continued his career by playing for the
10Philadelphia Phillies from 2003 to 2005 until he was traded to
11the Chicago White Sox after the 2005 season; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Jim Thome had a very successful career for the
13Chicago White Sox, where in his first season he set a team
14record for most home runs in the month of April, and also a
15Major League Baseball record by scoring in each of Chicago's
16first 17 games; and
 
17    WHEREAS, On September 16, 2007, with his father and several
18other family members in attendance, Jim Thome joined the 500
19home run club with a walk-off home run against the Los Angeles
20Angels; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Jim Thome spent the 2009 season with the Los

 

 

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1Angeles Dodgers before signing with the Minnesota Twins, where
2he hit numerous home runs, including the longest ever at Target
3Field, and became only the ninth MLB player to hit at least 600
4home runs in his career; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Jim Thome spent the 2011 season with the Cleveland
6Indians, where he became the Indians' all-time home run leader,
7and it was announced that a statue of him would be erected,
8which was unveiled in 2014; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Jim Thome spent the 2012 season with the
10Philadelphia Phillies, where he became the fourth MLB player to
11hit 100 home runs with three different teams and set the new
12record for most walk-off home runs during a career in the
13modern era with 13; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Jim Thome spent the remainder of the 2012 season
15with the Baltimore Orioles, where he surpassed Sammy Sosa to
16become the MLB player with the eighth highest number of home
17runs in a career with 612, a statistic which still stands
18today; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Jim Thome was well known in MLB for several
20memorable traits, such as wearing high socks, which his team
21donned in the 1997 season all the way to the World Series, and
22his unique batting stance that featured him pointing his bat to

 

 

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1centerfield prior to the pitch; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Even more memorable than those traits, Jim Thome's
3personality has been the subject of much praise across the MLB;
4a former teammate called him the "nicest, gentlest, kindest guy
5you will ever meet ... " and his positivity was cited as one of
6the main reasons for his resigning in 2012 with the Phillies;
7he was known for frequently signing autographs for fans and for
8his endless patience; in Philadelphia, magazine sportswriter
9Stephen Silver wrote of Thome: "It's not just the numbers.
10Thanks to his gregarious personality, Thome is the rare athlete
11who played in several cities and was beloved everywhere he
12went. I saw the Twins and Phillies play each other in
13Philadelphia when Thome was with the Twins, and the same two
14teams in Minnesota two years later when Thome was a Phillie,
15and the opposing crowd cheered Thome both times, even when he
16hit home runs for the road team. Thome was similarly loved in
17his long stints in Cleveland and Chicago, as well as shorter
18runs in Los Angeles and Baltimore."; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Jim Thome and his wife, Andrea, have three
20children, Lila, Grace, and Landon, and currently reside in Burr
21Ridge; and
 
22    WHEREAS, Jim Thome is known for his many philanthropic
23works to help provide help to communities in the cities where

 

 

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1he played; in recognition of his efforts, he was given the
2Marin Miller Man of the Year Award in 2001 and 2004 and the Lou
3Gehrig Memorial Award in 2004; he and his wife are avid
4supporters of Children's Home & Aid, a child and family service
5agency, which raises money for the Children's Hospital of
6Illinois; therefore, be it
 
7    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
8HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
9recognize Jim Thome and everything that he has accomplished
10throughout his distinguished career, and we respect and admire
11his continued philanthropic efforts towards the sport and
12communities he loves; and be it further
 
13    RESOLVED, That we declare May 9, 2018 as "Jim Thome Day" in
14the State of Illinois as a sign of our esteem and respect; and
15be it further
 
16    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
17presented to Jim Thome as a symbol of our respect and esteem.