'Thome is still aiming at Mankato'

For Thome, Nothing Adds Up to a Ring

By TYLER KEPNER

CHICAGO — For a man who swings so ferociously, like a lumberjack with a hammer ringing the bell at a county fair, Jim Thome is all soft edges. He keeps his hair short, and his ears stick out, and he looks you in the eye when he talks. He nods and smiles a lot, often repeating things, earnestly, for emphasis. He is 40 and built like a mountain, yet somehow he seems like a boy.

Even when he talks about his lowest moment in the major leagues, Thome, the Minnesota Twins’ designated hitter, betrays no bitterness or anger. Thirteen years ago, with the Cleveland Indians, Thome watched helplessly from first base as the Florida Marlins won Game 7 of the World Series on a single up the middle by Edgar Renteria.

“It was probably the most exhausting game, mentally, I’ve ever played in — the focus, the intensity, the hype of Game 7,” Thome said last week on the Twins’ bench before a game against another former team, the Chicago White Sox. “It’s a little bit of a blur to me, but also, I can see that hit in my mind, where I was at.”

Then Thome paused, reflecting more on the purity of the competition and less on his own disappointment. “Somebody’s got to win it,” he said.

(Continued here.)