500 Home Runs
I mean to post this last weekend (when it actually happened), but I got so busy that I'm only now finally able to find the time.
On Sunday, September 16, 2007, Chicago White Sox designated hitter Jim Thome joined the 500 home run club by hitting a walk-off home run to defeat the Los Angeles Angels. It was the first time in baseball history that someone's 500th home run was a walk-off job.
Now for the entire week, we had been covering Thome's chase for 500 with two photographers (one shooting from first base, another from third), but I was shooting solo on Sunday. The Bears were playing their first home game that same day, and because the NFL rules all, our resources were stretched pretty thin. Because of this, and I hate to admit it, but part of me kind of dreaded taking on this game. I was hoping that Thome would hit his milestone homer the Friday or Saturday before my assigned day, just so I wouldn't have to deal with the pressure of nailing the moment. Of course, he didn't, and for a long time, it looked like he wasn't going to do it that Sunday either. He was 0 for all his at bats, and the Sox were down by six runs.
However, it was Jim Thome bobblehead doll day, and his picture was printed on all the season tickets. Clearly, if there were ever a perfect day where Thome would club out number 500, it would be today. Against all odds, his Sox teammates made it possible by rallying for 6 runs to tie the game up going into the ninth inning with Thome due up second.
I had joked around during the top half of the inning that the hitter ahead of Thome (Darin Erstad) would ruin a perfect ending to Jim Thome bobblehead doll day by hitting a walk off of his own. He didn't, and big Jim socked it to the Angels, sending US Cellular Field into a frenzy.
On Sunday, September 16, 2007, Chicago White Sox designated hitter Jim Thome joined the 500 home run club by hitting a walk-off home run to defeat the Los Angeles Angels. It was the first time in baseball history that someone's 500th home run was a walk-off job.
Now for the entire week, we had been covering Thome's chase for 500 with two photographers (one shooting from first base, another from third), but I was shooting solo on Sunday. The Bears were playing their first home game that same day, and because the NFL rules all, our resources were stretched pretty thin. Because of this, and I hate to admit it, but part of me kind of dreaded taking on this game. I was hoping that Thome would hit his milestone homer the Friday or Saturday before my assigned day, just so I wouldn't have to deal with the pressure of nailing the moment. Of course, he didn't, and for a long time, it looked like he wasn't going to do it that Sunday either. He was 0 for all his at bats, and the Sox were down by six runs.
However, it was Jim Thome bobblehead doll day, and his picture was printed on all the season tickets. Clearly, if there were ever a perfect day where Thome would club out number 500, it would be today. Against all odds, his Sox teammates made it possible by rallying for 6 runs to tie the game up going into the ninth inning with Thome due up second.
I had joked around during the top half of the inning that the hitter ahead of Thome (Darin Erstad) would ruin a perfect ending to Jim Thome bobblehead doll day by hitting a walk off of his own. He didn't, and big Jim socked it to the Angels, sending US Cellular Field into a frenzy.
posted by Jerry at 11:01 PM
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