White Sox will celebrate ‘Jim Thome Day’ to honor Hall of Famer

The White Sox will honor Hall of Fame slugger Jim Thome with a special celebration on Aug. 11 when the Cleveland Indians come to town. It’ll be a chance for fans at Guaranteed Rate Field to show love for the former first baseman and designated hitter after he entered the Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the 2018 induction class.

“Jim Thome Day” will include Thome bobbleheads for the first 20,000 fans at the stadium and a pregame ceremony before the White Sox-Indians game at 6:10 p.m. CT. It’s an appropriate matchup between the two teams that he spent the most time with as an MLB player.

Thome was one of six players voted into the Hall of Fame this year along with Trevor Hoffman, Chipper Jones, Jack Morris, Alan Trammell, and Vladimir Guerrero. He received 89.8 percent of the vote in his first time on the ballot to easily surpass the 75 percent necessary to warrant induction.

Over the course of 22 MLB seasons, Thome played for the White Sox, Indians, Phillies, Twins, Dodgers, and Orioles. He’s eighth all time with 612 home runs and finished in the top-10 in MVP voting four times (1997, 2001-03). As a member of the White Sox, he hit 134 home runs in just 529 games over three-plus seasons.

“Jim Thome is one of the most respected players of his time and has been a Hall of Famer in the hearts of White Sox fans since he donned black and white pinstripes,” Brooks Boyer, White Sox senior vice president of sales and marketing, said in a statement. “We’re excited to invite fans to salute the Hall of Famer as he is enshrined into baseball history.”