Today's Stat

500
home runs. Jim Thome, one of the truly good guys in professional sports, hit his 500th career home run last night. And to top it off, it was a game winner in the bottom of the 9th!

According to the report on NPR this morning, Thome wrote his late mother's name in the dirt behind home plate before stepping into the box. The fan that caught the ball, Will Stewart of Austin, Tx, returned the ball to Jim Thome who gave him a bunch of stuff including season tickets. Mr. Stewart returned Thome's largesse. True this ball doesn't have the monetary value of the Bond's ball* but it is awesome to see a fan respect the game and its milestones without trying to profit from it.


* It seems as if the man who caught Bond's 756 home run had to sell it because he would have had to pay taxes on it.