Killebrew vs. Thome
Posted by Chris J. on August 28, 2007
Tim Marchman wrote a column saying that (in some many words) Thome doesn't pass the smell test for HoFer because he didn't stand out from his peers enough, even though he'll likely end up with 500. To test this, let's compare him to a similar player from a previous generation - Killebrew.
Both were third basemen turned into defensivly challenged first basemen. Neither is at the tips of anyone's tongues when you think of HoFers. Neither had superlative averages but both had plenty of walks and homers.
Since Thome's career isn't over, let's compare him with what Killer did threw age 36, Thome's current season. Here's how Killebrew ranked with his peers through age 36. Not too shabby. Behind only Aaron and Mays, and ahead of some guy named Frank Robinson
Here's Thome so far in his career. He's seventh, barely ahead of eighth. Sure there's expansion, but that doesn't explain why he's over twice as far back.
Marchman's got a point.
