Jim Thome laughs at a story from Jeff Idelson, former chairman of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, during the Sunday Morning League Banquet, Sunday, May 1, 2022, at the Par-A-Dice Hotel and Casino from East Peoria. Photo credit: MATT DAYHOFF/JOURNAL STAR / USA TODAY NETWORK
Jim Thome became a trending topic on Tuesday X, and for no reason that one would expect.
No, Thome did not announce that he would not retire and return to the MLB at age 53. No, Thome wasn’t hired to become an MLB manager or anything like that. No, Thome wasn’t kicked out of the Hall of Fame or anything crazy.
Why was Thome trending? This is all because of the “Kirk Minihane Show”.
The Kirk Minihane Show is a podcast that produces three episodes per week and is hosted by former Boston sports radio host Kirk Minihane. The producer of Minihane’s show is Jack Coleman, who was challenged to name the top 10 players with the most career home runs in the MLB.
Coleman named Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr. and Sammy Sosa. It then took him several hours to guess Frank Robinson, and he only arrived at the name by randomly associating people’s first and last names.
THE @kirkminshow The stream won’t end until the producer can name the 10 best home run hitters in MLB history.
After 21 hours he finally got Frank Robinson and he’s only missing number 8. There’s no chance he’ll get it, we could be here foreverhttps://t.co/OiBQvXEHXK pic.twitter.com/ll3Ynn8dpL
– Bar Stool Sports (@barstoolsports) March 5, 2024
Coleman wasn’t going to leave the room until he reached the top 10. The show started Monday, and Coleman remained in the room Tuesday, needing to guess the remaining player on the list: Thome.
Even when Thome’s wife called into the show and gave clues as to who her husband was, Coleman still didn’t get it. And even when Minihane mentioned that “Jim Thome” was trending, Coleman still didn’t get it.
Kirk just said “Jim Thome is always trending on Twitter,” and Coleman is none the wiser.https://t.co/rKX1AzOLt1 pic.twitter.com/QOApI7JJkq
– The Kirk Minihane Show (@kirkminshow) March 5, 2024
As this story was published Tuesday, Coleman still had not named Thome. He may never realize it.
Thome hit 612 home runs during his 22-year MLB career. He’s in the Hall of Fame. But Jack Coleman may not know him.
