caption finalyear bats birth_place debutyear finaldate statvalue position finalteam statlabel debutdate birth_date image article_title debutteam name throws
thome with the orioles in 2012 2012 left peoria , illinois 1991 october 3 .276 612 2,328 1,699 first baseman / designated hitter / third baseman baltimore orioles batting average home runs hits runs batted in september 4 27 august 1970 jim thome on july 1 , 2012.jpg jim thome
 cleveland indians jim thome right
jim thome

james howard `` jim '' thome -lrb- ; born august 27 , 1970 -rrb- is a retired american baseball player who played 22 seasons in major league baseball -lrb- mlb -rrb- , from 1991 to 2012 .
he played for six different teams , most notably the cleveland indians during the 1990s and the philadelphia phillies in the early 2000s .
a prolific power hitter , thome hit 612 home runs during his career -- the seventh most all time -- along with 2,328 hits , 1,699 runs batted in -lrb- rbis -rrb- , and a .276 batting average .
he was a member of five all-star teams and won a silver slugger award in 1996 .
thome grew up in peoria , illinois , as part of a large blue-collar family of athletes , who predominantly played baseball and basketball .
after attending illinois central college , he was drafted by the indians in 1989 and made his major league debut in 1991 .
early in his career , he played third base before eventually becoming a first baseman .
with the indians , thome was part of a core of players that led the franchise to two world series appearances in three years during the mid-1990s .
he spent over a decade with cleveland before leaving via free agency after the 2002 season to join the philadelphia phillies , with whom he spent the following three seasons .
traded to the chicago white sox before the 2006 season , thome won the american league comeback player of the year award that year and reached the 500 home run club during his three-season tenure with the team .
by this point in his career , back pain limited thome to being a designated hitter .
after stints with the los angeles dodgers and minnesota twins , he made brief returns to cleveland and philadelphia before ending his career with the baltimore orioles .
upon retiring , thome accepted an executive position with the white sox .
throughout his career , thome 's strength was power hitting .
in six different seasons , he hit more than 40 home runs , and in 2003 , he led the national league in home runs with 47 .
his career on-base plus slugging -lrb- ops -rrb- of .956 is 19th all time .
in 2011 , he became the eighth mlb player to hit 600 home runs .
one of thome 's trademarks was his unique batting stance , in which he held the bat out with his right hand and pointed it at right field before the pitcher threw , something he first saw in `` the natural '' .
thome was known for his consistently positive attitude and `` gregarious '' personality .
an active philanthropist during his playing career , he was honored with two marvin miller man of the year awards and a lou gehrig memorial award for his community involvement .
