Opening Day Auction 2014
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/26/2014
Number seven on the all-time home runs list Jim Thome, hit the first 334 of his 630 career home runs with the Cleveland Indians but reached the 400 milestone with the Philadelphia Phillies and hit number 500 as a member of the Chicago White Sox. After finishing the 2009 season in a brief stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thome signed as a free-agent with the Minnesota Twins prior to the 2010 season. Thome hit career home runs number 599 and 600 as designated hitter for the Twins on August 15, 2011 against the Tigers in Detroit off pitchers Rick Porcello in the sixth inning and Daniel Schlereth in the seventh. The first was a two-run shot that put the Twins ahead 5-3 and the second was a three-run blast that provided the margin of victory, staking the Twins to a to a 9-5 lead in a game they would eventually win 9-6. This MLB Authentic game used ball (#FJ613399) was thrown by Twins starting pitcher Francisco Liriano and hit by Tigers catcher Alex Avilla for a triple to dead center field in the bottom of the sixth of Thome’s historic game. Avilla who later came around to score, had also singled in the second and doubled in the fourth. The ball shows moderate game use with a concentration of scuff marks along the seams under the MLB logo and a blue ink transfer on the sweet spot. The MLB Authentic base (#FJ613416) manufactured by Hollywood Bases; Jack Corbett also contains a Schutt trademark on top, plastic Detroit Tigers logos inlaid on all four sides and is slightly dirty on top with a “1st Base 8/15/11 Innings 1-5 Thome 599” inscription written in bold black Sharpie on the underside.