Jim Thome Homering Across Eras

Jim Thome mashed his first tater since rejoining the Cleveland Indians last night. There’s just something kind of special about seeing Thome back with the Indians, as he was one of the guys who has really been a part of my entire baseball watching life and this whole full-circle thing he’s done brings me back to the days of my youth. Or something like that.

Anyway, you should watch the video, and see if you feel how I feel:

For comparison’s sake, Thome’s 200th homer, also at Progressive Jacobs Field back in 2000:

I feel like these two videos could evoke very different things in very different people (such as: nothing), but I had at least a few thoughts pop in to the old skull:

You never learn to truly appreciate high-definition until you live in a low-definition world, and vice-versa. Low definition Jim Thome doesn’t know what he’s missing.

You can always tell a game in the 1980s from the styles of the jerseys — this is the reason I don’t want the Brewers to go back to the ball-in-glove jersey schema. It’s fantastic, yes, but it really doesn’t fit in with the jersey of the current times. I’d prefer the 1980s squads keep the legacy they created for themselves. I feel like the jerseys here have a kind of distinctive 90s look — the red socks with the blue tops for the Indians in particular, and the blue tops and poorly fitting pants for the Rangers pitcher. This look has been quickly phased out — you can tell, just from the jerseys, this game isn’t from the later 2000s.

Jim Thome hit both of these balls on the exact same spray angle. Age is the difference between hitting that ball 15 rows into the seats and barely sneaking it over the wall.

Mark Clark (the pitcher) is kind of a funny name, when you think about it.

How great do those cream-shaded Indians home jerseys look?

Lastly, but most certainly not leastly, JIM JAM MASHES TATERS.