Flashback: Thome goes deep twice to join 600-homer club
Jim Thome entered the night with 598 career homers, and he exited as the eighth member of the 600-homer club.
In the sixth inning on Aug. 15, 2011, Thome, then with the Minnesota Twins, connected for No. 599 against Detroit Tigers right-hander Rick Porcello. One inning later, he planted a pitch from left-hander Daniel Schlereth into the seats in left-center field to make history.
Thome had homered just twice in his previous 21 games.
"It's an unbelievable night. You dream about it, but when it happens it's kind of surreal," Thome told reporters. "You envision, is it ever going to happen? You don't know. At 40 years old, approaching 41, you don't know. I never tried to take it for granted."
The slugger retired after the 2012 season with 612 home runs and will debut on the 2018 Hall of Fame ballot.
