Tribe greats besides Jim Thome also merit statues: Bill Livingston

The Indians are going to commemorate Jim Thome with a statue, only the second one ever of a player, after Bob Feller. With more than 600 home runs, hit by all indications cleanly, Thome some day will be remembered in Cooperstown with a bust. In some ways, it is a fitting end to Thome's reappearance in the Tribe's lineup during the failed September stretch drive.

View full sizeAssociated PressJim Thome takes a high-five from Lonnie Chisenhall on the way back from scoring against the Detroit Tigers.

The Indians are going to commemorate Jim Thome with a statue, only the second one ever of a player, after Bob Feller.

With more than 600 home runs, hit by all indications cleanly, Thome some day will be remembered in Cooperstown with a bust. In some ways, it is a fitting end to Thome's reappearance in the Tribe's lineup during the failed September stretch drive.

He is a nice man, and he was an island of civility on the snarling 1990s teams. But his last go-round in the city where his career began had more of sweet reconciliation than of triumphant return to it. Thome can't turn on the fastball the way he used to.

It is good that the vast majority of fans realize it has been a long time since Thome chased the money to Philadelphia. Fans who continue to carp about that steep themselves in bitterness. It was understandable that they felt that way at first, but it has been a long time since 2003, and Thome himself apologized for it.

His return let us have a month when the game was not about business, when the dry statistics of the information revolution depicted in the movie "Moneyball" gave way to affairs of the heart. Romance and nostalgia returned briefly to baseball in Cleveland, although Indians fans know better than most that the "happily ever after" part is the real fairy tale.

At the same time, it should be permissible to wonder why Thome is the second player so honored. Is it because in a time of free agency his franchise record of 337 homers will stand forever?

JIM THOME

Year	HR	RBI	BA	OBP
1994	20	53	.268	.359
1995	25	73	.314	.438
1996	38	116	.311	.450
1997	40	102	.286	.423
1998	30	85	.293	.413
1999	33	108	.277	.426
2000	37	106	.269	.398

ALBERT BELLE

Year	HR	RBI	BA	OBP
1994	36	101	.357	.438
1995	50*	126*	.317	.401
1996	48*	148*	.311	.410

MANNY RAMIREZ

Year	HR	RBI	BA	OBP
1997	26	88	.328	.418
1998	45	145	.294	.377
1999	44	165*	.333	.442
2000	38	122	.351	.457

Why not Larry Doby, who broke the American League color barrier with the Indians only six weeks after Jackie Robinson broke in with the Brooklyn Dodgers? The world was not changed overnight or in six weeks.

Why not Lou Boudreau, the player-manager, the American League's Most Valuable Player and pennant playoff game hero in 1948, the team leader in 1948, the last year the Indians won the World Series?

If the intention was to remember the "Era of Champions" in the 1990s and be more contemporaneous, why not look more closely at the years from 1994-2000? In a time when the Indians dominated the Central Division and went to two World Series, Thome, an adequate, at best, defensive player, was not even the team's most feared slugger.

From 1994, when the players strike prevented a possible Tribe playoff appearance, through 1996, that presence was Albert Belle. The raging Belle would have won the MVP award in 1995, when he hit 50 homers and 50 doubles in a 144-game season, had he not comported himself like a black Ty Cobb. Belle played with a barely suppressed rage -- at the pitcher, the fans and a game that denied the perfection he sought. In a time of cheaters, steroid rumors did not dog Belle. He favored corked bats, a more time-honored method of performance enhancement.

After Belle left for the big money in 1997, Manny Ramirez batted in the middle of the lineup and carried the biggest stick until he left after the 2000 season for the same reason. Two failed drug tests late in his career led to Ramirez's decision to retire. He stands revealed as a steroid cheater, which disqualifies him from statuary.

So that leaves, at least in this view, Omar Vizquel, the defensive genius on a slugging team, the glove man in a lineup of big bats, the smile on the face of a sometimes sullen team.

Omar was the greatest shortstop I ever saw, although I only saw St. Louis' Ozzie Smith in person during the playoffs and World Series. Like Thome, Vizquel some day will be in Cooperstown in bronze, wearing an Indans cap.

Vizquel was the magician who didn't need a glove with all his barehanded plays and didn't even need hands with his soccer-style stops on grounders during infield practice. When Roberto Alomar, now in the Hall of Fame, played second base alongside Omar, the Indians' middle infield was where miracle plays occurred.

Vizquel wanted to stay here, but he doesn't have the edge for that. He simply made plays I never saw another human being make. Perhaps it is impossible to capture what made Vizquel so special in a frozen and unmoving statue, though. The spell Omar cast over hitters was a result of his quickness, agility and instincts. How do you cast them in bronze?

To reach Bill Livingston: blivingston@plaind.com, 216-999-4672

Previous columns online: cleveland.com/columns

On Twitter: @LivyPD

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/livingston/index.ssf/2011/09/tribe_greats_besides_jim_thome.html

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