Who is Jim Thome?
I’ll tell you. Peoria, Illinois, 1970. Jim Thome was born. He and his sister Jenny, both paternal twins, are the youngest of five children. His father, Chuck, Jr., did play some baseball when he was young, and even thought about giving baseball a shot, though he thought better of it, and instead went for a more stable position at a local factory. Family, rather than ambition, was what Chuck, Jr. installed in his children. The Thome family was notorious softball players in the Peoria, Illinois area. Several of Jim’s relatives are even in the Peoria sports Hall of Fame for fast-pitch softball! Jim’s older brothers were always baseball fanatics, having played baseball at the college level and then fast-pitch softball. At Jim Thome’s first Cubs games, he asked Dave Kingman (his favorite childhood baseball player) for an autograph, and was quickly denied. Jim Thome was upset, and so after Dave Kingman left into the dugout, Jim jumped the wall and dashed into the dugout after Kingman. Jim Th
