[getty id="36719" title="Home Run Derby (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)" src="http://cbswncx2.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/51110159.jpg?w=385&h=256"]I think the only times that I’ve been embarrassed to be a Cleveland Indians fan is when the local crowd has booed Jim Thome when he returns for games here. Jim was truly one of  the nicest and classier guys I’ve ever met in sports and we all got to see him blossom into one of the truly great power hitters of all times and be one of the leaders on more than a few great Tribe teams. While he was here he gave everything he had and never embarrassed himself, the city, or the team. OK, finally he left for a big payday; and you wouldn’t have? But now as he is just 11 homers away from 600 career bombs it will be, at least for me, a great time watching him join a very exclusive power-hitter club. Thanks for the memories, Jimmy, and go get “em!

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