If anyone ever asks you to name the greatest home-run hitters in Major League Baseball history, just go ahead and pocket Jim Thome’s name now so you never forget it.
The 2018 Baseball Hall of Famer was trending on X on Tuesday. It wasn’t because he was planning an MLB comeback at age 53. It wasn’t because anything bad had happened to him. Instead, it was simply because someone couldn’t remember him.
Jack Coleman, a producer on the Barstool Sports podcast “The Kirk Minihane Show,” was tasked with naming the 10 career home-run leaders in MLB history and wasn’t allowed to leave the studio until he did. That might sound like a simple task as names like Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, and Hank Aaron flood your mind. But if you hadn’t been studying up in a while, you might have missed some recent additions, like Thome, which would have left you stumped.
That’s exactly what happened to Coleman, who started this Sisyphean task on Monday and spent a good chunk of Tuesday still trying to figure it out as well.
Kirk putting his guys through their own #SolitaryKlemfinement… Show has been going for 5 and a half hours and Kirk has been gone for an hour now pic.twitter.com/QIdi4jrmMG
— Viva La Stool (@VivaLaStool) March 4, 2024
While he got eight of the names on the list on Monday (Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., and Sammy Sosa), it took him a full 21 hours before he noted Frank Robinson was No. 10, leaving him with just the No. 8 hitter (Thome) to name.
The @kirkminshow stream isn't ending until the producer can name the top 10 home run hitters in MLB history.
At the 21 hour mark he finally got Frank Robinson and is only missing #8. There is zero chance he gets it, we might be here foreverhttps://t.co/OiBQvXEHXK pic.twitter.com/ll3Ynn8dpL
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) March 5, 2024
The gag almost ended when Minihane said Thome’s name on the show, but Coleman somehow didn’t put two-and-two together.
“Jim Thome stilling trending in the United States as is Tom Selleck — hope he’s alright,” Minihane said.
Kirk just said “Jim Thome still trending on Twitter,” and Coleman is none the wiser.https://t.co/rKX1AzOLt1 pic.twitter.com/QOApI7JJkq
— The Kirk Minihane Show (@kirkminshow) March 5, 2024
Jim’s wife, Andrea Thome, called into the show to try and help put Coleman out of his misery, offering up several clues, including the teams he played for and his hometown of Peoria, Illinois.
“Do you know Peoria, Illinois, Coleman?” asked Minihane. “… Johnny Carson would always use Peoria as an example … Will it play in Peoria? he would say.”
This is unbelievable.
— Kirk Minihane (@kirkmin) March 5, 2024
Andrea even slipped up once, saying the name “Jim,” but again, Coleman didn’t catch it. She also gave the producer the clue that the slugger’s nickname “based off a movie also starring Arnold Schwarzenegger,” referring to “The Thomenator.” Coleman seemed to recognize “The Terminator,” but still hadn ‘t named Thomas 27 hours later.
We got Jim Thome’s wife to call in and Coleman is asking hints and he’s still nowhere close. Incredible https://t.co/ADdDpF12sK
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) March 5, 2024
Meanwhile, Jim Thome started trending on X as everyone listening and watching at home desperately starting hoping Coleman would figure this out and get some sleep.
Alas, unable to get those synapses to connect in his brain, Coleman was granted a nap so that he could get a break and start fresh. We can only hope that the prolific power hitter with 612 home runs, 2,328 hits, and 1,699 RBIs will occur to him soon.
Coleman is awake from his 2 hour nap and ready to guess #8 Jim Thome.https://t.co/rKX1AzOLt1
— The Kirk Minihane Show (@kirkminshow) March 5, 2024
UPDATE: Finally, 36 hours after starting the process, Coleman named Thome. He struggled with the pronunciation of the Hall of Famer’s last name, but was given credit.
OH MY HE FINALLY DID IT!!!
After 36 hours @kirkminshow producer Coleman finally named Jim Thome to complete the top 10 HR hitters of all time list pic.twitter.com/axF0l4OKrc
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) March 6, 2024
[Peoria Journal-Star, Larry Brown Sports, The Kirk Minihane Show]