Former Minnesota Twin Jim Thome waves to the crowd prior to his speech before the game between the Minnesota Twins and Oakland Athletics at Target Field. Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
Barstool SportsMLBBy Sean Keeley on

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.

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 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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

[Peoria Journal-Star, Larry Brown Sports, The Kirk Minihane Show]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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