Jim Thome Hits No. 600 With Some Flare

So far, we've seen two major milestones happen in the game of baseball: Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit and Jim Thome's 600th home run.  What do both of these have in common?  They were both done with incredible flare.
Many said that when Jeter hit his 3,000th hit for a home run, that was the ultimate way for him to accomplish the feat.  But, the way Thome became the eighth member in the illustrious 600 home run club may be even more special.

Thome became the 600 Home Run club's eighth member Monday night

Going into the game, Thome was two home runs shy of 600, but with homers in back-to-back at-bats in the  6th and 7th innings, he became the first person in history to hit his 599th and 600th home runs in back-to-back at-bats in the same game.  Even Jeter's home run 3,000th hit was the SECOND time in history that someone homered to get to that mark.  So Thome's may be more dramatic and special since he is only the eighth to join his club, while Jeter is the 28th to join his.

And there used to be a day when 600 home runs was a given that you would be a Hall of Famer.  But, now with the use of steroids always on the back of everyone's minds, even Thome isn't a sure fire Hall of Famer.  However, Thome has never once been linked to PED use and has been possibly one of the best power hitters of all time.  He hit 30+ home runs in his career 12 times, 40 or more five times, and a career-high 52 in 2002.  He won the Silver Slugger Award in 1996 and was an All-Star five times in his career.
Surely, the numbers are there for Thome to be a first ballot HoF, but the voters will always have PEDs on their mind when they look at letting power hitters into the Hall of Fame.  Even with someone as clean as Thome.

*Images courtesy of Google Images*