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HARNER: Weekend statue ceremony brings childhood nostalgia

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Some 20 years ago, Jim Thome purchased a Jeep from the dealership where my dad was employed as a mechanic.

To a 6-year-old, the future Cleveland Indians standout was a monster of a man, a gentle giant towering over me as he signed the back of my baseball card in Shelby, Ohio, instantly becoming my favorite player.

Last Saturday night, Thome again became a giant of a man, only this time, he was encased in bronze.

The Cleveland Indians honored Thome’s legendary career by unveiling an 8-foot statue of him in his signature batting stance in Heritage Park at Progressive Field.

Later that night, Thome – a Peoria native – signed an honorary one-day contract with the team, so he could officially retire with the Indians, bringing his career full-circle.

In this day and age of professional sports, legends come and go, haggling over millions of dollars, and oftentimes, crushing the feelings of young fans who idolize them.

Albert Pujols and LeBron James are two of the most notable examples in recent years, but in Cleveland, the home-grown stars left every few years in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Albert Belle left for the White Sox in 1996.

Manny Ramirez left for the Red Sox in 2000.

Jim Thome left for the Phillies in 2002.

By the age of 15, none of the potent offensive players I imitated in the back yard remained with my favorite club, and the Indians fell into a tailspin of losing seasons.

Over time, I came to understand that baseball is a business, realizing Thome’s decision of where he signed couldn’t be based on how the younger generation would react to seeing him in a different uniform – or in his case, uniforms.

Thome eventually waived his no-trade clause with Philadelphia and was traded to the Chicago White Sox prior the 2006 season, before being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2009 and signing with the Minnesota Twins in 2010.

In the middle of the 2011 season, however, he was traded back to the Indians, healing the wounds he left on many, though he couldn’t get his team into the postseason and never was on a World Series winner during his career.

Having already begun my career with The Leader-Union at that time, I was unable to get back to Cleveland to see him play in 2011, though the photos and video from his first at-bat were chilling.

It brought back the memories of the Cleveland powerhouse teams of the mid-1990s – majestic home runs, dazzling defense, domination of the American League Central Division and seats in the very last row of the stadium for each of the games in our four-game ticket allotment.

Saturday’s statue ceremony did the same, especially when radio broadcast audio clips of some of Thome’s finest moments were replayed through the loudspeakers.

I never became the same high-sock wearing power hitter like I had always dreamed – I can’t believe no one wanted to sign a kid who had four hits in two years of Pony League action – but Thome’s stance was one I imitated most often in imaginary World Series games.

Now, future generations in Cleveland will forever see the pointed bat that so many northern Ohio youngsters could perfectly mimic in the 1990s.

Andrew Harner

Jim Thome’s stance, which many northern Ohio kids imitated in the 1990s, is now captured in bronze at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

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