Puskas: Thome worthy of HOF, not statue

The Cleveland Indians unveiled Jim Thome’s status on Saturday night.

The reaction of much of the team’s fan base was a collective, “Wait. What?”

Same here.

Thome spent 13 of his 22 big-league seasons with the Indians and hit a franchise-best 348 of his 612 home runs for Cleveland.

But he spent the rest of his career elsewhere and hit 264 homers while wearing other teams’ colors.

And he did that after proclaiming, “They’ll have to tear the uniform off my back.”

Talk, as they say, turned out to be cheap, even if the free-agent contract Thome eventually signed with the Philadelphia Phillies was not.

The Phillies offered Thome one more season with their mega-deal and Thome took the money and turned down a chance to be a real Cleveland icon, like Bob Feller.

Until Saturday, Feller — who spent his entire career with the Indians — had the only statue outside Progressive Field.

Thome eventually returned to the Indians for a cup of coffee in 2011, but the 40-year-old version was a shadow of the future Hall of Famer who left the Tribe after a 52-homer season in 2002.

Thome wasn’t the first player to bolt Cleveland as a free agent. Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez did it, too. But the Indians aren’t putting up monuments in their honor.

Even Thome seems a little embarrassed by the Indians’ statuesque gesture.

Maybe that’s because he realizes there is a fairly lengthy list of former Tribe players who are more deserving of the honor.

Like The Plain Dealer’s Bill Livingston, I believe the Indians should have put up a statue of Omar Vizquel. Thome was one of the big boppers in a star-studded lineup throughout the 1990s, but Vizquel — the Gold Glove shortstop — is a fan favorite to this day and should have gotten more credit for the leadership he brought to those teams.

And, unlike Thome, Vizquel’s career in Cleveland didn’t end because he chose to play elsewhere. The Indians opted to rebuild without him after the 2004 season, when they let him go in free agency to make room for the forgettable Jhonny Peralta.

Kenny Lofton, the electric center fielder for the Indians’ teams of the 1990s, also would have been a better choice for a statue. Like Vizquel, Lofton’s name is often among the first to come up among fans who were treated to that era’s unprecedented run of success.

Sandy Alomar Jr., whose 11 seasons with the Indians covered the whole of the 1990s, is another player more deserving than Thome of a statue at Progressive Field. But like Vizquel and Lofton, he eventually didn’t fit into the club’s rebuilding plans.

One player I always felt was underrated on those Indians teams was pitcher Charles Nagy, who was 129-103 in 13 seasons with the Tribe. Those aren’t numbers that cry out for a statue, but Nagy won 17 games three different times with the Tribe. He was another guy who never wanted to play anywhere else.

Nagy took the ball every five days and never complained. Even when then-manager Mike Hargrove skipped the veteran to go with Jaret Wright to start Game 7 of the World Series in 1997, Nagy remained stoic even though it had to hurt.

Nagy gave everything he had to the Indians. In 2002, his final season in Cleveland, Nagy made 19 appearances — including seven starts — despite having no cartilage left in his elbow. He felt he owed it to the Indians and their fans because of his contract.

I’ve often wondered what might have happened had the Indians somehow won Game 6 of the 1995 World Series in Atlanta. Nagy, who was 16-6 that season, likely would have started Game 7.

I’d sooner see all those guys honored in perpetuity with a statue at Progressive Field.

And that’s just looking at the 1990s-era Indians.

Going back even further, Larry Doby ought to have a statue. He was the first black player in the American League, so he’s often overshadowed by Jackie Robinson, but he faced the same challenges Robinson did and was a seven-time All-Star and four-time MVP candidate.

Rocky Colavito, like Thome a prodigious home run hitter, is another player who remains a fan favorite even though it’s been nearly 50 years since he wore an Indians uniform. A rock in the shape of The Rock would have been a grand gesture for both Colavito and Indians fans of a bygone era.

But who cares what the fans think? The Indians obviously do not. If they did, the statue they unveiled Saturday night would have looked decidedly different.

Don’t misunderstand. This is not to disparage Thome or minimize his Cooperstown-worthy career. I’ve always liked him and didn’t begrudge him his move in free agency. Unlike Belle, Thome was never prickly — or outright mean-spirited — with fans or reporters. He always had time and a smile for both groups.

But when it came time for Thome to decide between becoming Cleveland’s version of Cal Ripken Jr. (Baltimore), George Brett (Kansas City) or Derek Jeter (New York) and taking the money, he chose the latter.

That was his right, but that decision ought to have been considered when the idea of a Jim Thome statue was first proposed.

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.