After taking Brian Stokes deep on Thursday, Jim Thome hit his 565th career home run, and is now only two shy of tying Rafeal Palmeiro for 11th on the all-time list.
But on another list, Jim Thome tied one of the hardest working Twins in recent memory.
Jason Tyner played eight major league seasons, and spent three with the Twins, but his most memorable moment came in a July 28th game in 2007.
In a game against the Cleveland Indians, Tyner took P Jake Westbrook deep for his first and only career home run.
Tyner is best known for his role along with Nick Punto, Jason Bartlett and Luis Castillo as the "Little Piranhas". The four batted eight, ninth, first, and second, and were esentially four lead-off players. They all hit between .290 and .312, and had six homeruns between them in 2006.
Now with his first career home run as a Twin, Thome tied Tyner for 404th on the Twins' franchise list, joining Kelvin Torbe, Tom Tischinski, Jim Snyder, Ray Smith, Jon Shave, Al Schroll, Randy Ruiz, Bob Randall, Alex Prieto, Derek Parks, Russ Nixon, Otis Nixon, Tom Nieto, Phil Nevin, Chad Moeller, Matt Merullo, Dave Meier, Matt Macri, Kevin Maas, Chris Latham, Don Lee, Mike Lamb, Tom Kelly, Pat Kelly, Terry Jorgensen, Tom Herr, Hal Haydel, Carroll Hardy, Chris Gomez, Bill Fischer, Andre David, Bill Dailey, Sal Butera, Darrell Brown, Rob Bowen, Walt Bond, Wally Backman, Danny Ardoin, Brent Abernathy, Tom Wright, Junior Wooten, Harry Wolverton, Barney Wolfe, Earl Whitehill, Jack Warner, Howard Wakefield, Clay Can Alstyne, Happy Townsend, Joe Tipton, Kite Thomas, Dick Tettelbach, Danny Tylor, John Sullivan, Dean Stone, Joe Stanley, Charlie Smith, Al Sima, Art Shires, Bill Shipke, Al Schroll, Jerry Schoonmaker, Germany Schaefer, Henri Rondeau, John Romonosky, Rabbit Robinson, Red Roberts, Roxey Roach, Jack Redmond, Jay Porter, Les Peden, Derek Parks, Jim O’Neill, Bill O’Neill, Bobo Newsom, Steve Nagy, George Myatt, Charles Moran, George Mogridge, Mike Mitchell, Mickey McDermott, Mike McCormick, Tom Bride, Bill McAfee, Sam Mayer, Red Marion, Firpo Marberry, Jesse Levan, Nemo Leibold, Hillis Layne, Chris Latham, Pete Lapan, Bobby LaMotte, Bob Kuzava, Mike Kreevich, Frank Kitson, Eddie Kenna, Hal Keller, Tex Jeanes, Jal Janvrin, Ducky Holmes, Shanty Hogan, Jesse Hill, Hunter Hill, Mike Heydon, Joe Haynes, Oscar Graham, Ed Goebel, Hank Gehring, Babe Ganzel, Jerry Freeman, Bill Fischer, Wes Ferrell, Cy Falkenberg, Eric Erickson, Bones Ely, Sam Dungan, Jack Doyle, Lave Cross, Harry Courtney, Ken Chase, Mike Chartak, Alex Carrasquel, Milo Candini, Jack Calvo, George Browne, Lloyd Brown, Joe Boehling, Belve Bean, Turner Barber, Nick Altrock, and Morrie Aderholt.
More important to Twins fans, however, Thome is now only eight home runs away from tying Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew with 573 career home runs.
If anybody else is going pass Killebrew, it should be Thome. Of the five players that have passed Killebrew in the last 30 years, only Ken Griffey Jr hasn't been linked to steroids. Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds all have.
If Major League Baseball places asterisks next to steroid users in the record books, Killebrew should return to his rightful place at sixth on the all-time list.
Until Jim Thome, who hasn't been linked to steroids, passes him.
Thome also ranks 14th on the Philadelphia Phillies list with 96 home runs, 13th on the Chicago White Sox list with 134, and first on the Cleveland Indians list with 334.
He did not hit a home run with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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