Thome pulls into 7th on all-time walks list

Jim Thome just keeps on making history.

When Thome stepped into the batter’s box in the bottom of the eighth inning of the Phillies’ 3-2 loss in the first game of their Sunday double-header (see story), the Rays wanted no part of Gentleman Jim.

They gave Thome an intentional pass, which loaded the bases and put the go-ahead run on second base. The walk was No. 1,733 of Thome’s career, which ties him for seventh on the all-time walk's list with Mickey Mantle.

That’s a lot of free passes.

As the 41-year-old Thome walked up to home just a day after playing hero in Saturday night’s 7-6 win, the future Hall of Famer received a huge standing ovation from the crowd of 44,785 – it was the 240th consecutive regular season sellout – at Citizens Bank Park. Those cheers quickly turned to boos when Rays’ manager Joe Maddon called for the intentional walk.

The 1,733 walks rank Thome behind Barry Bonds (2,558), Ricky Henderson (2,190), Babe Ruth (2,062), Ted Williams (2,019), Joe Morgan (1,865) and Carl Yastrzemski (1,845) on the all-time list. The fans at the ballpark were peeved when Thome was walked, but that's some impressive company to keep.

In his career, Thome has walked a total of 155,970 feet (or 29.54 miles) from home to first. The walk on Sunday afternoon was the eighth in the 2012 season for Thome. In 1999, he walked 127 times with Cleveland and he's had over 100 walks nine times in his 22-year career.

The walk was also the 171st intentional walk of his career. He's tied with Fred McGriff for 27th on that list.

Thome is batting .317 with five home runs and 15 RBIs in the month of June. He hit his 609th career homer on Saturday, tying Sammy Sosa for seventh on the all-time list. He's also the fourth player in MLB history to hit at least 100 homers for three different clubs.

E-mail Dave Zangaro at dzangaro@comcastsportsnet.com