'Fluke accident': Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Thome of Peoria suffers three facial fractures
PEORIA — Hall of Fame slugger Jim Thome KO'd a lot of teams with home runs during his storied baseball career. In fact, the Peoria native launched an MLB record 13 walk-off homers.
But last week, he took a shot on the proverbial chin from his son, Landon.
Thome was throwing batting practice to his son when a line drive smashed him in the face, causing three fractures, according to a social media post from his wife, Andrea.
It's been quite a week. Jim took a line drive to the face last Friday while throwing BP to our son—and he has 3 broken bones to show for it. We're grateful his vision was unaffected and he suffered no head trauma. Landon is especially relieved and they are already back to work.
— Andrea Thome ❤️✌🏼⚾️ (@AndreaThome) August 18, 2023
She says the former Cleveland Indians slugger was pitching from behind an L-shaped protective screen, but "Didn’t duck back fast enough. Fluke accident."
"We're grateful his vision was unaffected and he suffered no head trauma," she posted Friday. "Landon is especially relieved and they are already back to work."
Thome, 52, joined his son's high school baseball team as an assistant coach last spring, helping LaGrange Park Nazareth to the Illinois High School Association Class 3A state championship in Joliet.
Jim is taking some time out of the public eye to let his bruising and swelling subside, and he sadly had to miss both the Phillies and Guardians Hall of Fame festivities last weekend and this weekend. We certainly send our best to all of the inductees from our entire family. ❣️⚾️
— Andrea Thome ❤️✌🏼⚾️ (@AndreaThome) August 18, 2023
The Peoria-born Thome hit 612 home runs, the eighth-most in baseball history. He hit 17 home runs in 71 postseason games. He played primarily for the Indians, spending 13 seasons and nearly 1,400 games with the Tribe before moving on to Philadelphia, Chicago White Sox, Minnesota, Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore in a career that lasted 22 seasons and 2,543 games.
He hit the longest home run in the history of the Indians' Progressive Field, a 511-foot shot on July 3, 1999 that left the ballpark completely.
Thome was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. in 2018.
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Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Jim Thome suffers three facial fractures on line drive from son
