Frank Thomas, currently of the Toronto Blue Jays, became the 21st player to join the 500 home run club in the first inning of the Blue Jays/Twins game today. As I wrote earlier this year there are 5 players that have a good shot at joining the 500 HR club this season and Thomas has become the first to make good on that opportunity.

Alex Rodriguez (492), Jim Thome (482), Manny Ramirez (481), and Gary Sheffield (472) are the other sluggers knocking on the door of the 500 home run club.

The current inflated home run totals era has diminished the exclusivity of the 500 home run club but Frank Thomas was an elite hitter during the 1990s.

From 1990 through 1998 Thomas never had an OPS+ below 174. For 7 consecutive seasons ('91 to '97) Thomas finished in the top 8 in the AL MVP voting. He won the MVP award twice in 1993 and 1994. He finished in the top 10 in slugging percentage all 7 of those seasons including leading the league with a .729 slugging percentage in 1994. He lead the AL in OBP 4 seasons during that period. He was in the top 10 in batting average 6 of those seasons and lead the league in batting average in 1997 (.347)

Despite hitting home run number 500 and all of his accomplishments Thomas has never lead the league in home runs. He has finished in the top 8 home run leaders 9 times, including ranking 2nd 4 times. His career high home run total was 43 in 2000.

Thomas appears to be in the twilight of his career despite having a solid year with Oakland last year. Thomas has a career low OPS+ thus far this season (110) discounting his incomplete 2001 (He only played 20 games that year.)

It's hard to see Thomas getting to 600 home runs which is itself a rapidly growing group. It's gone From 3 members (Aaron, Ruth, Mays) just a few years ago to 5 this year and it could be up to 6 by the end of the year (Ken Griffey being within striking distance of joining Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa.) Unless Alex Rodriguez runs into career threatening injuries he should be making the 600 club's membership grow to seven within a few years.

Is Frank Thomas a hall of famer? I would vote yes. But not so much because of his home run totals which aren't nearly as impressive as they would be if he had played the peak of his career in the 1960s or the 1980s. But along with being 21st all time in home runs Thomas also ranks among the all time leaders in career OPS+ (16th @ 158), OBP (16th @ .423), and slugging percentage (19th @ .562) He's got a .303 career batting average.