Jim Thome just wasn’t big enough.
At least, not in his eyes. After being drafted by Cleveland in 1989, the 19-year-old received his invitation to spring training with an exuberance that seemed to alarm his father.
Terrifyingly enough, Thome went forward with his plan and showed up in Florida at the Indians’ spring training complex massive enough in size that the team was, as his father put it, “aghast.”1
Still developing as a ball player—at this point, the Indians weren’t even sold on Thome as a legitimate prospect—Thome didn’t make the team that pre-season and was sent to the Gulf Coast League for some extended work.