Philadelphia Phillies: 3 ways Jim Thome made impact for team in short period of time

1. Handling Howard situation with professionalism

As mentioned before, one can only imagine how the rest of Thome’s time in Philadelphia would have been like if the first baseman hadn’t been dealing with injuries during the 2005 season that limited him to playing in just 59 games. But as Phillies fans are well aware of, the struggles surrounding Thome led to Ryan Howard receiving the opportunity to make a name for himself, and the rest is history.

Not only would Howard go on to take home NL Rookie of the Year honors that year after hitting 22 home runs in 88 games, but the power hitter could go on to have a stellar career with the Phillies, as he played a key role in helping the team secure that World Series title in 2008. And if this wasn’t already impressive enough, let’s not forget that Howard actually went on to win NL MVP during his first full season in the league during 2006 after leading in both home runs (58) and RBIs (149).

Without time, replacing Thome with Howard was an extremely tough decision by the Phillies organization, but also Thome deserves credit for handling the situation like a true professional. It was tough to see at the time, but when considering that Howard would go on lead the league in RBIs in three of four seasons beginning in 2006, it was clearly the right decision by Philadelphia, and fans will always be appreciative of Thome for handling the situation like he did.