Sox slugger inspires youth

As a young boy growing up in Peoria, Jim Thome dreamed of one day hitting a home run in Wrigley Field.

In his 18 seasons in the major leagues, he's done it three times.

On Tuesday morning, he helped several Little Leaguers achieve their dream of meeting their favorite big leaguer at the White Sox Player Camp for Youth Athletes at Lisle's White Sox Training Academy.

During a break in drills, Thome gathered about 50 of the young players and answered their questions about playing "in the bigs."

In case you didn't know, he has most enjoyed batting against Rick Reed, who gave up nine of his 523 home runs. Randy Johnson, throwing in the mid-90s, was the toughest pitcher he's faced. And Mark Buehrle and Paul Konerko are his favorite White Sox teammates.

"I know how important it is to see your favorite ballplayers are real people," said Thome, who at age 10 snuck onto Wrigley Field in an attempt to get Dave Kingman's autograph.

"Growing up in Peoria we had the (minor league Peoria) Chiefs and I don't even remember, as a kid, meeting any of those guys but that would have been awesome," he said.

Awesome was hardly the word for the budding baseball players who got their jerseys, baseballs and other items signed by Thome, after his Q and A session.

"This is my first autograph and I'm never going to sell it," said 6-year-old Jacob McCarthy of Hinsdale, hoisting his baseball with the still wet signature. "I'm going to frame it or do something cool with it."

Alex Locascio, 8, of Downers Grove, also intended to frame his first autographed baseball - but not until he shared it with his new brother who was being born while Alex was learning how to field ground balls.

"I'm going to bring it to him and show him how cool it is," Alex said. "One day we can both have collections."

During the Chicago White Sox Player Camp, children ages 6 to 16 pay $299 to work with professional coaches and Sox players for four hours a day for four days.

"These camps are really cool and another special thing about this city," Thome said. "Coming to Chicago was like my way of getting around baseball. There's always baseball going on here, So it's been cool. It's been real cool."

As long as dreams were being realized Tuesday, Thome talked about the chances of his boyhood favorite Cubs battling his White Sox in the World Series. Despite both teams being in first place Tuesday, he was careful not to jinx his club with the "baseball Gods."

"We try not to get ahead of ourselves because the baseball Gods always say you have to respect the position you're in because you may not be there next week," he said.

"As a team, we like where we're at. We like the club we have. We're doing some good things right now but it's a long haul and we understand that and we've got to keep that focus."

But he's rooting for it on the inside.

"It would be awesome for sure. Growing up a Cub fan and obviously playing for the Sox now would make that even more special now if that should happen," he said. "Awesome. Just awesome."