Jim Thome's Hall of Fame plaque

Jim Thome late last week said that he'd prefer the "block C" cap on his Hall of Fame plaque over the "Chief Wahoo" logo that he wore during his stellar tenure in Cleveland.

A colleague suggested this weekend that the solution is for him to have the Twins' TC, but I'm pretty sure he knew that isn't happening.

Thome spent all or part of 13 seasons in Cleveland and no more than four in his other stops (Philadelphia, White Sox, Dodgers, Minnesota,  Baltimore). He hit the majority of his homers for Cleveland, gathered the majority of his RBIs for Cleveland. His slash numbers were better for the Tribe than for any of his other teams. There's no real question that he's going in as an Indian, even though he and the Hall haven't discussed it yet.

Somebody said on Twitter that nobody in the Hall has Wahoo on his cap. There's a fairly large crop of Indians from the 1940s and '50s enshrined -- Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Larry Doby, Lou Bordreau, Early Wynn -- but most of their plaques have a 'horseshoe C". Wynn appears to be the exception; he appears to have a cap that combines the horseshoe with Wahoo. After that generation, there's a lack of Indians in the Hall. A few guys who played briefly for the Tribe, such as Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar, but nobody who truly identifies as a Cleveland Indian.

I don't know that Thome ever voiced an objection to Wahoo as a player; if he did, he did so privately. Historical accuracy says his plaque should have Wahoo; the commissioner now declares the logo unfit "for on-field use." Theres always the Catfish Hunter blank cap solution, but I don't think Hunter's two teams dilemma is the same as Thome's logo-in-disgrace issue. Thome will want to be identified with Cleveland. He'll get the block C.