thome has played for five teams. for most of his indians career he was overshadowed by manny and others. as a phillie he was an expensive free agent pushed aside for a younger player who ended up an mvp and leading the phils to their first world series in years while thome couldnt get them into the playoffs. for the sox he came onto a team that had won the series the year before despite not having a major power threat and he was suppossed to fill that role, the team did not get close to the series again. with the other two teams he was/is a parttime player. he has been terriable on defense and played in a golden era of first baseman, never been an mvp, had a low batting average, high strike out rate and only made a couple of allstar teams. the main thing he did was launch homeruns. he is unlikely to be a first ballot hall of famer and if he does not get 600 homers he may not get in. dont get me wrong ive always loved thome and i proudly own one of his bats but this is just how i see him objectively. he reminds me of fred mcgriff in alot of ways and mcgriff was a major component of a championship team and was a much better fielder and he did not get close to being elected. kaline is probably the greatest player the tigers had in the last 50 years. he had average, some power, defense and is a member of the 3000 hit club which unlike the 500 homer club has not become diluted. i think kaline is defintely one of the top 50-75 players ever. as far as national appeal few players who did not play in new york amid the huge media market reach that level. ruth, mays, mantle, dimaggio, gehrig, mays, koufax all fit into that category.