On the night Jim Thome was inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame (see story), some of the best stories came not from the Phils alumni, but from the visiting clubhouse, where Rockies corner infielder Mark Reynolds reminisced about his days with Thome in 2012.
Reynolds, placed on the 15-day DL prior to Friday's game, was a teammate of Thome's on the 2012 Orioles. Reynolds took away a lot from playing with Thome, even if it was only for a brief period of time.
"It was neat. He's just one of those guys who's like a legend of the game," Reynolds said pregame. "He's like a big, soft teddy bear. He's always open to talking to anybody, helping anybody out any way he can.
"One thing I learned from him is when you burn cork, you can use it as eye black. So I took that from him, it's kind of old school."
Thome opened the 2012 season, his last in the majors, with the Phillies. Then 41 years old, Thome hit five home runs in 30 games with the Phillies before being traded to Baltimore at the end of June.
It was during the Orioles' postseason run that year when Reynolds, then 28, had the chance to play alongside the future Hall of Famer.
"It's always funny when you're growing up and you're watching these guys on TV, and then you're actually in the same clubhouse as them and playing with them," Reynolds said. "It's just something that you always try to remember and [take away] as much as you can from [them].
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"When he walks in the clubhouse, you're automatically drawn to him. You try to talk to him as much as you can, you know, he tells some great stories about playing so many years."
Thome played in just 28 games with the Orioles after the trade in 2012. A herniated disk in his back forced him to miss all of August and most of September, before he returned from the DL on Sept. 21. But it was Thome's presence on the team and in the clubhouse, not his production, that had the biggest impact on Reynolds. Talk to any teammate of Thome's and you'll inevitably hear about that clubhouse presence.
"He was just one of those good veteran guys to have around that [keeps] everything in perspective and riding that roller coaster that baseball players ride, he tried to keep us kind of level-headed, not worried about tomorrow, not worried about yesterday, just worrying about what he had to do that day," Reynolds said. "It's always good to have someone like that around."