Tribe fan here and I will start off by saying Thome was my favorite player of the 90s squads. I actually still root for the guy (unless your team is on the other side of course). I wouldn't boo him personally, but could care less if other Tribe fans do, that is their right.

What I really want to do is clear up a common misperception some Sox fans have. The majority of the comments I read are from Sox fans who say "well we didn't boo Frank when he came back into town", and thusly making the Tribe fans seem "bad".

First off, you cannot compare the two situations equally, because it more like an apples to oranges comparison.

First, the Thome situation:

What Sox fans don't realize was how hard his contract negotiations were. The front office originally approached him 2 years before his deal was up and tried to negotiate an extension. Thome decided he wanted to wait until he offseason to negotiate, no big deal, that happens all the time. They still couldn't come to an agreement in the offfseason however.

Then during his final season, the front office approached Thome and let them know since they were not competing for the playoffs, they wanted to know if he was going to try and work on the extension with them, otherwise they were going to try and trade him at the deadline for prospects. Since Thome had 10 and 5 rights, he told them he would not ok any deal the Tribe made. And his comment to the press at that time was the following, "They are going to have to tear this jersey off my back because I want to be an Indian for life." (note: that is not verbatim, it is from memory, but I know the jersey comment was to that effect).

So in the offseason, when the teams traded offers, they offered him a four year deal at X. He took that offer to Philly and they said, sure we'll give you five years at X+. He then came back to Cleveland and said, they are willing to do five years, will you match it? They said yes and threw in an option year. He then went back to Philly and they offered him a 6th year on the deal with an option. He then went back to Cleveland and asked them to match, they said no.

When Thome left Cleveland, he was still only 32 years old with a good 5-7 years of productivity left to play. And when he left to play in Philly, all the fans in Cleveland could remember was the "you're gonna have to rip the jersey off my back" comment. That is why the city of Cleveland feels betrayed, because he went for the $$/years instead of doing the loyalty thing he was preaching about for two years. Had he not said such things and just taken the $$ like Manny or Belle, I doubt he would get the boos he does now.

Now compare this to Frank:

When he left Chicago, he was entering his season as a 38 year old, not 32. He might have a season or two left to be semi-productive, not 5-7 years at the top of his game.

Not to mention he already had a contentious relationship with the front office that all of Chicago all knew about. So when he left, it was not a surprise, nor was it a big heartache.

So tell me now, if Frank had preached about wanting to be a career White Sox player, and had left your team in 2000 when he was 32 and at the top of his game for more $$ (but not much more than what you had offered), do you think he would still get this joyous reception every visit back to Chicago? And to top it off, let's say he was playing for the Tigers. Do you honestly think he would get that warm of a reception? I don't.

And finally, to the original poster, if Thome does make the Hall of Fame, he will go in as an Indian. He played 12 seasons there, then 3 in Philly. He is now in his 3rd with Chicago. Even if he plays five more years with your team (doubtful), that would make 8 in Chicago. He will still have more productive years as an Indian than as a White Sox player. Now if he had played those 3 years from Philly as a White Sox player, then it definitely would be a toss up.