Kegel-ing up with the Kardashians: Kris Jenner turns her incontinence into a money spinner

By Daily Mail Reporter
A week after exposing Kim's psoriaris condition and discussing 15-year-old Kendall's use of birth control on their reality show, the Kardashians have gone even further.
Family matriarch Kris Jenner revealed in tonight's episode that she suffers from incontinence, and was frequently shown dashing to the bathroom - and not quite making it in time.
But ever the opportunist, the 55-year-old manages to turn the unfortunate bladder problem into yet another money spinner, landing a gig as the face of Poise pads.

A week after exposing Kim's psoriaris condition and discussing 15-year-old Kendall's use of birth control on their reality show, the Kardashians have gone even further.
Family matriarch Kris Jenner revealed in tonight's episode that she suffers from incontinence, and was frequently shown dashing to the bathroom - and not quite making it in time.
But ever the opportunist, the 55-year-old manages to turn the unfortunate bladder problem into yet another money spinner, landing a gig as the face of Poise pads.

A defiant Kris says: 'I don't have time to go running to the doctor just every time I have a leak.'
But the businesswoman eventually relents and goes to see her doctor with eldest daughter Kourtney in tow. 'This is an old person problem,' she says. 'I feel like I'm being betrayed by my own body.'
The doctor confirms that Kris suffers from stress incontinence and recommends kegel (pelvic floor) exercises to manage the problem.

But the business-minded Jenner, who acts as the family manager, decides to turn lemons into lemonade.
She announces to her daughters that she has been named as a spokesperson for Poise.
'I called them and told them about my problem and asked if they wanted to play ball,' she tells them.
'I'm going to embrace this. Guess who has the last laugh now ladies!'
Kris lands an ad campaign for the company and is filmed posing as Rosie the Riveter (an American icon representing women who worked in the factories during WW2).

Khloe says this is typical of her mother, whose attitude is, 'Let's not make it a problem, let's make money.'
Indeed, Jenner told the Hollywood Reporter recently that the mantra paid off when the family was facing Kim's sex tape scandal in 2007.
The family were already in talks for a reality TV show when the video emerged, but their fame sky-rocketed as a result.
Of the pornographic video, 'I thought, "Oh well, there goes the reality show,"' Jenner, who makes ten per cent from her daughters' earnings, said.

'But you can either be a problem maker or a problem solver. And I'm a problem solver.
'My job as her mom and manager is to take care of the problem - whatever it is.
'I had to cry and get upset in the privacy of my own room and then come out and help her, because she's my daughter. What good is it for me to berate her?'
'All I knew was that I had to make some lemonade out of these lemons fast. Real fast.
'My job was trying to take my kids' 15 minutes and turn it into 30.'

Eventually Vivid had to pay Kim a reported $5 million to sell the tape, which became one of the company's best-selling DVDs in ten years.
And in an early episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Kris and Kim clash when the mother encourages Kim to take a lucrative deal posing naked for Playboy in the wake of the scandal.
'People are going to think, "All she's good for is taking her clothes off,"' Kim said at the time, but eventually relented and posed for the magazine.
Meanwhile, Jenner's daughter Kendall and Kylie got a stern lesson from their father Bruce in not being so spoilt in tonight's episode.

The teens were shown refusing their food because 'It's not my fave,' texting at the dinner table and leaving the family dinner to go out with their friends.
When the girls steal Bruce's credit card to go shopping, the former Olympian can't take it any more and decides to take them to a homeless shelter to give them some perspective.
'Kendall, 15, and Kylie, 13, have been very blessed, we've given them everything they want,' he says. 'My responsibility as a parent is to show them what reality is.'
Speaking to the girls, Bruce says: 'You don't understand the value of a dollar, so we're going to see something that will put you life in perspective and maybe you'll appreciate your life a bit more.'

Kim reveals that when she was their age, her late father Robert Kardashian took her to Skid Row in Los Angeles to show her how privileged her life was.
At the shelter, Kendall and Kylie are shocked to meet a girl who lives with her entire family in a room the size of their bedrooms.
'It's kind of eye opening,'; Kylie says. 'Their whole home is the size of my bedroom. Their whole life is in that room, that is so sad to me, that people live their lives in this tiny space.
Kendall adds: 'The girls at the shelter showed us what life could be, and made me really appreciate everything we have.'

In the Biz: Local home design and consultation service launches, Young entrepreneur starts computer biz

Local design service launches

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Local business owner Dawn DiLorenzo woke up one day with an epiphany. Three days later, armed with freshly printed business cards, DiLorenzo dove right into the launch of her new home decorating, staging and color consultation business Locust Grove Designs.
“I was doing (design) work for free all the time for my friends and I thought, ‘What am I doing? I could actually make some money with this,’ ” DiLorenzo said of why she chose to start a home design company.
DiLorenzo moved to the area 10 years ago to pursue a job in sales management and earned her bachelor’s degree in management and business from Skidmore College in 2005. After graduation, DiLorenzo met her husband in Saratoga Springs and once the two got married, DiLorenzo decided to pursue her passion for home décor.
“I don’t have a deep background in design other than my two personal historical preservation projects,” DiLorenzo said about how she first got involved with interior decorating.
DiLorenzo worked to renovate a small Victorian house in Saratoga and is currently working on a historic preservation project on a 211-year-old farmhouse in Charlton, where she resides with her husband and two little boys. Although she runs Locust Grove Designs from home, DiLorenzo said she mostly works in Saratoga Springs and tries to stay within Saratoga County for projects that range from staging (sprucing up a house before it’s sold) to color and redesign consultations.
“I’ve mostly been working on redesign projects,” DiLorenzo said. “I think because of the economy, people don’t have the money to go out and buy new furniture or remodel their kitchen. I’d say 90 percent of what I’ve done is going in and working with what they have to create their space within their budget.”
DiLorenzo loves to make clients feel good and uses a creative eye to make what’s old become new again. After a successful first few months, a notice in the Charlton town newsletter about the Return the Favor program caught DiLorenzo’s eye.
“I thought that it seems like a great thing to do to help our servicemen and their families,” DiLorenzo said about signing on with Return the Favor, a program run by the Saratoga County Veteran’s Discount Program that works with local businesses to provide discounts on goods and services to military veterans and their families.
“I feel like I have a gift and I want to help people with it if I can — if I can help someone sell their home and make them a lot of money, that’s something I’d feel good about,” DiLorenzo said of why she chose to partner with Return the Favor. The partnership allows veterans a 20 percent discount on all of Locust Grove Designs’ consultation and design services Continued...
Source http://saratogian.com

Anchorage, Alaska

Eskimo hunters on an island in the Bering Sea were offered not only cash but also firearms, ammunition, marijuana, cigarettes and snow machines for walrus ivory tusks and polar bear hides that were illegally sold, according to federal prosecutors.
When investigators totaled the take, the marine mammal peddling ring was responsible for the illegal sale and transport of approximately 230 pounds of walrus tusks valued at about $22,000 and two polar bear hides for $2,700, not to mention the tusks, skulls, teeth, jawbones and other animal parts found in the home of the couple charged in the case. They also sold machine guns.
"This case demonstrates that there is significant volume of illegally taken wildlife parts being transferred in violation of federal law," said Kevin Feldis, chief of the criminal division of the U.S. attorney's office in Anchorage. "Unfortunately that world wildlife problem is an issue for Alaska."
Federal law allows Indian, Aleuts or Eskimos who reside in coastal Alaska to hunt and kill walrus and polar bears without a permit for subsistence purposes. But they can't sell the animal parts to nonnatives. They can make money by turning the parts into a native handicraft to be sold.
In this case, the parts were sold to nonnatives in a "raw" or unaltered state.
Loretta Audrey Sternbach, a 52-year-old Eskimo with closely cropped gray hair, pleaded guilty this week in U.S. District Court to violating several federal laws, including the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. The petite woman in prison garb with "prisoner" in large black letters on the back was asked by the judge if the facts of the case were true.
"Yes," Sternbach said.
Sternbach is the only Alaska native of the three. Her two co-conspirators, Jesse Joseph LeBoeuf and Richard Blake Weshenfelder, have already acknowledged their guilt.
LeBoeuf reached a plea agreement calling for nine years in prison. Sternbach and Weshenfelder have no such agreements but are expected to get less time. Violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits the illegal sale of wildlife, can carry a $250,000 fine.
Sentencing for the three is expected in November.

Feldis said the Savoonga case was part of an ongoing investigation into the illegal trafficking in marine mammal parts in Alaska. Investigators have also uncovered illegal sales of sea otter pelts in southeast Alaska.
Sternbach stated that she conspired with the two men to make money from the illegal trade. LeBoeuf negotiated the sales and Weshenfelder marketed the items on the Internet, which then were sold to nonnatives in other states, including Colorado, according to court documents. Some of the items went to other countries.
Between July 2010 and March, Sternbach and LeBoeuf made at least four trips to Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island to connect with Eskimo hunters who had legally killed the animals. Island residents live a mostly subsistence lifestyle, relying on walrus, seal, fish and bowhead and gray whales for food.
During one visit, LeBoeuf offered to send marijuana in exchange for marine mammal parts, according to the case file. He packed a box to be shipped to Anchorage that contained various walrus parts, including a skull, oosik and meat.
When LeBoeuf traveled alone to Savoonga, he instructed the Eskimo hunters to indicate that the tusks were Sternbach's property, the indictment says. LeBoeuf also had some of the illegally purchased walrus tusks sent to his and Sternbach's home in Glennallen.
Sternbach attempted to conceal their crimes by writing and signing a letter to buyers indicating that the walrus tusks were a gift, she acknowledged. To make it appear legal, the letter included her Bureau of Indian Affairs number, the tusk tag number and the couple's home phone number.
Buyers were told to send checks or money orders, or to deposit payment for the hides and tusks into various bank accounts. When the couple's home was searched, 93 tusks were found, as well as teeth, skulls, oosiks, jaw bones, sea and whale parts, marijuana plants and five pieces of stolen artwork.
LeBoeuf and Sternbach also acknowledged selling two machine guns, one that was equipped with a silencer, from their home in Glennallen. When arrested, they were trying to sell a third.
LeBoeuf, who is a convicted felon and not allowed to possess guns, also admitted having 19 firearms in his possession. Some of the guns were stolen. He sold two to residents in Savoonga.
Source http://www.sfgate.com/

25 years in, Habitat raises roofs, fulfills dreams

ST. LOUIS • Brandy Irwin, a single mother who lives with her two young daughters in a downtown apartment, can't wait to move into her new home Aug. 22 in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood.
"Where we live now, they can't go outside and play," said Irwin, whose modest home — built by Habitat for Humanity volunteers — will include a front porch and a small, enclosed yard.
Irwin, an archive technician at the National Personnel Administration, is happy that her girls, 3 and 7, will each have her own room. Her sister, Aaisha Irwin, bought a Habitat home nearby in 2008.
"It was definitely a dream of mine," said Brandy Irwin, a first-time homebuyer.
Neighbors and volunteers turned out Sunday morning on the 2900 and 3000 blocks of Thomas Street to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Habitat for Humanity Saint Louis. About 150 volunteers worked on seven homes, and until the rain came, a community fair was held on the blocked-off streets.
Since the 1980s, the Habitat group has built 313 homes in the St. Louis area, including 104 homes in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood. The three- and four-bedroom homes sell for $132,000 and $138,000, and come with a no-interest mortgage loan.
"We lose money on every house we build, but that's why we rely on sponsors," said Kimberly McKinney, chief executive of Habitat here.
Normally, there's a long waiting list of buyers. But these days, because of the economy, Habitat is looking for new buyers. Two of its new houses have not yet sold.
"People are struggling," said Avis Laden, the group's family services manager. "They're unsure of their finances."
Some prospective buyers were turned down because they only have part-time jobs; others have credit problems.
Dozens of candidates are receiving "credit repair" counseling.
"We want them to be successful homebuyers," McKinney said. "Education is part of the process, making sure homebuyers are prepared for all their expenses ... They need a hand up, not a hand out."
Habitat homebuyers put in 350 hours of 'sweat equity" at the homesite or in the community.
Josephine Chambers bought a Habitat home in 1993 in the Meacham Park area of Kirkwood, where she reared her three grandchildren.
"I wouldn't have had the money to make a down payment on a house, but I helped build seven new homes for my sweat equity," she said. "I am so grateful for Habitat. They helped me so much."
McKinney said that only 10 percent of Habitat homes built in the St. Louis area are not owned by the initial buyer, and only a few of those became foreclosures.

The local Habitat organization is the nation's largest producer of LEED Certified Platinum (the nation's highest energy conservation standard) single-family homes, said William McHugh, the group's construction manager.
He said the one-story homes are built with cement-fiber siding, solar-tube skylights and reflectant roofs that conserve energy and lower utility bills to about $40 a month.
Habitat crews work two days a week on a 16-week schedule to build a home, and trainers teach volunteers everything from reading blueprints to cabinet finishing.
"We take people and what they bring to us," McHugh said. "We haven't had a volunteer miss the mark yet."
Alderman Marlene Davis, whose 19th Ward includes the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood, said that Habitat homes have helped revitalize it. In recent years, she said, police have worked to reduce the neighborhood's crime rate.
"People who probably normally wouldn't care much about this part of the city, come here and fall in love," Davis said. "I've seen the same volunteers return year after year."
Chris Williams, a Habitat volunteer and an executive at Anheuser-Busch InBev, said, "It's fairly easy to get our folks to volunteer. There's a lot of community spirit down at the brewery."
Tina Hardin bought a Habitat home in 2009 on Thomas Street, where she lives with her four children, ages 7 to 18, and serves as a block captain.
"The neighborhood is very decent, and with more homeowners it's growing," Hardin said. "It's just like fine wine. Our neighborhood is getting older and better."

Source http://www.stltoday.com/

Simmons: Star duo facing unknown

By Steve Simmons

 

TORONTO - It must bother Sidney Crosby to see what has become of Justin Morneau this baseball season.
Bother him — and worry him.
Morneau was as productive a hitter as the American League had prior to his head colliding with John McDonald’s knee last July. He had hit 136 home runs in the past 4 1/2 seasons. Before his concussion troubles, he won an MVP award, finished second another year, and was annually in the discussion for Canada’s athlete of the year.
This season, while suffering from some migraine issues related to post-concussion syndrome, Morneau was hitting a soft .225 with the Minnesota Twins, with few home runs, and on pace for an RBI season less than half his normal totals. And he has had other physical difficulties — a pinched nerve in his neck, wrist problems — that will keep him out of the lineup for weeks to come.
Crosby, making his return from head trauma, has hockey numbers similar to those from Morneau’s best seasons. But two of Canada’s best face the great unknown now, one having been stalled in his comeback attempt, the other uncertain what October will bring.
THIS AND THAT
If this is what happens when the NFL has a lockout — all these signings and player movements — I’m recommending one every year ... Maybe in some kind of tribute to Kris Draper’s retirement, the Atlanta Braves bought minor-league catcher Wil Nieves from the Milwaukee Brewers for the price of $1. For the record, the Red Wings got 17 great seasons out of Draper after then-assistant GM Doug MacLean plucked him from the Winnipeg Jets for a buck ... The latest deadline on the future of the New York Islanders on Long Island comes Monday. And this time, they mean it ... Mike Richards didn’t react well when this column suggested a while back that he needed to “grow up.” But didn’t the Flyers, and all the latest evidence on his time in Philly, suggest exactly the same? ... So, what’s your lead story if you’re editing a Philadelphia sports section? The Eagles trading for quarterback Vince Young, the signing of the great Nnamdi Asomugha, the dealing away of QB Kevin Kolb, the first-place Phillies trading for Hunter Pence (the fourth straight deadline deal of significance going back to the Pat Gillick years) or the Flyers’ Dry Island story featuring Richards and Jeff Carter?
HEAR AND THERE
When you consider that the Blue Jays traded away Roy Halladay and Shaun Marcum away — combined record of 44-17 since leaving Toronto — and have no one yet in their big league lineup to show for it, they’re doing more than all right hanging around .500 ... For those keeping track, Jose Bautista has not hit a home run since July 9. Concern about him losing his home run swagger after the Home Run Derby, the all-star game, an ankle injury and a beaning by Baltimore has to be in the minds of Jays management ... Bautista, by the way, still leads the AL in home runs, also leads in slugging, on-base percentage, walks, OPS, and is fourth in batting ... An outfield of Bautista, Colby Rasmus and either Travis Snider or Eric Thames should hold the Jays in good form for the next several years. Up next — and really, who saw this coming — finding someone to play second base ... Andy Fantuz and about 10 other receivers are in camp with the Chicago Bears, including the once-heralded Roy Williams, competing for about five jobs ... This year at the Rogers Centre: The Buffalo Bills versus the Washington Redskins. The Bills are 150-1 to win the Super Bowl; the Redskins only 100-1.
SCENE AND HEARD
What was Jim Barker thinking? There were 24 seconds to play. He had a choice: Run a play or three and get more yards, or attempt a 57-yard field goal to try and win the game against Edmonton. He chose field goal. The Argos lost. Can the CFL fine him for that? ... As if it isn’t already hard for the Argos, up next is Montreal coming off two straight losses ... I always thought Marc Rzepczynski would be a good big-league pitcher. He’ll get an even better opportunity to be that in the National League ... The lovely woman who runs the elevator at the Rogers Centre cried on Wednesday after saying goodbye to Jason Frasor’s wife and young son. “Such nice people,” she said. In the Blue Jays’ clubhouse, Frasor held back tears, himself ... The team Mike Danton has signed on with in Sweden plays in the third division. Which isn’t much of an upgrade, if any, from CIS hockey ... We don’t often see the family side of sport: When the young son of Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider learned that Matt Hasselbeck had left the team to sign in Tennessee, he reacted badly, punching his father then running away crying. Hasselbeck was his favourite player.
AND ANOTHER THING
Jurgen Klinsmann is the new coach of the U.S. national soccer team. His previous job was consulting Toronto FC. How’d that work out? ... Before accepting the head coaching job in New Jersey, Peter DeBoer turned down the opportunity to be an assistant with the Red Wings ... Now that his playing career is over, Darcy Tucker is now certified as an NHL player agent. Funny, when he played, a lot of people thought he was certifiable. Tucker, by the way, is still getting paid $1 million US a year by the Leafs ... The multi-dimensional Brad Smith has left the New York Jets for the Buffalo Bills. Had to be a money thing ... Department Of Impressive I: The Hamilton Tiger-Cats secondary ... Department Of Impressive II: Claude Wroten’s play on the defensive line for the Argos ... The Maple Leafs signed draft pick David Broll on Thursday. Broll, a sixth-round pick, was thought by many to be second- or third-round material a year ago. Then he let his weight get away from him. If he can control his weight, the Leafs might have a late-round keeper here ... The word was that, in order to settle the lockout, the NFL players had to sell out their rookies. Well, Cam Newton just signed for $22 million over four years, all of it guaranteed. If anyone wants to sell me out that way, consider it done... Happy birthday to Kevin Martin (45), Dale Hunter (51), Mark Cuban (53), Evonne Goolagong (60) and Tom McCarthy (51) ... And, hey, whatever became of Swede Knox?
TOUGH LOVE, CFL STYLE
David Braley’s love of the Canadian Football League is taking a hammering this summer.
His B.C. Lions have the worst record in the West. His Toronto Argonauts have the worst record in the East. That makes Braley, owner of 25% of the league’s franchises, a horrible 1-9 in the won-lost department thus far, with prospects hardly encouraging for the rest of the campaign.
Those who know Braley best say he detests losing — don’t all owners? — and has been particularly quiet through this challenging time.
The one thing in Braley’s favour: He happens to own the next two Grey Cups, this year in Vancouver, next year in Toronto.
As a previous Argos owner once told me, the only money you make in the CFL is when you have the Grey Cup.
So, typically, Braley will do fine financially while his teams search for better days.
HEY DAD, ZIP IT!
I coached a kid in hockey one year who skated toward our bench, looked up in the stands, and told his father, rather loudly, to “shut the f--- up.”
As coaches, we weren’t supposed to laugh, but inside we understood the sentiment.
It’s probably what I’d be thinking right now if my name were Colby Rasmus. It’s: ‘Hey dad, can you please shut it.’
Being the newest Blue Jays hope, it’s hard enough to change teams, leagues, face new expectations, without turning on the radio or opening up a newspaper and hearing or seeing your dad quoted.
At this point, the best thing Tony Rasmus could do for his son is stop answering the telephone. It’s not his career, it’s Colby’s.
And one other thing daddy Rasmus should consider as he continues to bad-mouth Tony LaRussa: Colby’s younger brother, Jordan Rasmus, is playing for Batavia of the New York-Penn league. If you didn’t know, that happens to be a Cardinals farm team.
ONE HELLUVA GUY
I never met Richard Harris and, really, I hardly knew the name before this past week. Then after the assistant coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers died suddenly, I started asking a few questions, asking people about him, reading tributes, watching various media reports.
What became crystal clear was that Harris was an exceptional man, a coach in the truest sense, a leader of men, a teacher of athletes. The special kind of man who doesn’t come along often. The special kind of man who makes a team, a league, a city, a little richer for having him.
More than one CFL executive referred to him the best person in the league. And in a CFL full of all kinds of good people, that is an incredible tribute for a man gone too soon.

Steelers' Colon happy to be 'home'

By Andrew Chiappazzi Times Sports Correspondent 
LATROBE — There are many more steps that Willie Colon must take on his way back from a torn Achilles tendon before he’s completely in-step with his teammates.
But the most unpleasant one in Colon’s mind is out of the way, and the echo from the sigh of relief he must have emitted when it was completed still seems to reverberate around the St. Vincent campus. Colon signed a five-year, $29 million deal on Thursday, a process Colon said he was pleased was over.
“I don’t like the negotiating process, but I’m happy,” he said. “I’m here with my guys. I’m here with my coach. This is home for me so I’m happy.”
Chicago wanted Colon as a guard and put more money in front of him, but that wasn’t enough to pull him away from the Steelers.
“It didn’t bother me, so to speak,” Colon said about the potential position switch. “This is my family. This is my home. I never had money when I started. Money wasn’t going to make my career.”
That didn’t make the negotiating process any easier, especially considering it came during a truncated off-season following the prolonged lockout. The process ramped up anxiety as players and management try to make decisions in the span of a few days that would normally take weeks or even months.
It also led to some bittersweet moments for the close-knit veterans on the line. While Colon was happy to get a new deal, friends and linemates Max Starks and Flozell Adams were released. Starks and Colon talked before and after the personnel moves that resulted in Colon’s five-year deal and Starks being shown the door.
“It was weird to say the least. But at the same time, I knew there were going to some hard decisions they were going to have to make to keep me here,” Colon said. “I feel humbled by everything. At the end of the day, it was tough for everybody because of the whole CBA thing. A lot of things were put on the bubble and had to make decisions real fast that in the past they’d have five months.”
Colon will have to wait to finish the final portion of his return from last year’s season ending injury. Veteran free agent signees, even those who re-signed with their team from last year, aren’t allowed to practice until next Thursday. That means Colon and Jonathan Scott won’t work at their expected tackle spots for almost the entire first week of training camp, postponing an early look at who the Steelers will likely start up front in the season opener.
But Colon said with injuries playing a major factor over the course of a regular season, the flexibility of the line and early work for other players can only help.
“The guys that start the season are never the guys that finish the season,” he said. “You have to have guys who can fill in and get it done and play at a high level, and we’ve got a lot of guys that can do that.”
And in the meantime, Colon will continue to work and soak up the love he said he’s felt since coming back “home.”
“Coming in after getting everything signed and everything kind of committed, walking in and seeing everyone give me hugs, that was enough appreciation for me,” he said. “I don’t need anything else but that.”
 

Thome's home run milestone being met with a collective yawn

By Jeff Wilson

jwilson@ star-telegram.com

Another chase for 600 homers almost took place at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington this season.
Jim Thome said he was that close to signing with the Rangers in the off-season. They treated him with class and offered more money, but loyalty pulled Thome back to Minnesota.
"That was a very, very difficult decision for me," he said. "You had two really good teams that have proven that they're going to win. That's ultimately what it's about."
So, Thome is chasing 600 this year at Target Field, which is fine. His path to history, though, is generating about as much buzz as the WNBA Draft.
Maybe there would be more attention if Thome was playing every day. He's also been hurt twice this season, which hasn't helped pique interest levels.
But that shouldn't matter. He's four homers shy of 600, a plateau that only seven players have reached.
"Ridiculous," teammate Michael Cuddyer said. "It's unfathomable to me."
Three of the past four to eclipse the mark were Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa, who got No. 600 in a Rangers uniform in 2007. Not far behind Thome are Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Manny Ramirez.
Now, that could be part of the problem.
The power of the huge homer total has been diluted because of the players who have been linked to steroids and other banned performance-enhancing drugs.
Some continue to deny ever using. Others have come clean. Their final baseball judgment will come on Hall of Fame ballots cast the next several years.
None of them is helping Thome -- one of the most respected players in the game because of the way he has handled himself and because of what he hasn't injected into himself during his 21-year career.
"I'm very proud of that," he said. "Let's face it: Not every guy in that era did it. Unfortunately, it happened. You can't punish every guy."
To Thome's credit, the silent treatment doesn't seem to bother him one bit. Humble and generous, Thome doesn't want his chase to distract the Twins as they try to finish the season strong.
The number, though, means something to him. It's the culmination of what he calls a "journey" that has been filled with great successes and some tough times.
But he stops short of heaping praise upon himself, even though he can still pop a ball 500 feet only four weeks shy of turning 41. To play so long, he says, is a blessing, and the players who have surrounded him in lineups in Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago and Minnesota have a stake in the 596 homers he has hit so far.
"It's historical," Thome said. "The journey along the way, to get to this point at almost 41 years old, would be very special. And, to be honest, I don't take anything for granted. I don't sit here and say, 'It's going to happen.' Something could happen tomorrow. But I feel very proud of how it's happened and how I went about it."
Yet, Thome understands if the cynical crowd lumps him in with the players frequently linked to banned substances. But he sleeps well at night because he knows what he did and didn't put in his 250-plus-pound body on his way to 600 home runs.
"In life you can't worry about what the perception is," he said. "At the end of the day, you have to look at yourself in the mirror and know what you've done."
Pence gone to Philly
Jim Crane could be approved as the Astros' owner during the next round of owners meetings in August. His first priority, apparently, is to slash payroll and stock up on young talent.
So, right fielder Hunter Pence has been dealt by Houston, even though the price for the two-time All-Star from Arlington was pretty steep.
Philadelphia pulled it off, though, without including outfielder Domonic Brown. Pence came at a high price because of his abilities and because he can't be a free agent until after next season.
A trade to the Phillies gives Pence a serious shot at the World Series, but his wish was to stay in Houston and help build a winner there. That's the type of player -- talented and dedicated -- the Astros need.
Crane would have been better served to try to find an American League team to take on Carlos Lee and some of his monster salary ($18.5 million next year) to be a full-time designated hitter. Wandy Rodriguez ($25.5 million through 2013) and Brett Myers ($14 million through 2012) aren't exactly payroll-friendly either.
Let him have it
Michael Cuddyer was still beaming about his major league pitching debut Wednesday, two days after the outfielder/first baseman pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Twins in their 20-6 loss to the Rangers.
Using a position player to pitch is raising the white flag, but the opposing team isn't expected to just surrender.
Rangers manager Ron Washington told his hitters they had a chance to pad their stats. When he was playing, Washington wanted to make sure no position player got him out.
"I want to kick his butt," Washington said. "He's a position player. He's got no business being on that mound. I certainly don't want him going back in the dugout talking about how he got me out."
The Rangers were up at one point 18-1 after becoming the third team since 1900 to score at least three runs in the first five innings of a game. Players and third-base coach Dave Anderson had to walk the fine line of being respectful of the game and of an opponent who can't get any outs.
"If they can make a play, you don't push it," Washington said. "I'm going to stop stealing. We're not going to swing 3-0 in the count. But we're not going to stop playing the game."
Going purple
The runaway front-runner for worst call of the season was made Tuesday night, when plate umpire Jerry Meals somehow completely blew a critical call in the 19th inning of the Pittsburgh-Atlanta game.
Julio Lugo, who was running for the Braves from third, knew he had been tagged out. Pirates catcher Mike McKenry knew he had tagged Lugo about six feet in front of home plate.
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle also knew what he had seen. The former Rangers hitting coach's face turned purple as he berated Meals.
"I know he can get mad," said Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba, who played under Hurdle in Colorado. "I've seen him a few times really ticked off. Usually, he's able to calm himself down when's mad at umpires."
Lugo's run was the game-winner. Meals later learned via instant replay that he had missed the call, and admitted his mistake. The call was so blatantly wrong that Major League Baseball felt compelled to issue a statement from their shiny new executive VP of baseball operations.
"Most in the game recognize that the human element always will be part of baseball and instant replay can never replace all judgment calls by umpires," Joe Torre said. "Obviously, a play like this is going to spark a lot of conversation, and we will continue to consider all viewpoints in our ongoing discussions regarding officiating in baseball."
Jeff Wilson, 817-390-7760