Nicely Done, Matt Thornton

It would be my sworn duty as a Cubs fan to gloat about the NL's win last night, especially since the game-winning hit was surrendered by a Sox player. But I'm not going to do that. Instead....

It's not very often that I feature White Sox players in a post. I leave that to Steve. But this story has a local twist, and it's a good news story.



This card, from 2007, is the last Topps card produced for Thornton. 660 cards was good enough when there were 24 teams. Today it is not acceptable.

Sox pitcher and All Star Matt Thornton is a native of Centreville, Michigan (and yes, that is the way it's spelled). Centerville is about 10 miles from Sturgis, the town I live in and its the county seat.

Matt graduated from Centreville High School in 1995. During his time there, the baseball fields were not located at the school, but were a few blocks away, right next to the county jail. They weren't the greatest fields, either. For a long time, new fields were on a wish list, but that's were they stayed.

But this past year, that changed. Money was being raised for new fields. The cost would be in the neighborhood of $400,000. The school district had set aside about a quarter of the cost. People in the community came up with another $200,000. And CHS alum Matt Thornton gave $98,000 towards the project. You can read about it here and here.

$98,000 is a lot of money to give away! Did anyone else know that he did that? Probably not. Last night's pregame had a long segment on All Star people and the fine work they did. And among the people on the field, All Star Matt Thornton could have (should have) been included.

Kudos to you, White Sox, All Star, and Centreville native Matt Thornton, from this Cubs fan in Sturgis.