After Jim Thome hit the 600th home run of his career on Monday night, he pretty much hugged everyone in sight. 

He hugged most of his teammates, his father, his wife and two children, Ron Gardenhire — he hugged pretty much everyone in the Twins organization, including the bat boys.

However, who was the very first person waiting for him as soon as he touched home plate?

That would be one Michael Cuddyer.

Thome and Cuddyer first exchanged a doublehanded hi-five before embracing to set off Thome’s hugging rampage.

It’s no coincidence that of all the people in the Twins dugout it was Cuddyer who made his way to the front of the line.

Since Thome joined the Twins last season, there’s no doubt he’s had his moments of glory on the field and had a positive impact on helping the Twins win.

However, probably the biggest impact he’ll have had on the Twins when his time here is over is what he’s done inside the clubhouse.

Most everyone who knows Thome describes him as probably the best of the good guys in baseball, someone with a heart of gold who boosts the morale of every clubhouse he enters.

Cuddyer might be the player who succeeds him with that title when he eventually retires.

The Twins team is usually known for being an organization that attracts good guys, and with players like Joe Mauer — who sacrificed the potential for a big pay day with the Yankees to sign a long-term contract with the Twins — there are plenty of players on the roster who make worthy role models.

Cuddyer is not a complainer, or a prima donna. He plays wherever he’s needed on the field without putting up a fuss. Earlier this year he even had a scoreless appearance as a pitcher.

He’s also turned into one of the faces of the franchise, keeping blogs and accruing probably more air time with interviews than any other player.

Earlier this year he even talked with the Daily Globe’s own Aaron Hagen and had some fantastic things to say after Ellsworth native Riley Meester sang the national anthem at Target Field.

It would be apt to create a new adjective to describe the kind of player Cuddyer has become — Thome-esque.

It makes complete sense that Thome and Cuddyer have become so close.

In Monday’s post-game press conference, Thome talked about how after hitting 600 he was sitting on the bench next to who else but Cuddyer, talking about just how unbelievable it is to hit 600 home runs in a career (spot on with that one).

It’s probably no coincidence that Cuddyer makes an appearance in Thome’s Twins commercial on Fox Sports North where he dresses up as Paul Bunyan (good guys all around in that one with Mauer also making an appearance — and love the West Virginia-born Cuddyer breaking out a “you betcha”).

Cuddyer is definitely the kind of player that a franchise should go out of its way to keep around.

However, if Cuddyer does choose to leave, he won’t be any worse of a player or person for it.

Thome has proven that it’s possible to be a good guy and still travel around, having played for five different teams — he needs only to play for the Tigers and Royals to complete the sweep of American League Central teams (and perhaps he should seriously consider a stint with the Tigers, seeing as he obviously likes the park having hit home runs 599, 600 and 601 there).

Though he’s a legitimate all-star talent, Cuddyer isn’t in the same league as Thome, who is about as sure-fire a player for the Hall of Fame as there is.

However, there is no doubt that both players will forever go down in the books as all-time great Twins.

The Twins are certainly lucky to have both players, and let’s just hope that the future generations of young Twins are fortunate enough to mature with such great role models in the future.

Heck, maybe they’ll have the chance to play with the most Thome-esque player of them all if Thome sticks around a couple more years.

When you’ve already hit 600 home runs, what’s so hard about 100 or so more?

This isn’t goodbye.

In fact, it’s sort of like saying hello all over again.

I have recently made a move, without actually moving.

Confusing, I know.

I will still be employed at the Daily Globe, but I have relinquished my role as the sports editor.

So I’m not going anywhere — except to a different desk about 15 feet away — but my role will be changing.

I have accepted the position as the community content coordinator at the Globe. Mainly,

I’ll be dealing with the website and other facets on the online community.

It was a tough decision to leave the sports desk. The editor’s chair is one I’ve called home for the past three years. The year before, I was a sports reporter. This is all I’ve known in my professional life.

But it’s time for a new challenge.

I have enjoyed my time at the sports desk more than I can explain. I have loved every minute of covering games, getting to know coaches, players and fans and just immersing myself into the world of sports.

And that won’t change.

I’ll still be at sporting events. I’m hoping the new sports editor will allow me to cover the occasional game or match.

Even if I’m not at as many events as I once was, my love and passion for sports won’t change.

I’ll still read the sports page of the Globe, but now I won’t have seen it all the night before.
While there isn’t enough room on this page to thank everyone who deserves it, I would like to say a special word to all the coaches and players who have made this job so enjoyable. It’s those people who I will miss working with on a daily basis.

However, I’m equally as excited to look to the future.

I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t know everything about the web or how online works. But I’m eager to learn.

Which is why I’m open to suggestions.

Is there something you want to see on our website?

I’m hoping to make improvements to our product, but I’d love to hear from you, our readers.

What will make you excited about our website?

How can we do a better job to serve you?

Feel free to drop me a note, an e-mail at ahagen@dglobe.com or stop me when you see me out and about.

It’s going to be a fun few months for us here at the Globe and I can’t wait to fully explore what new and exciting ideas we can offer.

Not too long ago in this space Aaron Hagen wrote about his fantasy baseball exploits for the year.

In his column he mentioned how both he and I are doing the Daily Globe sports department not so proud by sitting in second to last place and last place, respectively, in the standings in our league with fellow staffers and a group from New York.

After weeks and weeks of defeat, you may wonder why we bother with the game. Why should anybody subject themselves to painstakingly monitoring the statistical production of a group of 20 or so Major League baseball players on a nightly basis through a 162-game schedule in the pursuit of a virtual trophy?

This is my eighth year of playing fantasy baseball, and it’s something I anticipate I will never quit.

I am a lifelong lover of baseball — stemming from my earliest memories of watching Kirby Puckett embarrass opposing pitchers in the Metrodome — but fantasy baseball has taken my obsession with the game  to another level.

Having grown up overseas, I would only get small glimpses of the game during our yearly family trip to visit our American relatives. When the internet came along I had an easier time following the game (mlb.com is perhaps my most visited website), but I still missed a lot of baseball history. Only much later did I read about Cal Ripken and his streak, and I somehow even missed Barry Bonds’ 73 home run season.

In my eight years of fantasy baseball, I am pretty sure I haven’t missed a single thing that Major League Baseball has put on the table.

It started when I would spend recess and lunch breaks in the computer lab at my high school in Japan checking the day’s MLB box scores — with the time difference, most games were wrapped up before the lunch hour was over.

It’s one thing rooting for your favorite team to do well, but fantasy baseball forces players to expand their horizons. Whereas before I started fantasy baseball I would only check the box scores for the Twins and the Braves, ever since I started I have kept tabs on every single lineup and almost every player. My consumption of all things baseball is at an all-time high.

For people like me, there is no thing as having too much baseball. I probably would be inclined to dig through baseball stats for fun anyway, but having a virtual team of players to compete against your friends with actually makes it turn into a social activity.

The league I first joined with high school friends in Japan is still going. Based on my track record keeping in touch with people, I probably would have lost contact with most of the people in this league years ago if we didn’t have fantasy baseball to connect us. We’re now spread around the world —from Japan to the US, Canada and even Sweden — but we still send our trophy around between us (a dragon to which we attach “bling” to commemorate our victories), no matter the distance.

My addiction to the game has gone so far that I often find myself going through withdrawal in the winter months.

Even though this hasn’t been a top year competitively for me (I’m also near the bottom in my league with my friends from Japan), the thrill of having players on my roster hit home runs and the camaraderie I continue to share with fellow players makes it all worthwhile.