Why is Jim Thome trending? Peoria hall of fame slugger part of podcast marathon challenge

Jim Thome is the answer.

As of Tuesday morning, the Peoria native and 2018 Baseball Hall of Famer was the No. 1 trending sports tropic on Twitter. The reason?

Jack Coleman — a producer for the popular Barstool Sports podcast "The Kirk Minihane Show" — is not allowed to leave the show's studio until he can name Major League Baseball's top 10 career home run leaders.

As of noon Tuesday, Thome is the only slugger not named.

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Minihane, the show's host, decided on Monday to test the hardball knowledge of his self-proclaimed "diehard baseball fan" producer. The host decided not to shut off the YouTube or Rumble live streams until Coleman guessed all 10 of MLB's all-time career home run leaders.

Coleman got half of the list within the first few hours, then got three more before being stuck on No. 8 Thome (612 home runs) and No. 10 Frank Robinson. In Hour 21 of the stream, Coleman finally got Robinson by putting together random first names.

On Tuesday, Minihane slipped up by saying Thome's name, but Coleman was too busy guessing to catch on.

"Jim Thome stilling trending in the United States as is Tom Selleck — hope he's alright," Minihane said of the 1988 Limestone High School grad while scrolling Twitter.

Jim's wife, Andrea Thome, called into the show thanks to the help of Minihane's close friend, Dan Katz. Andrea provided Coleman with several hints including revealing her husband's famous batting stance, the teams he played for and his hometown, Peoria.

"Do you know Peoria, Illinois, Coleman?" asked Minihane, who is nicknamed "Podcast Jesus." "... Johnny Carson would always use Peoria as an example ... Will it play in Peoria? he would say."

At one point, Thome's wife even slipped up and said Jim's first name. Before she hung up, Andrea left Coleman with one final clue about one of Thome's nicknames, "The Thomenator."

"The nickname is based off a movie also starring Arnold Schwarzenegger," Andrea said. "How about that?"

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Coleman immediately guessed "The Terminator", but as of noontime Tuesday or Hour 27, he had still not named Thome.

Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Barstool Sports podcast gets Peoria's Jim Thome trending on Twitter