Thome ties Mantle in all-time home runs

Jim Thome of the White Sox has tied Mickey Mantle for 14th place on the all-time home run list.

BOSTON // Jim Thome has tied Mickey Mantle for 14th place on the all-time home run list. "I'm speechless," Thome said after hitting a two-run homer, first-inning homer that helped the Chicago White Sox to a 4-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Thome's 536th homer tied him with Mantle, the former New York Yankees switch-hitter who, along with the Red Sox's Ted Williams - 521 homers - are the favourite players of his father Chuck.

"We talk about it all the time, the history of the game, and what those guys have done," said Thome. "To be a part of that is just really hard to talk about, because when you throw Mickey Mantle's name around, that's probably one of the greatest home run hitters of all time, for sure. "It's special to hit a home run whenever you win a game, but to tie Mickey Mantle is really, really special." Thome's homer off Tim Wakefield was the Sox's first in 19 innings.

"Every home run he hits is a milestone, but I think he's worried more about us winning than his milestones," said the manager Ozzie Guillen after the battle of the Soxs. * Agencies