If we're gonna bag on a guy w/ a low .BA (and Those .276), yet he does make Mr. October (.263) look pedestrian.
Thome (thanks to the walks) is +48pts OBP on Reggie, and over 55pts in SLG. Heck Ty Cobb and his 118 HRs is ahead of Reggie in slugging comfortably. Reggie did steal 200+ bases (again, when people tried to steal a lot more). For the record, the game's greatest 3B hit .267 for his career. Killebrew was sub .260 and McCovey was .270. Again, BA not all that informative in terms of total player value.
I grew up a big time Reggie fan, bought his candy bar, put white tape around the neck of the bat, tried to bat lefty from time to time. I'm actually stunned his K record has stood this long, considering how much higher the K rate is nowadays.
I'm surprised by Thome's high first year totals, I think he's benefitting as the anti-juicing poster child, not to mention how the media loved the guy. I don't think he really had a stint as the game's best player, and his peak is ok (not a lot of black ink), but the longevity is what's getting him all the love. (longer version of what OAM said).