Charles: Thank you for the kind words.
Steve: Nice 1952 Bowman! Thanks for participating.
Still not interested in scholarly pursuits, Hank spent his free time hanging around Burnett Field, where the Texas League Dallas Steers played, rather than continuing his education. The Steers allowed him to shag flies and throw some batting practice, and soon a local semipro Negro team recruited the then 15-year-old. By the end of the following season, he’d attracted the attention of Kansas City Monarchs star Bonnie Serrell, who recommended him to the Monarchs, one of the premier franchises in the Negro American League. The next spring Monarchs secretary Dizzy Dismukes sent Thompson $25 train fare to the club’s training camp in New Orleans, and his professional career was under way. Playing on a veteran team that included future Hall of Famers Satchel Paige, Willard Brown, and Hilton Smith, as well as veteran stars Buck O’Neil and Newt Allen, the 17-year-old kid the veterans called “Youngblood” played right field and hit .314.
Thompson spent most of the next two years in the employ of Uncle Sam, serving as a machine gunner with the 1695th Combat Engineers. He was inducted into the Army in March 1944 and was mustered out with a couple of battle stars and the rank of sergeant on June 20, 1946. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge, later recalling, “If there was a moment in my life I did something for society, that was it.”
After his discharge Hank settled in as the Monarchs’ second baseman. The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Leagues credits him with a .287 batting average while batting leadoff for the 1946 Negro American League pennant winners and hitting .296 in their loss to the Newark Eagles in that year’s “Colored World Series.”
The photograph, which shows Thompson in uniform with the Havana club, was taken before he broke into the major leagues as one of the first black players to do so. He is pictured with Mike Gonzalez and Herberto Blanco:
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1695459816