(Brian (and Dwight): Thank you for the feedback. You are very kind. However, just to be clear, I am not the author of the biography that accompanied this thread -- that distinction belongs to Rick Swaine. I lifted his text from SABR. The cards and photos are mine. This post completes my portion of this thread. Thanks for listening.)
In nine big league seasons, Thompson came to bat 3,529 times in 933 games, blasting 129 homers, driving in 482 runs, and walking 493 times. For the equivalent of a little less than six seasons of regular duty (600 plate appearances), this translates to an impressive average of around 22 homers, 82 RBIs, and 84 bases on balls per year. A left-handed hitter who was often platooned, he ranked among the National Leaders in such diverse categories as on-base-percentage, slugging, OPS, triples, home runs, homers per times at bat, bases on balls, stolen bases, sacrifice flies, and times hit-by-pitch – a category in which the early black major leaguers dominated.
On defense Thompson was extremely versatile, playing regularly at third base, shortstop, second base, and all three outfield positions at various times. He was somewhat error-prone at third base, his primary position, so he didn’t enjoy a particularly good defensive reputation. But his range factor at the hot corner was good and his defensive win shares seem to indicate he was a better than average third sacker.
Hank Thompson never truly capitalized on his ability. After his baseball career ended, he admitted he had a serious alcohol problem and had been an alcoholic while he was playing, though he claimed that he never drank during or before a game. “I’d say 99 percent of my trouble came right out of a bottle,” he estimated shortly before his death.
“I became a baseball has-been at 32,” he said. “I couldn’t move around third base. Balls were going by me that I should have had. I was disgracing baseball and I still kept boozing it up. He played his last major-league game on September 30, 1956, the same day fellow pioneer Jackie Robinson made his last big-league appearance.
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