Henry "Hank" Thompson

[GeoPoto]

Hank found his batting eye in Minneapolis, slamming seven homers and hitting .340 with a torrid 1.209 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging average) in 14 games. Thanks largely to his phenomenal hitting, the Millers won 12 of the games in which he participated to climb back into the American Association pennant race before his recall to New York on August 28.

Back with the Giants, Thompson resumed his place on the bench behind hot-hitting Bobby Thomson. Several sources credit Hank with contributing greatly to the Giants’ sensational stretch drive, but that was not the case. After starting 68 of the Giants’ first 88 games at third base, he didn’t start another game the rest of the season. In fact, his only notable contribution to the “Miracle of Coogan’s Bluff” came on September 16 when he replaced Bobby Thomson at third base after Bobby was ejected in the fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader with the Pirates. Hank banged out two hits and drove in the go-ahead run with a ninth-inning fly ball in a 6-4 Giants victory. His only other action after his recall was seven unsuccessful pinch-hitting appearances.

On the play immediately preceding Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ’Round the World,” Giants right fielder Don Mueller broke his ankle sliding safely into third base on a Whitey Lockman double. Therefore, Hank Thompson was pressed into service in right field for the World Series. Though Hank hadn’t played the outfield for the Giants all year, he’d played left field during his two-week stint in Minneapolis because the Millers’ third-base job was manned by future Negro League Hall of Fame third baseman Ray Dandridge.

Hank didn’t exactly distinguish himself in the garden or at the plate in the Fall Classic. He committed two damaging errors in right field and hit only .143 for the Series as the Yankees won in six games.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1696064310
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1696064324

[cgjackson222]

Hank Thompson, Willie Mays and Monte Irvin form the first all African American outfield for the 1951 World Series.

[GeoPoto]

Great photograph, Charles. Thank you for showing it.

After he finished the 1951 season with a .235 batting mark and only eight homers in 87 games, there didn’t appear to be a regular role for Thompson with the Giants in 1952. Then left fielder Monte Irvin, the reigning National League RBI king, broke his leg before the start of the season. Thus, the Giants began their defense of the National League pennant with Thompson and newly acquired veteran Bob Elliott platooning in left field. Hank handled his assignment well enough that he was entrusted with the Giants center field job when Willie Mays was inducted into the Army in late May. Eventually Hank moved back to third base for the last third of the season, swapping positions with Bobby Thomson. For the season, Hank started 51 games in center field, 43 at third base, and 17 in left field, while also filling in at second base and right field. He finished with a .260 batting average, 17 homers, and 67 RBIs in 128 contests, while recording a solid .798 OPS. In the offseason, he signed on with Roy Campanella’s All-Stars, touring the South with an all-black team that featured Campanella, Irvin, Larry Doby, Joe Black, Harry Simpson, and George Crowe. Willie Mays even put in a couple of appearances with the All-Stars while on furlough from the service.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1696152317
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1696152324

[GeoPoto]

Thompson spent the first month of the 1953 campaign warming the Giants’ bench while highly touted rookie Daryl Spencer was tried at third base. Finally inserted back into the hot corner spot in mid-May, he responded with his finest big league season. He appeared in only 114 games, sitting out most of the first month of the season and missing most of the last month after suffering a concussion when a bad-hop grounder knocked him out. Yet he slammed 24 homers and drove in 74 runs while hitting .302. His .567 slugging average was the seventh highest in the National League that year, and his outstanding .967 OPS was the sixth highest mark.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1696237884
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1696237891

[GeoPoto]

In 1954 Hank shook off a painful chipped kneecap suffered early in the campaign to set a career high with 26 homers, while hitting .263 and driving in 86 runs in 136 games for the world champion Giants. He also walked 90 times, finishing ninth in the league in on-base percentage and tenth in OPS.

Thompson enjoyed his best day as a major leaguer on June 3 of that year. Playing in St. Louis, he homered in his first three times at bat before the Cardinals intentionally walked him in the top of the seventh inning with no outs and a man on second. Hank did get a chance for his fourth homer, but could only manage a single to drive in his eighth run of the game.

In the Giants’ four-game World Series sweep of the heavily favored Cleveland Indians, Hank posted an amazing .611 on-base percentage, hitting for a .364 average and breaking Lou Gehrig’s record by drawing seven bases on balls. He also earned accolades for his flawless defense and alert baserunning.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1696323586
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1696323591

[GeoPoto]

Still just 29 years old, with two fine seasons behind him going into the 1955 campaign, Thompson should have been at the peak of his career. But his average dropped to .245 and his home run output fell to 17. The next year he injured his shoulder in spring training and lost his regular job to light-hitting rookie Foster Castleman. For the season, he hit only .235 with eight homers in 83 games, although he excelled as a pinch-hitter, hitting .333 with a pair of homers in 24 pinch at-bats.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1696405031
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1696405034

[GeoPoto]

Before the 1957 season, Thompson was sent down to the minor leagues with a missed exhibition game in San Diego probably having some bearing on the demotion. Playing the outfield for Minneapolis, he endured nagging leg injuries and hit only .243 with a pair of homers in 78 games before leaving the team in late July. In subsequent interviews, he remembered ending his playing days on that note, but he did in fact try to resurrect his career with Ponce in the Puerto Rican Winter League after the season – an effort that lasted only three games before his career as a professional baseball player was truly over.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1696496881
https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1696496884