On the blog today, we profile my card for Hall of Famer and RBI-machine Sam Thompson, from my 2018 "19th Century Base Ball Champions" set:
Thompson
was a "slugger" by his day's standards, slamming 126 home runs with two
homer titles during his 15-year career between 1885 and 1906.
If you take a look at his career you'll be looking at some hardcore numbers!
In
ten full seasons (the other five being partial at best), Thompson drove
in over 100 runs eight times, with highs of 166, 165 and 147.
In
1894, he drove in those 147 runs in only 102 games! He also hit .415
with 114 runs scored to team up with fellow future Hall of Fame members
Ed Delahanty (.404) and Billy Hamilton (.403) to form the only
.400-hitting outfield in baseball history.
To top it off, there was a FOURTH outfielder on the team, Tuck Turner, who hit .418 in 382 plate appearances!
Back
to Thompson, he collected over 200 hits in a season three times,
collected 10+ homers six times, 20+ triples three times and scored 100+
runs all ten seasons of full-time play.
By the time he retired
for good after a brief return to Major League ball in 1906 with the
Detroit Tigers after an eight-year absence, he finished with 1261 runs
scored, 1988 hits, 343 doubles, 161 triples, 126 home runs and 1305 runs
batted in with a wonderful .331 batting average.
In that time
he also led his league in a primary offensive category 17 times.
Certainly a Hall of Fame resume if worthy of induction by the Veteran's
Committee in 1974.
