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We Uncover a Bit of Baseball History In Photos of Hall of Famer, Sam Thompson!

(OK…Today we’re really going into the weeds! This one is for the real baseball history nerds out there!)

I was recently contacted by SABR members Herm Krabbenhoft and Gary Passamonte asking my opinion on whether or not a player in an 1880s photo found on eBay from an Ohio estate sale was nineteenth century Hall of Fame ball player Sam Thompson.

I initially thought the player in question resembled Sam Thompson, but after consulting with my crack baseball researcher, Don Stokes, we were not able to confirm that Sam was the player in question and we both seriously doubted that it was him.

(As an aside, Don and I have been working together identifying players in old photos for probably twenty years. We both have a good “eye” for identifications, but Don is invaluable as a researcher and I regard him as one of the premier baseball researchers in the country. As I like to say, if Don can’t find the answer to a question involving baseball history, then no one can!)

Getting back to Sam…In the course of our investigation, I was also contacted by Nathan Thompson, the great-nephew of Sam Thompson. Nathan sent me a couple photos from his personal collection, one of which is the featured photo above with Danville, Indiana Browns players. If you look closely at the player identifications, you see that the player in the second row, middle is named “Thompson.” Here’s blow up of the identification of “Thompson”:

Sam was known to have five brothers, all known ball players, so is it Hall of Famer Sam Thompson in the photo or is it one of his brothers?

Through extensive research, Don was able to confirm that the player was not Sam Thompson, but is his youngest brother William. Then Don really went to work. He uncovered the photo below of Sam (in the middle) with four of his brothers and their wives. The identifications are below the photo. 

L-R: Arthur Thompson, wife Mary H. Miles; Nathan Thompson, wife Alice Ferguson; Sam Thompson, wife Ida Maraska/Maratzke; William “Humphrey” Thompson, wife Hattie L. Bell; Cyrus Thompson, wife Lillie S. Dill.

In another photo, shown below, Don definitively identified three of the Thompson brothers, including Sam:

Sam Thompson’s Overlooked Career

Sam Thompson (March 5, 1860-November 7, 1922), known as “Big Sam,” has to be one of the most underappreciated and overlooked players in the Hall of Fame.  At 6 feet 2 inches tall, the Danville, Indiana native was one of the larger players of his day and was known for his prominent handlebar mustache. Over his 15-year career (1885-1898, 1906), he played for the Detroit Wolverines, Philadelphia Quakers, and Detroit Tigers. He hit .331, with 126 home runs, 1308 RBIs, 232 stolen bases, .384 on-base percentage, .505 slugging average, and 147 OPS+. Over his career, Sam led the National League in many categories: hits (three times), home runs (twice), RBIs (three times), slugging (twice), and total bases (once). He was the star player on the 1887 Detroit Wolverines National League pennant winners.

But that doesn’t tell the entire picture of Sam Thompson’s career. He was one of the most prolific run producers in baseball history. Today, we might refer to him as a “5-tool” player:

His career run batted in (RBI) to games played ratio of .923 (1,305 RBIs in 1,410 games) remains the highest in major league history. In 1895, Thompson averaged 1.44 RBIs per game, and his 166 RBIs in 1887 (in only 127 games) remained the major league record until 1921 when Babe Ruth collected 168 (albeit in 152 games). Thompson still holds the major league record for most RBIs in a single month with 61 in August 1894. Manager Bill Watkins in 1922 called Thompson “the greatest natural hitter of all time.” 

Defensively, Thompson was known to have one of the strongest arms of any outfielder in the early decades of the game. He still ranks among the all-time major league leaders with 61 double plays from the outfield (16th all time) and 283 outfield assists (12th all time). Thompson also had good speed on the base paths and, in 1889, he became the first major league player to reach 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in the same season. (1)

After reading all this, I’m glad to shine our baseball spotlight on a great player who deserves much more acclaim for his many accomplishments on the field than he has received. And we thank Don Stokes for uncovering some interesting information about Hall of Famer, Sam Thompson.

Gary Livacari 

Statistics from Baseball Reference.com; Quote (1) from Sam Thompson Wikipedia page

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