MLB / Players

Sam Thompson

HandednessBats Left · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 2 in · 207 lb

BornMarch 5, 1860 · Danville, IN, USA

MLB debutJuly 2, 1885

Final gameSeptember 10, 1906

Seasons15 (1885–1906)

Detroit Wolverines 1885–1888; Philadelphia Quakers 1889; Philadelphia Phillies 1890–1898; Detroit Tigers 1906

Percentile snapshot

1896 season — qualified batters

119

37.5

554

55.6

517

73.6

103

72.2

154

62.5

91.7

30.6

97.2

RBI

100

86.1

20.8

86.1

9.7

.298

43.1

OBP

.341

26.4

SLG

.449

70.8

OPS

.790

55.6

wRC+

102.5

48.6

OPS+

107.2

55.6

wOBA

.367

47.2

sWAR

1.5

41.7

of 73 qualified 1896 batters (min 403 PA) · 1 stat not shown: every qualified player held the same value, so a percentile there carries no information

Career, era-adjusted

wRC+

135.6

OPS+

147.1

97.4

sWAR

45.2

98.4

wRC+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; OPS+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1885	63	270	254	58	77	11	9	7	44	16	22	0	.303	.344	.500	.844	150.7	170.1	.385	2.5
1886	122	538	503	101	156	18	13	8	89	35	31	13	.310	.355	.445	.800	130.8	141.6	.367	3.5
1887	127	586	545	118	203	29	23	10	166	32	19	22	.372	.416	.565	.982	152.3	169.7	.439	5.5
1888	56	264	238	51	67	10	8	6	40	23	10	5	.282	.352	.466	.819	147.5	158.6	.375	2.2
1889	128	575	533	103	158	36	4	20	111	36	22	24	.296	.348	.492	.839	121.5	132.0	.388	2.9
1890	132	599	549	116	172	41	9	4	102	42	29	25	.313	.371	.443	.813	126.6	136.5	.388	3.4
1891	133	614	554	108	163	23	10	7	90	52	20	29	.294	.363	.410	.773	119.0	124.7	.370	2.9
1892	153	679	609	109	186	28	11	9	104	59	19	28	.305	.377	.432	.809	134.5	144.0	.389	4.5
1893	131	656	600	130	222	37	13	11	126	50	17	18	.370	.424	.530	.954	139.3	152.6	.447	4.9
1894	102	502	451	114	187	32	28	13	149	42	13	27	.415	.466	.696	1.162	157.6	176.6	.515	5.0
1895	119	576	538	131	211	45	21	18	165	31	11	27	.392	.430	.654	1.085	157.2	177.0	.489	5.7
1896	119	554	517	103	154	28	7	12	100	28	13	12	.298	.341	.449	.790	102.5	107.2	.367	1.5
1897	3	14	13	2	3	0	1	0	3	1	2	0	.231	.286	.385	.670	75.4	75.9	.314	0.0
1898	14	67	63	14	22	5	3	1	15	4	1	2	.349	.388	.571	.959	158.9	173.5	.448	0.7
1906	8	32	31	3	7	0	1	0	4	1	5	0	.226	.250	.290	.540	60.5	65.9	.260	-0.1

Career totals

1,410

6,526

5,998

1,261

147th-most career R

1,988

306th-most career H

343

336th-most career 2B

161

38th-most career 3B

126

RBI

1,308

111th-most career RBI

452

234

232

282nd-most career SB

.3314

36th-highest career batting average

OBP

.3843

155th-highest career on-base percentage

SLG

.5053

108th-highest career slugging percentage

OPS

.8896

82nd-highest career OPS

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	3B	RBI	TB
1906-09-04	BAL @ DET Gameday	4	1	1	1	1	3
1906-09-03	BAL @ DET Gameday	4	1	2	0	0	2
1906-09-08	CWS @ DET Gameday	5	1	2	0	0	2
1906-08-31	BAL @ DET Gameday	4	0	1	0	2	1
1906-09-10	DET @ CWS Gameday	4	0	1	0	0	1

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1906-04-17	CWS @ DET Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1906-04-18	CWS @ DET Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1906-04-19	CWS @ DET Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1906-04-20	DET @ CWS Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1906-04-21	DET @ CWS Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

Hall of Fame, 1974 (Veterans)

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.