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You Are Here > Baseball-Reference.com > Players > Sam Thompson

Sam Thompson
Samuel Luther Thompson (Big Sam)

Bats Left, Throws Left
Height 6' 2", Weight 207 lb.

Debut July 2, 1885
Final Game September 10, 1906
Born March 5, 1860 in Danville, IN
Died November 7, 1922 in Detroit, MI

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1974.

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Batting  Glossary / Neutralize Stats
 Year Ag Tm  Lg  G   AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR  RBI  SB CS  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG *OPS+  TB   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP 
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
 1885 25 DTN NL  63  254   58   77  11  9   7   44         16  22  .303  .344  .500  170  127                    
 1886 26 DTN NL 122  503  101  156  18 13   8   89  13     35  31  .310  .355  .445  139  224                    
 1887 27 DTN NL 127  545  118  203  29 23  11  166  22     32  19  .372  .416  .571  167  311               9    
 1888 28 DTN NL  56  238   51   67  10  8   6   40   5     23  10  .282  .352  .466  159  111               3    
 1889 29 PHI NL 128  533  103  158  36  4  20  111  24     36  22  .296  .348  .492  125  262               6    
 1890 30 PHI NL 132  549  116  172  41  9   4  102  25     42  29  .313  .371  .443  134  243               8    
 1891 31 PHI NL 133  554  108  163  23 10   7   90  29     52  20  .294  .363  .410  122  227               8    
 1892 32 PHI NL 153  609  109  186  28 11   9  104  28     59  19  .305  .377  .432  144  263              11    
 1893 33 PHI NL 131  600  130  222  37 13  11  126  18     50  17  .370  .424  .530  151  318               6    
 1894 34 PHI NL  99  437  108  178  29 27  13  141  24     40  13  .407  .458  .686  177  300               1    
 1895 35 PHI NL 119  538  131  211  45 21  18  165  27     31  11  .392  .430  .654  177  352   2           5    
 1896 36 PHI NL 119  517  103  154  28  7  12  100  12     28  13  .298  .341  .449  108  232   3           6    
 1897 37 PHI NL   3   13    2    3   0  1   0    3   0      1      .231  .286  .385   78    5   0           0    
 1898 38 PHI NL  14   63   14   22   5  3   1   15   2      4      .349  .388  .571  178   36   0           0    
 1906 46 DET AL   8   31    4    7   0  1   0    3   0      1      .226  .250  .290   67    9   0           0    
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
 15 Seasons         5984      1979    160     1299      0     226  .331  .384  .505  146        5   0   0  63   0
               1407      1256      340    127      229    450                            3020
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
 162 Game Avg        689  145  228  39 18  15  150  26  0  52  26  .331  .384  .505  146  348   1   0   0   7   0
 Career High    153  609  131  222  45 27  20  166  29  0  59  31  .407  .458  .686  177  352   3   0   0  11   0
+--------------+---+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+--+---+---+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+
 Year Ag Tm  Lg  G   AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR  RBI  SB CS  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG *OPS+  TB   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP 
Special Batting  Glossary
 Year Ag Tm  Lg  PA  Outs  RC  RC/G   AIR    BA *lgBA   OBP *lgOBP  SLG *lgSLG  OPS *lgOPS*OPS+  OWP *BtRns BtWin SB% 
+--------------+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+
 1885 25 DTN NL  270  177   44   6.5    69| .303  .247| .344  .290| .500  .330| .844  .620| 170  .772  18.6   2.1     
 1886 26 DTN NL  538  347   80   6.0    82| .310  .261| .355  .311| .445  .357| .800  .668| 139  .706  22.5   2.4     
 1887 27 DTN NL  586  342  127   9.7   100| .372  .279| .416  .338| .571  .398| .987  .736| 167  .808  48.1   4.7     
 1888 28 DTN NL  264  171   38   5.8    72| .282  .246| .352  .294| .466  .337| .818  .630| 159  .746  15.9   1.8     
 1889 29 PHI NL  575  375   89   6.2   103| .296  .283| .348  .356| .492  .387| .840  .742| 125  .664  15.8   1.6     
 1890 30 PHI NL  599  377   88   6.2    90| .313  .262| .371  .340| .443  .356| .814  .696| 134  .693  23.1   2.4     
 1891 31 PHI NL  614  391   81   5.5    90| .294  .263| .363  .338| .410  .358| .773  .696| 122  .646  15.4   1.6     
 1892 32 PHI NL  679  423   96   6.0    81| .305  .252| .377  .325| .432  .337| .809  .662| 144  .711  32.9   3.6     
 1893 33 PHI NL  656  378  133   9.3   108| .370  .288| .424  .367| .530  .393| .954  .759| 151  .764  42.4   4.0     
 1894 34 PHI NL  478  259  137  13.7   123| .407  .310| .458  .381| .686  .437|1.144  .818| 177  .821  51.6   4.3     
 1895 35 PHI NL  576  329  150  11.8   112| .392  .302| .430  .369| .654  .408|1.084  .777| 177  .820  57.4   5.1     
 1896 36 PHI NL  554  366   77   5.5   107| .298  .296| .341  .361| .449  .395| .790  .756| 108  .557   3.6   0.3     
 1897 37 PHI NL   14   10    1   2.6   105| .231  .295| .286  .358| .385  .392| .671  .750|  78  .245  -0.6  -0.1     
 1898 38 PHI NL   67   41   14   8.9    88| .349  .273| .388  .337| .571  .350| .959  .687| 178  .815   5.7   0.6     
 1906 46 DET AL   32   24    2   2.2    77| .226  .259| .250  .315| .290  .332| .540  .647|  67  .334  -1.4  -0.2     
+--------------+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+
 15 Seasons     6502 4010 1157   7.6    97| .331  .276| .384  .343| .505  .377| .889  .720| 146  .734 351.1  34.2     

* indicates the value is park adjusted (now all 3-year factors)
Fielding  Glossary / Sort by Position, then Year
 Year Ag Tm  Lg Pos   G     PO    A    E   DP    FP   lgFP  RFg  lgRFg  RF9  lgRF9  LF   CF   RF
+--------------+---+----+------+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+
+---- Fielding Sorted by Year ------+
1885 25 DTN NL OF 63 84 24 14 0 .885 .881 1.71 1.82 0 0 63 3B 1 2 0 0 0 1.000 .870 2.00 3.20 1886 26 DTN NL OF 122 194 29 13 11 .945 .890 1.83 1.71 0 0 122 1887 27 DTN NL OF 127 217 24 24 7 .909 .883 1.90 1.92 0 0 127 1888 28 DTN NL OF 56 86 4 12 0 .882 .906 1.61 1.90 0 0 56 1889 29 PHI NL OF 128 173 19 21 7 .901 .910 1.50 1.97 0 0 128 1890 30 PHI NL OF 132 170 29 13 5 .939 .914 1.51 1.89 0 0 132 1891 31 PHI NL OF 133 234 32 18 6 .937 .912 2.00 1.88 0 2 131 1892 32 PHI NL OF 153 223 28 17 7 .937 .912 1.64 1.86 3 0 150 1893 33 PHI NL OF 131 171 17 14 3 .931 .915 1.44 2.14 0 0 131 1B 1 7 0 1 0 .875 .972 7.00 10.50 1894 34 PHI NL OF 99 159 12 4 2 .977 .915 1.73 2.24 0 0 99 1895 35 PHI NL OF 118 186 31 13 2 .943 .917 1.84 2.14 0 0 118 1896 36 PHI NL OF 119 231 28 7 11 .974 .933 2.18 2.12 0 0 119 1897 37 PHI NL OF 3 4 1 1 0 .833 .943 1.67 2.07 0 0 3 1898 38 PHI NL OF 14 19 5 0 0 1.000 .938 1.71 2.03 0 0 14 1906 46 DET AL OF 8 14 0 0 0 1.000 .966 1.75 1.88 0 0 8
+---- Fielding Sorted by Position --+
1893 33 PHI NL 1B 1 7 0 1 0 .875 .972 7.00 10.50 1885 25 DTN NL 3B 1 2 0 0 0 1.000 .870 2.00 3.20 1885 25 DTN NL OF 63 84 24 14 0 .885 .881 1.71 1.82 0 0 63 1886 26 DTN NL OF 122 194 29 13 11 .945 .890 1.83 1.71 0 0 122 1887 27 DTN NL OF 127 217 24 24 7 .909 .883 1.90 1.92 0 0 127 1888 28 DTN NL OF 56 86 4 12 0 .882 .906 1.61 1.90 0 0 56 1889 29 PHI NL OF 128 173 19 21 7 .901 .910 1.50 1.97 0 0 128 1890 30 PHI NL OF 132 170 29 13 5 .939 .914 1.51 1.89 0 0 132 1891 31 PHI NL OF 133 234 32 18 6 .937 .912 2.00 1.88 0 2 131 1892 32 PHI NL OF 153 223 28 17 7 .937 .912 1.64 1.86 3 0 150 1893 33 PHI NL OF 131 171 17 14 3 .931 .915 1.44 2.14 0 0 131 1894 34 PHI NL OF 99 159 12 4 2 .977 .915 1.73 2.24 0 0 99 1895 35 PHI NL OF 118 186 31 13 2 .943 .917 1.84 2.14 0 0 118 1896 36 PHI NL OF 119 231 28 7 11 .974 .933 2.18 2.12 0 0 119 1897 37 PHI NL OF 3 4 1 1 0 .833 .943 1.67 2.07 0 0 3 1898 38 PHI NL OF 14 19 5 0 0 1.000 .938 1.71 2.03 0 0 14 1906 46 DET AL OF 8 14 0 0 0 1.000 .966 1.75 1.88 0 0 8
+--------------+---+----+------+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+ Position Total OF 1406 2165 283 171 61 .935 .909 1.74 1.97 3 2 1401 1B 1 7 0 1 0 .875 .972 7.00 10.50 3B 1 2 0 0 0 1.000 .870 2.00 3.20 +--------------+---+----+------+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+ Overall Total 1408 2174 283 172 61 .935 .909 1.75 1.97
An Important note about our fielding stats

Postseason Batting Gamelogs / Vs. Pitcher

 Year   Round Tm  Opp WLser  G   AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   SB CS  SH  SF HBP
+------+-----+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---+--+---+---+---+
 1887   WS    DTN STL     W  15  58   8  21  2  0  2   7   3   3  .362  .393  .500   5                
+------+-----+---+---+-----+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---+--+---+---+---+

WLser shows whether the player's team Won or Lost the series.
Appearances on Leaderboards and Awards   Glossary

Awards are Year-League-Award, Stats are Year-Value-Rank, (Pos) for All-Star indicates starter & * indicates they played.

Batting Average
1886 NL-.310-8
1887 NL-.372-1
1890 NL-.313-5
1891 NL-.294-7
1892 NL-.305-7
1893 NL-.370-2
1894 NL-.407-3
1895 NL-.392-4
Car-.331-31

On-base %
1887 NL-.416-3
1892 NL-.377-10
1893 NL-.424-8
1894 NL-.458-8

Slugging %
1886 NL-.445-7
1887 NL-.571-1
1889 NL-.492-5
1890 NL-.443-7
1892 NL-.432-8
1893 NL-.530-3
1894 NL-.687-2
1895 NL-.654-1
Car-.505-86

OPS
1886 NL-.800-9
1887 NL-.987-2
1892 NL-.809-9
1893 NL-.954-5
1894 NL-1.145-2
1895 NL-1.085-2
Car-.888-77

Games
1886 NL-122-9
1887 NL-127-2
1892 NL-153-3
1893 NL-131-10

At Bats
1886 NL-503-3
1887 NL-545-1
1890 NL-549-7
1891 NL-554-7
1893 NL-600-1

Plate Appearances (approx.)
1886 NL-538-7
1887 NL-586-2
1893 NL-656-1

Runs
1886 NL-101-9
1887 NL-118-5
1890 NL-116-6
1893 NL-130-6
1895 NL-131-8

Hits
1886 NL-156-7
1887 NL-203-1
1890 NL-172-1
1891 NL-163-6
1892 NL-186-2
1893 NL-222-1
1895 NL-211-3

Total Bases
1886 NL-224-7
1887 NL-311-1
1889 NL-262-3
1890 NL-243-3
1891 NL-227-6
1892 NL-263-3
1893 NL-318-2
1894 NL-300-6
1895 NL-352-1

Doubles
1887 NL-29-8
1889 NL-36-3
1890 NL-41-1
1892 NL-28-6
1893 NL-37-1
1895 NL-45-2
1896 NL-28-7

Triples
1885 NL-9-10
1886 NL-13-4
1887 NL-23-1
1894 NL-27-2
1895 NL-21-2
Car-160-39

Home Runs
1885 NL-7-3
1886 NL-8-6
1887 NL-11-7
1889 NL-20-1
1891 NL-7-9
1892 NL-9-5
1893 NL-11-5
1894 NL-13-5
1895 NL-18-1
1896 NL-12-3

RBI
1886 NL-89-3
1887 NL-166-1
1889 NL-111-5
1890 NL-102-3
1891 NL-90-6
1892 NL-104-2
1893 NL-126-3
1894 NL-141-2
1895 NL-165-1
1896 NL-100-8
Car-1299-99

Singles
1886 NL-117-5
1887 NL-140-2
1891 NL-123-6
1892 NL-138-6
1893 NL-161-2

Adjusted OPS+
1886 NL-139-10
1887 NL-167-2
1892 NL-144-9
1893 NL-151-5
1894 NL-177-1
1895 NL-177-2
Car-146-48

Runs Created
1886 NL-80-8
1887 NL-127-1
1889 NL-89-9
1890 NL-88-2
1891 NL-81-8
1892 NL-96-4
1893 NL-133-2
1894 NL-137-4
1895 NL-150-1

Adjusted Batting Runs
1886 NL-23-9
1887 NL-48-2
1890 NL-23-8
1892 NL-33-6
1893 NL-42-3
1894 NL-52-4
1895 NL-57-2
Car-351-92

Batting Wins
1886 NL-2.4-9
1887 NL-4.7-2
1890 NL-2.4-8
1892 NL-3.6-6
1893 NL-4.0-2
1894 NL-4.3-4
1895 NL-5.1-2
Car-34.2-95

Extra-Base Hits
1886 NL-39-7
1887 NL-63-3
1889 NL-60-3
1890 NL-54-3
1891 NL-40-10
1892 NL-48-7
1893 NL-61-2
1894 NL-69-5
1895 NL-84-1
1896 NL-47-9

Times on Base
1886 NL-191-8
1887 NL-244-2
1892 NL-256-6
1893 NL-278-3

Offensive Win%
1886 NL-.706-9
1887 NL-.808-1
1890 NL-.693-9
1892 NL-.711-9
1893 NL-.764-3
1894 NL-.821-2
1895 NL-.820-2
Car-.734-39

Hit By Pitch
1887 NL-9-5
1889 NL-6-9
1891 NL-8-9
1892 NL-11-5

Power/Speed Number
1886 NL-9.9-9
1889 NL-21.8-2
1892 NL-13.6-5
1893 NL-13.7-10
1894 NL-16.9-10
1895 NL-21.6-1
1896 NL-12.0-7

At Bats per Strikeout
1887 NL-28.7-9
1889 NL-24.2-9
1891 NL-27.7-4
1892 NL-32.1-6
1895 NL-48.9-5
1896 NL-39.8-9
Car-26.0-40

At Bats per Home Run
1886 NL-62.9-8
1889 NL-26.7-1
1893 NL-54.5-8
1894 NL-33.6-5
1895 NL-29.9-3
1896 NL-43.1-3

Oldest Player
1896 NL-36-9
1897 NL-37-8
1898 NL-38-2
1906 AL-46-1

     

Black Ink: Batting - 42 (33) (Average HOFer ≈ 27)
Gray Ink: Batting - 200 (39) (Average HOFer ≈ 144)
HOF Standards: Batting - 46.0 (96) (Average HOFer ≈ 50)
HOF Monitor: Batting - 154.5 (75) (Likely HOFer > 100)
Overall Rank in parentheses.

Act.- Denotes rank among active players, Car. - Denotes career rank
Click on the Car, Act or Year to see the career, active, or league leaderboard.


Similar Batters  View in Pop-up

Compare Stats
  1. Kiki Cuyler (856) *
  2. Mike Tiernan (843)
  3. Earl Averill (836) *
  4. Bill Terry (835) *
  5. Heinie Manush (835) *
  6. Bob Meusel (833)
  7. Hugh Duffy (832) *
  8. Bing Miller (830)
  9. Earle Combs (828) *
  10. Babe Herman (820)
Most Similar by Age 

Click on C to compare their stats
Mouse over numbers to view names
  1. Dusty Miller (973)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  2. Carl Reynolds (962)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  3. Carl Reynolds (956)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  4. Carl Reynolds (961)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  5. Carl Reynolds (956)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  6. Carl Reynolds (954)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  7. Irish Meusel (930)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  8. Irish Meusel (916)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  9. Kiki Cuyler (937) * 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  10. Kiki Cuyler (920) * 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  11. Kiki Cuyler (910) * 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  12. Kiki Cuyler (897) * 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  13. Kiki Cuyler (873) * 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  14. Dan Brouthers (812) * 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C

* - Signifies Hall of Famer
Explanation of Similarity Scores


Transactions 

June 15, 1885: Purchased by the Detroit Wolverines from the Indianapolis (Western).

October 16, 1888: Purchased by the Philadelphia Quakers from the Detroit Wolverines for $5,000.


The transaction information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. Last transaction is September 30, 2007.
Uniforms 
View Sam Thompson's uniforms at Dressed to the Nines
a Baseball Hall of Fame on-line exhibit

Other References 
Error?     Compare     Search Baseball Index     Other Links@google.com     Baseball Library     Baseball-Almanac.com     DeadBallEra Obituary     Hall of Fame     Retrosheet     The Baseball Cube     The Baseball Page     WhatIfSports: Sam Thompson    

Viewed 65443 times through October 11, 2008.
Name and misspellings: Big Samuel Luther Sam sammy samuel Thompson thomson

Pages Updated through October 10,2008. Pages designed and created by Baseball-Reference part of Sports Reference, Inc. (Copyright ©2000-2007).
Statistics may come from our work, the Baseball Databank, or other sources including SABR.org and RetroSheet.org..

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