Jason Dolph Thompson (born July 6, 1954) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

, and

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

from 1976 to 1986. He was a three-time MLB All-Star.

Detroit Tigers

Thompson was drafted by the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

in the fifteenth round of the 1972 Major League Baseball draft, but chose instead to play ball at Cal-State Northridge. He was then selected in the fourth round of the 1975 Major League Baseball draft by the

. In his first professional season, , he batted .324 with 10

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

and 38

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

for the Southern League's

Montgomery Rebels The Montgomery Rebels was the name of several American minor league baseball franchises representing Montgomery, Alabama, playing in various leagues between and . ''Rebels'' was the predominant nickname of the Montgomery teams, but it was not the ...

. With regular first baseman Dan Meyer batting .192 with only two RBIs, the Tigers gave the job to Thompson early into the season. He responded by going four-for-five in his third game as a major leaguer. Despite batting just .218, Thompson led the Tigers with 17 home runs and was third on the club with 54 RBIs. He also earned a reputation as one of the top fielding first basemen in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

. Following the season, he was named to the Topps Rookie All-Star team. In , Thompson was batting .276 with 12 home runs and 65 RBIs at the

All-Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

break to gain selection to the AL squad, but he did not appear in the game. He was named to the All-Star team again a year later, and flew out to George Foster in his only

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, b ...

. In 1979, in a nationally televised

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

game on June 16, Thompson hit two home runs in the game, a 4–2 loss. Thompson initially hit a foul ball over the roof in foul territory in right field completely out of Tiger Stadium off

' right-hander Dave Frost who later gave up both home runs. Thompson also hit several other home runs over the right field roof of Tiger stadium during his time in Detroit. In four plus seasons with the Tigers, Thompson batted .256 with 98 home runs and 354 RBIs.

California Angels

After getting off to a slow start in , Thompson was traded from the Tigers to the Angels for

Al Cowens Alfred Edward Cowens, Jr. (October 25, 1951 – March 11, 2002) was an American right fielder in Major League Baseball. From through , Cowens played for the Kansas City Royals (1974–79), California Angels (1980), Detroit Tigers (1980–81) and ...

on May 27. The Angels had a shortage of power hitters due to injuries to Don Baylor and

Brian Downing Brian Jay Downing (born October 9, 1950) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball from to , originally as a catcher before converting to an outfielder and designated hitter later in his career. Dow ...

at the time. Thompson assumed first base duties upon his acquisition by the Angels with

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

Rod Carew Rodney Cline Carew (born October 1, 1945) is a Panamanian-American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second baseman, first baseman and designated hitter from 1967 to 1985 for the Minneso ...

shifting to

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

, however, they traded positions by the end of the season. Thompson batted over .300 for the Angels, but was traded to the

during

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

the following season for Mickey Mahler and Ed Ott.

Trade to the Yankees

Immediately after acquiring Thompson, the Pirates dealt him to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

for Jim Spencer and minor league pitchers Greg Cochran and Fred Tolliver, however, commissioner Bowie Kuhn voided the deal. The Yankees were to pay Spencer's salary according to the original deal; which put the transaction over the $400,000 limit the commissioner had established for any transaction.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Now part of a team he was never intended to be part of, Thompson got off to a slow start with the Pirates, batting .171 with seven home runs and seventeen RBIs in the first half of the strike shortened season. His hitting improved substantially in the second half of the 1981 season, as he batted .321 with eight home runs and 25 RBIs. Thompson continued his hot hitting into , hitting thirteen home runs and batting .354 through the month of May to earn the third All-Star nod of his career. For the season, Thompson batted .284 with 31 home runs and 101 RBIs. He became the third player in Pirates history to reach the 100-RBI, 100-walk plateau, finishing fifth in the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

in OPS with a .902 mark. On June 26, , Thompson hit four home runs in a doubleheader against the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charl ...

, tying

Ralph Kiner Ralph McPherran Kiner (October 27, 1922 – February 6, 2014) was an American Major League Baseball player and broadcaster. An outfielder, Kiner played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, and Cleveland Indians from 1946 through 1955. Fo ...

's 37-year franchise record for most home runs in a doubleheader. Thompson remained with the Pirates through , batting .259 with 93 home runs and 354 RBIs in his five seasons with the club. During

Spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

, he was dealt to the

for two minor leaguers. He lost his starting job to rookie

Andrés Galarraga Andrés José Padovani Galarraga (; born June 18, 1961) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball first baseman, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Montreal Expos (– and ), St. Louis Cardinals (), Colorado Rockies (–), ...

shortly into the season, and was released on June 30. Thompson was unable to continue his career due to knee injuries.

Career stats

While with the Tigers, Thompson earned the nickname "Roof Top" from his ability to hit balls onto the Tiger Stadium

right field A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In t ...

roof. On two occasions he powered the ball over the roof and completely out of the stadium. A steady first baseman, he also led each league in

total chances In baseball statistics, total chances (TC), also called ''chances offered'', represents the number of plays in which a defensive player has participated. It is the sum of putouts plus assists plus errors. ''Chances accepted'' refers to the total ...

in 1977 and .

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Jason 1954 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American League All-Stars Cal State Northridge Matadors baseball players California Angels players Detroit Tigers players Evansville Triplets players Major League Baseball first basemen Montgomery Rebels players Montreal Expos players National League All-Stars People from Hollywood, Los Angeles Pittsburgh Pirates players Baseball players from Los Angeles