Richard Charles Thompson (born April 23, 1979) is an American 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 ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

, who 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 ...

with the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

in 2004 and the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...

in 2012. Thompson spent most of his 12-year career playing in

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

, and retired in 2013 after a foot and head injury.

Amateur career

Thompson graduated in 1997 from Montrose Area Jr./Sr. High School in Montrose, Pennsylvania. He played on the Montrose Meteors Varsity baseball team. He attended

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public university, public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1908, the institution was renamed in 1938 in honor of the fourth president of the ...

Harrisonburg, Virginia Harrisonburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Shenandoah Valley region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is also the county seat of the surrounding Rockingham Cou ...

, where he played baseball for the

Dukes Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

under head coach

Spanky McFarland George Robert Philips McFarland (October 2, 1928 – June 30, 1993) was an American actor most famous for starring as a child as Spanky in Hal Roach's ''Our Gang'' series of short-subject comedies of the 1930s and 1940s. The ''Our Gang'' short ...

. He arrived on JMU's campus in the Fall of 1997 and spent the next three years compiling some of the best baseball statistics in the program's history. He was known for his ability to get on base, steal bases and score runs. He remains second all time at JMU for most stolen bases in a career with 99, which is also good for fifth all time in the

Colonial Athletic Association The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), formerly the ECAC South Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA' ...

. Thompson is second on JMU's list for stolen bases in a season, which he set in 2000 with 50, which is also second-most all time in a season for the CAA. In 1999, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Cotuit Kettleers The Cotuit Kettleers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in the village of Cotuit, Massachusetts, which is in the southwest corner of the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, Barnstable. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

and was named a league all-star. In 2000, Thompson was also named Second Team All-CAA, JMU's Most Valuable Player and was also a Virginia Sports Information Directors All State Honorable Mention. Thompson's other appearances in the JMU record book include: fourth for stolen bases in a season (35, 1999), eight for at bats in a season (231, 2000), seventh for runs scored in a season (64, 2000), seventh for triples in a season (5, 2000), fourth for most hit by pitches in a season (17, 2000) eighth all time for career triples (10) and ninth in hit by pitches in a career (25).

Professional career

Toronto Blue Jays

Thompson was drafted by the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

out of

in the 6th round of the

2000 Major League Baseball Draft The 2000 Major League Baseball draft, was the annual choosing of high school and college baseball players, held in June 2000. A total of 1,452 players were drafted. First round selections Compensation picks Background The Florida Marlins ...

. He played his first professional season with Toronto's Low-A affiliate, the Queens Kings in .

Pittsburgh Pirates

The

traded Thompson to the

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 ...

in July for

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

John Wasdin. Thompson was drafted by the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

in the

Rule 5 Draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

and was traded to the

. In April 2004 the Royals returned Thompson to the Pirates. In 2006, while playing for the Triple A

Indianapolis Indians The Indianapolis Indians are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They are located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and play their home games at Victory ...

, Thompson was an

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...

Mid Season All Star. He was granted free agency after the 2006 season.

Kansas City Royals and Rule 5 Draft

Thompson was drafted by the

in the

and was traded to the

. Thompson made his major league debut for the

in April as a

pick who mainly entered games to pinch-run. Thompson stole one base and scored one

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

in five appearances as a pinch runner. 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 ...

was April 20, 2004 against

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

Tim Laker, who was only pitching because the Royals led 15-5, and resulted in the speedy Thompson grounding into a

double play In baseball and softball, a double play (denoted as DP in baseball statistics) is the act of making two outs during the same continuous play. Double plays can occur any time there is at least one baserunner and fewer than two outs. In Major Le ...

. Soon after that game, the Royals returned Thompson to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Thompson signed with the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

in October 2006. In , he played for the

Tucson Sidewinders Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson metropolitan s ...

, the Diamondbacks Triple-A club.

Boston Red Sox

Thompson signed a minor league contract with the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

in January 2008, but was released in April before playing a game in the organization.

Philadelphia Phillies

Thompson signed with the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

on April 22, 2008. In 2011, while playing with the

Lehigh Valley IronPigs The Lehigh Valley IronPigs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. They are located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and they are named in reference to pig iron, used ...

, Thompson was an Milb.com Organization All Star for the Phillies system. On May 16, 2012, he was traded to the

for outfielder Kyle Hudson.

Tampa Bay Rays

After Thompson's acquisition from the Phillies, he was placed on the active roster, and Brandon Guyer was placed on 15-day DL to make room. Thompson recorded his first major league hit on May 17, 2012 off

pitcher Felix Doubront. He had 1390 hits in 1388 minor league games prior to his first major league hit. The Rays optioned Thompson to the Triple A

Durham Bulls The Durham Bulls are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Durham, North Carolina, and play their home games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which opened ...

on June 6, 2012, when

Desmond Jennings Desmond Delane Jennings (born October 30, 1986) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Rays. Early life Jennings was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the second of three so ...

came off the

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 Major League Baseball season, 2019 season, it was known as the disabl ...

. On October 26, 2012, Thompson elected free agency after previously being outrighted off of the 40-man roster. The Rays later signed Thompson to a minor league deal. On June 6, 2013, Thompson broke his foot while fielding a ball during a game which ultimately ended his career.

Post-baseball career

After retiring from baseball, Thompson started a career as a public accountant with

KPMG KPMG is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 emplo ...

. In 2014, Thompson started practicing to compete on the

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 ...

competition series ''

American Ninja Warrior ''American Ninja Warrior'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''ANW'') is an American sports entertainment reality show based on the Japanese television reality show ''Sasuke (TV series), Sasuke,'' which also serves as a successor of ''American Ninja C ...

''. He managed to pass the tryouts, qualifying for the Miami Regionals. In June 2014, he completed the first round qualifying for the Finals which aired on July 28, 2014. However, Thompson couldn't finish the course, having failed to complete the minefield obstacle, and didn't qualify for the next round in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Personal life

Thompson is married to wife, Teresa. They have three children together. , he lived in Tampa, after having moved there in 2005.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Rich 1979 births Living people Baseball players from Reading, Pennsylvania Major League Baseball outfielders Kansas City Royals players Tampa Bay Rays players Queens Kings players Dunedin Blue Jays players Syracuse SkyChiefs players Tennessee Smokies players Nashville Sounds players New Haven Ravens players Indianapolis Indians players Altoona Curve players Tucson Sidewinders players Reading Phillies players Lehigh Valley IronPigs players 21st-century American sportsmen James Madison Dukes baseball players Cotuit Kettleers players Durham Bulls players Contestants on American game shows