Henry "Hank" Thompson

[GeoPoto]

(Some of you may recall an earlier thread regarding Sam Jethroe; well, here we go again.) I have a modest collection of cards and photos involving Hank Thompson, another of the significant players in the evolution of integrated major league baseball. For the next 21 days I plan to make a daily post including one of these items with a portion of Hank's excellent SABR biography written by Rick Swaine. I hope that you will find Swaine's treatment of Thompson's historic, if not always happy, story interesting and would love to see any pieces involving Hank that may be part of your collection.

We kick off with Swaine's introduction to the biography and a 1950s PM10 Pin-back/Button honoring Hank:

Hank Thompson, a New York Giants mainstay from 1949 to 1956, is the answer to a host of trivia questions about black players. He was the first acknowledged black player to play for the Giants. He was also the first acknowledged black player to take the field for the St. Louis Browns, having received a brief trial with the American League club in 1947. Thus he is the only black player to break the racial barrier for two different major-league franchises.

In his July 17, 1947, debut with the Browns, 12 days after Larry Doby’s debut with the Cleveland Indians, Thompson became the second black American Leaguer as well as the third black 20th-century major leaguer, after Doby and Jackie Robinson. Only 21 years old at the time, Thompson gained the lasting distinction of being the youngest black player to integrate a big-league team. Two days later, he and Willard Brown became the first black players to play together in the big leagues since Moses “Fleet” Walker and his brother Welday teamed up for Toledo in the 19th century. A few days after that, Thompson became the first black player to appear in an official major-league game at Yankee Stadium, and later that season he and Doby became the first black players to compete against each other in a big-league game. Interestingly, Thompson, not Jackie Robinson, who was stationed at first base his rookie year, was the first black major-league second baseman.

When Thompson led off for the Giants against the Brooklyn Dodgers in his National League debut on July 8, 1949, he became only the fifth black National Leaguer behind Robinson, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, and Dan Bankhead of the Dodgers. Facing Newcombe in his first plate appearance, he became the first black hitter to hit against a black pitcher in the big leagues. During the 1951 season, he would again make history when he and future Hall of Famers Monte Irvin and Willie Mays became the first three black major leaguers to load the bases, and in the World Series that fall, the same trio formed the first all-black big-league outfield.

And Hank Thompson literally was “The Man Who Killed Jim Crow.”

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1695287549