Robert Thomas "Bobby" Thigpen (born July 17, 1963) is a former
relief pitcher
In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weat ...
in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
. He is noted for setting the major league record of 57
saves during the season, which has since been broken by former
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...
pitcher
Francisco Rodríguez. He is the former pitching coach of the
Winston-Salem Dash
The Winston-Salem Dash are a Minor League Baseball team in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They are a High-A team in the South Atlantic League and have been a farm team of the Chicago White Sox since 1997. The Dash began playing their home games a ...
. He is also the former bullpen coach for the
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...
.
Baseball career
Thigpen was a three sport star at Aucilla Christian Academy near
Monticello, FL. As a member of the baseball team he played for longtime Aucilla coach, Ray Hughes. A pitcher and shortstop in high school, he led the Warriors to the 1981 Class A state championship game.
He played two years at
Seminole Community College
Seminole State College of Florida is a public college with four campuses in Central Florida. It is part of the Florida College System.
Founded in 1965, the Florida State Legislature signed a charter creating "Seminole Junior College." The coll ...
, after which he moved on to pitch and play the outfield for
Mississippi State University and coach
Ron Polk
Ronald George Polk (born January 12, 1944) is an American professional coach in NCAA Division I college baseball. He was a long-time head baseball coach at Mississippi State and is considered to be the "Father of Southeastern Conference Basebal ...
. Among his teammates were future major-leaguers
Will Clark
William Nuschler Clark Jr. (born March 13, 1964) is an American professional baseball first baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1986 through 2000. He played for the San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, an ...
,
Rafael Palmeiro and
Jeff Brantley
Jeffrey Hoke Brantley (born September 5, 1963) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 14 seasons, from to . Brantley currently is a broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds.
Early care ...
. Thigpen was part of MSU's 1985
College World Series
The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...
team, recording a .305 batting average and saving seven games during the season.
Thigpen was selected by the
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...
in the fourth round of the
1985 amateur draft. He made the major leagues the next August and moved into the White Sox's closer role. After two straight 30-save seasons, Thigpen had the best season of his career in 1990, setting the then-major league record of 57 saves (his record was eclipsed by
Francisco Rodríguez when he made 62 saves in 2008). He also maintained a 1.83 ERA and was named to the AL All-Star team. He also blew eight saves that season, including two three-run leads.
He later began to battle injuries, starting with a back problem developed after the 1990 season, when some players went on an exhibition tour of Japan. Thigpen's effectiveness waned and he was supplanted in the closer role by
Roberto Hernández.
During the season, Thigpen was traded to the
Philadelphia Phillies for
José DeLeón
José DeLeón Chestaro (born December 20, 1960) is a Dominican former professional baseball right-handed pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phill ...
, and pitched in the
NLCS and
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
for Philadelphia. The following season, he signed with the
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...
, who released him on April 29. He joined the
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks
The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League.
The team was formerly known as the Nankai Hawks and was based in Osaka. ...
and attempted to return to the majors in 1996, only to be derailed by back problems, which ended his career.
Thigpen's 201 career saves rank him 46th on the all-time saves list.
Post-baseball injury
In 2003, Thigpen was leaving a
Stanley Cup playoff game at the
St. Pete Times Forum when he tripped and fell on the stairs, triggering massive internal bleeding. "He had about a gallon of blood in his abdomen", said Dr. Kevin Hirsch, a trauma surgeon at
Bayfront Medical Center
Bayfront Health St. Petersburg is a 480-bed tertiary care center equipped to provide comprehensive medical and surgical care. The hospital offers many areas of expertise, including surgery and trauma, neuroscience, cardiology, acute rehabilitatio ...
who operated on Thigpen. "He had significant bleeding in and around his pancreas and kidney that we had to go in and stop."
/ref> Thigpen spent a week in the hospital and recovered.
See also
* List of Major League Baseball annual saves leaders
References
External links
The Hardball Times' This Week in Annotated Baseball History discusses Thigpen's career
:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thigpen, Bobby
1963 births
Living people
Baseball players from Tallahassee, Florida
American League All-Stars
American League saves champions
Chicago White Sox players
Philadelphia Phillies players
Seattle Mariners players
Chicago White Sox coaches
Major League Baseball bullpen coaches
Major League Baseball pitchers
Fukuoka Daiei Hawks players
American expatriate baseball players in Japan
Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball players
Seminole State Raiders baseball players
Appleton Foxes players
Niagara Falls Sox players
Birmingham Barons players
Hawaii Islanders players
Nashville Sounds players
Anchorage Glacier Pilots players
Peninsula Oilers players