Samuel Thompson (May 27, 1908 – January 29, 1978), nicknamed "Sad Sam", was an American

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

from 1932 to 1942. A native of

Sulligent, Alabama Sulligent is a city in Lamar County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 1,927, down from its record high of 2,151 in 2000. From 1910-1950 and again in 2000, it was the largest community in Lamar County ...

, Thompson attended Sumner High School and

Wiley College Wiley College is a private historically black college in Marshall, Texas. Founded in 1873 by the Methodist Episcopal Church's Bishop Isaac Wiley and certified in 1882 by the Freedman's Aid Society, it is one of the oldest predominantly black col ...

. He pitched for over a decade in the Negro leagues, and was often ranked among the league's top hurlers. Thompson died in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1978 at age 69.

References

External links

an
Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats
an
Seamheads
1908 births 1978 deaths Chicago American Giants players Columbus Elite Giants players Indianapolis ABCs (1931–1933) players Kansas City Monarchs players Philadelphia Stars players Pollock's Cuban Stars players Baseball pitchers People from Lamar County, Alabama Baseball players from Alabama 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{Negro-league-baseball-pitcher-stub