Thaddis Bosley Jr. (born September 17, 1956) is an American former professional baseball

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 cat ...

for the

California Angels 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 ha ...

(, ),

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 p ...

(–),

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

(),

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) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

(),

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

(–),

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) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

(–1988) and Texas Rangers (–).

Playing career

Bosley was called up to the Angels after hitting .326 in 69 games for the

Salt Lake City Gulls Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

of the

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

(PCL), and made his Major League debut on June 29, . He was traded along with

Bobby Bonds Bobby Lee Bonds (March 15, 1946 – August 23, 2003) was an American right fielder in Major League Baseball from to , primarily with the San Francisco Giants. Noted for his outstanding combination of power hitting and speed, he was the first pl ...

and

Richard Dotson Richard Elliott Dotson (born January 10, 1959) is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball in the 1980s. He is best noted for his 22-7 performance of , helping the Chicago White Sox win the American League West Division championship ...

to the White Sox for

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. Downin ...

, Chris Knapp and

Dave Frost Carl David Frost (born November 17, 1952) is an American former professional baseball player and a former Major League Baseball pitcher. The , right-hander was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 18th round of the 1974 Major League Base ...

on December 5, 1977. He remained with the White Sox organization for three years and later played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners, and Chicago Cubs, distinguishing himself as one of the best pinch hitters in the majors. During the 1985 season, Bosley hit .328 and was voted the best pinch hitter in baseball. After being traded to the Kansas City Royals in 1987, Bosley returned again to the California Angels in 1988. In 1989, he signed with the Texas Rangers and ended his playing career on June 1, 1990. He appeared with two division champions, the Brewers and the Cubs. Both teams lost their respective

League Championship Series The League Championship Series (LCS) is the semifinal round of postseason play in Major League Baseball which has been conducted since 1969. In 1981, and since 1995, the two annual series have matched up the winners of the Division Series, and ...

, however, so Bosley never played in a

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 ...

. Bosley played fourteen major-league seasons, appearing in 784 games with 1,581 at-bats, a .272 batting average and twenty home runs.

Coaching career

Bosley was a

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

for the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

from 1999 to 2002. During the 2008 and 2009 seasons Bosley served as an assistant coach and then as the head coach for the baseball team at the now defunct

Bethany University Bethany University was a four-year private coeducational Christian university located in Scotts Valley, California, in Santa Cruz County. It operated from 1919 until closing in 2011 and was endorsed by the Assemblies of God USA, a Pentecostal d ...

in Scotts Valley, California. Bosley was announced on June 24, 2009, as the head coach at Southwestern College in Phoenix, Arizona. After one season at Southwestern, Bosley accepted the hitting coach vacancy for the most recent American League champion, the Texas Rangers on November 23, 2010. He was fired as the Rangers hitting coach on June 8, 2011.

Personal life

Bosley was briefly a member of a

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

group called Ballplayers which featured former Major League Baseball journeyman

Lenny Randle Leonard Shenoff Randle (born February 12, 1949) is a former Major League Baseball player. He was the first-round pick of the Washington Senators in the secondary phase of the June 1970 Major League Baseball draft, tenth overall. Early years Born ...

. Some of their music can be heard on a compilation called "Family Album", which was released in 2010 on the DC-based music label, People's Potential Family.

References

External links

RetrosheetPitchfork
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bosley, Thad 1956 births Living people African-American baseball coaches African-American baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball coaches from California Baseball players from California California Angels players Chicago Cubs players Chicago White Sox players Edmonton Trappers players Idaho Falls Angels players Iowa Cubs players Iowa Oaks players Kansas City Royals players Major League Baseball first base coaches Major League Baseball hitting coaches Major League Baseball outfielders Milwaukee Brewers players Oakland Athletics coaches Oklahoma City 89ers players Quad Cities Angels players Salinas Angels players Salt Lake City Gulls players Seattle Mariners players Sportspeople from Oceanside, California Texas Rangers coaches Texas Rangers players Vancouver Canadians players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople