Sherley Clark Thompson (September 14, 1897 – March 21, 1967) was best known as the co-editor of the first baseball encyclopedia. He published under the name "S. C. Thompson" and was known to his friends as "Tommy."
Musical career
Thompson was a musician by trade, beginning his career as a
drummer
A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...
before becoming a top concert
cornetist
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopra ...
. In 1921, he joined
John Sousa's band as a
bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...
player. Thompson moved to
Long Beach
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
in 1950, where he played in the Municipal Band and served as president of the local musician's union.
Baseball Encyclopedia
Baseball was Thompson's passionate hobby, and he had spent more than twenty years collecting information on the history of the game and its players. In 1944, he discovered that sportswriter
Hy Turkin
Hyman C. Turkin (May 9, 1915 – June 24, 1955) was a sportswriter best known for co-editing the first baseball encyclopedia.
Turkin was born in New York City, one of seven children. He joined the staff of the '' New York Daily News'' after grad ...
lived around the corner from him, and the two struck up a friendship. That would eventually lead to a collaboration on the first baseball encyclopedia, using Thompson's archives as a starting point. The book, published in 1951 by
A. S. Barnes & Company was universally hailed as a quantum leap in the field of sports reference. Turkin died in 1955, but Thompson edited four more editions of the book before his death in 1967.
The book continued with other editors until 1979.
Death
Thompson died after a prolonged battle with cancer. He and his wife Rose did not have any children.
Sources
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References
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, S.C.
American sportswriters
1897 births
1967 deaths