This year, Major League Baseball has magnanimously elected to give itself a big pat on the back by commemorating April 15 as “Jackie Robinson Day,” marking the date of Robinson’s big-league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Hell, baseball wants to make this an annual party (who’ll bring the dip, Bud?). But before we get too dewy-eyed looking back at the great, “liberal” history of baseball (which reads like an old Lenny Bruce routine, anyway), this might be as good an opportunity as any to reminisce about another early “pioneer” whose life has not been nominated for sainthood. For every Jackie Robinson, there’s also a Hank Thompson (not the guy who did “A Six Pack to Go,” although the song is appropriate); a player for whom “the great experiment” was not an unqualified success.

Hank was the first black player on two major league teams: the St. Louis Browns (making him the first black Brown) in 1947, and the New York Giants in ‘49. He was the first to play in both the American and National leagues. (Overall, he was the third black in Major League Baseball, which, to paraphrase Brendan C. Boyd and Fred C. Harris on Larry Doby in The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading, And Bubble Gum Book, was like “being the third person to invent the telephone.”) When Thompson came to bat against Don Newcombe in the first inning of the July 8, 1949 Giants/Dodgers clash at Ebbets Field, he represented the offensive half of the first all-black pitcher-batter combination in major league history (Roy Campanella was the catcher). In Game One of the 1951 World Series (October 4), Hank, replacing the injured Don Mueller in right field, teamed up with Willie Mays in center and Monte Irvin in left to form the first all-black outfield in major league history. This event occurred at Yankee Stadium no less, a land where a Yankee Negro would not roam until 1955 (when receiver Elston Howard “yahssir”ed his way to the Bronx, prompting the Old Professor himself, Casey Stengel, to reportedly mutter, “they finally get me a nigger, and they get me one who can’t run”).

Though he only sported a lifetime major league batting average of .267, Thompson maintained a more-than-respectable, Billy Beanesque, .374 on-base-percentage over a nine year (1947, 1949-56) big-league career. Returning to Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis on the night of June 3, 1954, this time wearing the orange and black of the Giants, he walloped three home runs (“[I] never did have a big time in St. Louis [with the Browns]. I always have been looking for it”) off Cardinals’ hurler Gerry Staley. He also drove in eight, for a 13-8 Giants victory (Mays batted in the remaining five New York tallies). In 1950, he established a National League record for double plays by a third baseman (since broken, but the on-field accomplishment Thompson was most proud of) with 43, topping the mark set by Hall of Famer Pie Traynor with Pittsburgh in 1925 (41). Thompson drew seven free passes in the 1954 Fall Classic, a record for a four-game Series that still stands. He also batted .364 in the Giants sweep, hitting safely in each contest as well as flawlessly handling 16 chances at third base.

Yet Hank Thompson’s rap sheet is as long as his list of baseball accomplishments. He was arrested twice as a teenager: once for jewelry theft (acquitted), and later for truancy. The second charge stuck, and young Hank spent six months at Gatesville Reform School, outside Dallas, Texas. In 1948, he shot and killed a man named Buddy Crow in a Dallas bar. That time he got off on the grounds of justifiable homicide. November 1958 brought a felony arrest for auto theft (it was a friend’s car—Hank was in a hurry to get to a party in Brooklyn and his own ride was “all the way in the back” of the garage, and blocked in-- the charges were dropped). Six months later, Thompson was picked up for striking a woman named Ruth Bowen (and accused of taking three dollars from her purse); a press agent for Dinah Washington, and wife of Ink Spots singer Billy Bowen. Again, he got off, this time the judge commenting on his “charmed life.

On February 26, 1961 at 1:30 AM, a drunk and depressed Thompson walked into a bar called Bill’s Place, at 2787 Amsterdam Avenue in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan (a bar where he once hocked his 1954 World Series ring, for $250, when he was short of cash). “Do you know who I am?” he asked the bartender, Nathan Goodwin, while holding a .22 caliber revolver to Goodwin’s head. (During Thompson’s three seasons of winter ball in Cuba, his nickname was “Ametralladora,” or “Machine Gun.”) When the barkeep replied in the negative, Thompson said, “Good. This is a stickup. Put the money on the bar.” The bartender handed over $37. Thompson was captured almost immediately after leaving the tavern. Despite pleading guilty to armed robbery, Thompson’s “luck” held out again. Letters of recommendation from Giants owner Horace Stoneham and baseball commissioner Ford Frick convinced Judge George Postel to hand down a sentence of probation, but with the stipulation that he leave town.

Thompson’s “luck” finally ended in 1963, in Houston. (He had intended to settle in Los Angeles, but woman problems led him to the land of Lightnin’ Hopkins.) On Saturday afternoon, July 13, Hank stole two pistols from a friend’s print shop. (“The friend called and asked me to get him a telephone number out of his desk drawer. I saw a pistol in there. I was short of money and half drunk.”) He then walked into a nearby liquor store and ordered a fifth of scotch. With the clerk’s back turned, Hank pulled out his pistol, put it to the counterman’s head, and emptied the register. Thompson then stupidly waltzed over to the nearby Matinee Club, where he began throwing around money, drinking, and talking too much. Hours later, he was apprehended by a detective. Both Thompson and the detective returned to Hank’s room at the Midtown Hotel, where both the stolen scotch and gun were in plain sight. He was then identified as the holdup man in a police lineup. This time, Judge John Barron sentenced Thompson to ten years in prison. At the sentencing, Barron claimed, “This is one of the toughest sentences I have ever had to pass on anyone….Keep your prison record clean and I’ll give you all the help I can.”

Henry Curtis Thompson began his professional baseball career in 1943 as an outfielder for the legendary Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League. The seventeen-year-old was nicknamed “Youngblood” by his teammates, one of whom was future Hall of Famer Leroy “Satchel” Paige. Teammate Sammy Haynes recalled, “He had a lot of little kid in him…but he had a temper and liked to play rough.” Philadelphia Stars catcher Stanley Glenn was less kind: “Hank was a little bit off center. He had a drinking problem and a woman problem….But he was all baseball on the field.” Thompson would eventually spend parts of five seasons with the Monarchs, usually batting over .300 and playing a variety of positions. In between stints with the Monarchs, Thompson served in the U.S. Army during World War II, played winter ball in Cuba, and spent his 30-plus days with the St. Louis Browns.

St. Louis purchased the contracts of Thompson and outfielder Willard Brown from Kansas City in July 1947, “to help lift the Browns out of the American League cellar,” Browns owner Richard Muckerman claimed. “We have engaged these players because we think they will help our ball club,” explained Browns General Manager Bill DeWitt. But The Sporting News saw a more cynical purpose: “Gates Rusting, Browns Rush in 2 Negro Players,” was their read on the acquisitions.

Indeed, the Browns needed all the help they could get both on the field and at the turnstiles. At the time of Thompson’s July 17 major-league debut (Willard Brown took his bow two days later), St. Louis stood at 28-50, 26 games out of first place. The Monday prior to Thompson’s debut, only 478 bothered to attend a matinee vs. Washington (3,648 attended Hank’s first big-league performance).

In his debut with the Browns, Thompson went 0-4 and committed an error at second base. St. Louis lost to Philadelphia, 16-2, that Thursday evening at Sportsman’s Park. Thompson eventually got into 27 games for the Browns and hit .256 in 78 at bats. Both players were released on August 23, DeWitt announcing to the press that Thompson and Brown “had failed to reach major-league standards,” although they were far from the only Browns for who that claim could be made. (Willard Brown never appeared in another major league game.)

As for the reaction of Browns teammates, when the announcement of their signing was made, Alabamian outfielder Paul “Peanuts” Lehner (who hit .008 less than Thompson in ’47) quit the team and turned in his uniform, only to return a few days later. Browns skipper, Muddy Ruel, in his show of support for the newcomers, would only mumble, “I’m answering no questions,” when asked about the “Negro situation” (as the press dubbed it then). Thompson eventually did make a point of name-checking some of his Browns teammates who went out of their way to make the two feel comfortable, including future actor John Berardino (who would later portray Jake Wells in the TV-movie of Satchel Paige’s life, “Don’t Look Back”).

After another successful season with the Monarchs, the New York Giants scouted Thompson playing winter ball in Cuba and liked what they saw. They quickly signed him (and future Hall of Famer Monte Irvin) to a contract (including a $2,500 bonus for Hank), sending both to their Jersey City, NJ, International League farm club (the site of Jackie Robinson’s first game in “organized baseball”) to begin the 1949 season. By early July, Hank had belted 14 home runs and was batting just under .300 for the Little Giants. He made his debut with the big club on July 8, and remained with them for the next eight seasons.

Thompson appeared in two World Series with the Giants, belted 20 or more home runs for them three times, and batted a career-high .302 in 1953. He was a teammate of 1951 National League playoff hero Bobby Thomson, and for a time, the press dubbed them the “Tom Tom twins” (not Club; no “Genius of Love” here). Hank was also a favorite of manager Leo Durocher, although “the Lip” constantly warned him about his drinking.

But by 1957, at age 31, Hank Thompson was through. His legs were shot, mostly the result of a lifetime of excessive boozing. “The liquor got to his legs,” said Giants executive Gary Schumacher. Even Thompson himself admitted, “I was in terrible shape.” The Giants sold his contract to their Minneapolis farm club that April. Although at first bitter about the demotion (he threatened to retire), Thompson eventually reported to the Millers of the American Association. But by July 20, Hank was batting .243, and he knew his baseball career was over. “I got to hang it up….I don’t like making a fool of myself,” he announced to manager Red Davis, after a game where he couldn’t reach a simple fly ball in the outfield.

After his baseball retirement, Thompson began to drift. His drinking increased and his life spiraled downward. A series of jobs all ended in failure; bartender in New York, baseball instructor in Phoenix, and interior decorator in Los Angeles. Finally, on October 8, 1963, Hank Thompson entered the diagnostic unit of the Texas Department of Corrections in Huntsville to begin his 10-year prison sentence.

Thompson served four years of his sentence before being paroled. He then went to Fresno, California, to be closer to his mother. Hank remarried and found work as a playground director at the Frank H. Ball Playground, outside of Fresno, working with kids, trying to keep them out of trouble. A proposed film project based on his life (working title, Rough Diamond), to be written by James Baldwin and starring Sidney Poitier, never got past the talking stage.

On Monday night, September 29, 1969, Thompson suffered a heart seizure at his home. He was rushed to Fresno Veterans Administration Hospital, but never regained consciousness. Thompson died at the hospital the next day, with his wife and mother at his bedside. Hank Thompson was 43 years old. At his funeral, his mother wept, but few others bothered to attend to pay tribute to an unrecognized “pioneer.” And no major league team will ever hold a “Hank Thompson Day,” or retire his uniform number (7 with St. Louis, 16 with New York, if you wanna throw the party).

Thank you to the National Baseball Hall Of Fame for use of the picture in this article.