BBTF's Newsblog Discussion :: Rich Thompson, the modern-day Moonlight Graham, gets another shot with the Rays

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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Rich Thompson, the modern-day Moonlight Graham, gets another shot with the Rays

I’m a sucker for these types of stories.

It’ll work out even better if Thompson gets a few plate appearances while he serves as outfield depth on Tampa Bay’s roster. He only has one career plate appearance to his name and that was when he grounded into a double play against the Indians on April 20, 2004, back when he was a member of the Royals. He made Kansas City’s opening day roster that year and appeared in six games as a pinch runner and defensive replacement. But he was sent down on April 24, starting an eight-year run of perseverance and dedication that serves as a great example to just about anybody who strives toward anything…

...Thompson, meanwhile, is currently one of just 76 non-pitchers since 1901 to have only one career PA to his name. (He’s also the only one to have used his only chance to ground into a double play.)

Guapo Posted: May 17, 2012 at 03:59 PM | 23 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: rays

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1. Matt Chico's Bail Bonds (Dan Lee) Posted: May 17, 2012 at 05:36 PM (#4134229)

Excellent story. I love it when guys stick it out and finally get another shot, but surely Adam Greenberg is the modern-day Moonlight Graham.

Thompson played in six games in his previous MLB cup o' coffee. Greenberg got one pitch and may or may not have actually seen it.

2. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: May 17, 2012 at 05:45 PM (#4134238)

Greenburg got to hit. Pedro Santana or Joe Hietpas is the modern day Moonlight Graham. Assuming one of them becomes a ghost doctor someday.

3. Matt Chico's Bail Bonds (Dan Lee) Posted: May 17, 2012 at 05:48 PM (#4134239)

Yeah, good point. Go the distance. Ease Joe Hietpas's pain.

4. Der_K Posted: May 17, 2012 at 06:22 PM (#4134275)

Joe Hietpas made the bigs? I had no idea...
(not sarcasm)

5. ColonelTom Posted: May 17, 2012 at 06:32 PM (#4134283)

Thompson didn't just hit into a double play - he did it against Tim Laker, a catcher called in to pitch in a 15-5 blowout. That's the bit that takes this into Moonlight Graham territory.

6. Everybody Loves Tyrus Raymond Posted: May 17, 2012 at 06:51 PM (#4134297)

"This child's chokin' to death. Somebody hit her on the back or something. I dunno, it might work." - Rich Thompson in 40 years.

7. Rafael Bellylard: Built like a Fielder Posted: May 17, 2012 at 07:30 PM (#4134339)

Thompson is batting 9th in tonight's game.

8. Every day JLAC may or mayn't be hustlin Posted: May 17, 2012 at 07:32 PM (#4134341)

How many guys steal over 400 bases in the minors? That is a heck of an achievement.

9. vortex of dissipation Posted: May 17, 2012 at 08:14 PM (#4134391)

He only has one career plate appearance to his name and that was when he grounded into a double play

Not as impressive as Ron Wright...

10. The Long Arm of Rudy Law Posted: May 17, 2012 at 08:26 PM (#4134405)

Herb Washington is the modern-ish Moonlight Graham. He would have liked to have had that chance. Just once. To stare down a big league pitcher. To stare him down, and just as he goes into his windup, wink. Make him think you know something he doesn't. That's what he wishes for. Chance to squint at a sky so blue that it hurts your eyes just to look at it. To feel the tingling in your arm as you connect with the ball with the, uh, wood thing for hitting, he doesn't know what those things are called.

11. vortex of dissipation Posted: May 17, 2012 at 08:40 PM (#4134414)

Bottom of the fourth inning, he just singled in a run, and then stole second. And then stole third.

12. PreservedFish Posted: May 17, 2012 at 08:48 PM (#4134423)

#10 - outstanding.

13. Walt Davis Posted: May 17, 2012 at 09:36 PM (#4134467)

Bottom of the fourth inning, he just singled in a run, and then stole second. And then stole third.

Wow, he may have just gone from the worst WAR/600 PA in MLB history to the best (non-John Paciorek division).

14. BourbonSamurai, vassal of the Harpsburg Empire Posted: May 17, 2012 at 10:39 PM (#4134538)

Bottom of the fourth inning, he just singled in a run, and then stole second. And then stole third.

holy crap, he really did. Awesome.

15. The Clarence Thomas of BBTF (scott) Posted: May 18, 2012 at 05:16 AM (#4134649)

Yeah, speaking of Field of Dreams, Moonlight Graham got licensed as a doctor in 1906. I realize any port in a storm and all when it's your kid who's been hurt, but I'm not sure I'd call for a doctor who got licensed back when they didn't even know the 4 main blood types and people were still using heroin to put their kids down for a nap.

16. God Posted: May 18, 2012 at 05:24 AM (#4134651)

Wait, you're not supposed to do that anymore?

17. Jose Can Still Seabiscuit Posted: May 18, 2012 at 08:37 AM (#4134696)

Yeah, speaking of Field of Dreams, Moonlight Graham got licensed as a doctor in 1906. I realize any port in a storm and all when it's your kid who's been hurt, but I'm not sure I'd call for a doctor who got licensed back when they didn't even know the 4 main blood types and people were still using heroin to put their kids down for a nap.

When people are appearing in your backyard from an ethereal mist in left field of a baseball field you built because a voice only you heard told you to do it...well I think you're at the point of being trusting.

18. Guapo Posted: May 18, 2012 at 09:29 AM (#4134726)

From the article:

Thompson earns approximately $13,000 a month in the minors. After taking online classes for the last few winters, he recently passed the certified public accountant exam.

So it's more likely he'll see some kid in the stands with a potentially enormous tax liability, and he'll walk off the field to help her shift income or restructure her investments, but after that he won't ever be able to return.

19. BDC

Posted: May 18, 2012 at 09:40 AM (#4134742)

I'm not sure I'd call for a doctor who got licensed back when they didn't even know the 4 main blood types

Graham had some serious, if narrow, medical-research credentials. He was a school physician in Minnesota back in the days when they had school physicians. He took the blood pressure of every kid he ever met, and published the results in a study that evidently still has its uses as a benchmark for pediatric blood pressure norms.

Primey for #18, while I'm here ...

20. The Clarence Thomas of BBTF (scott) Posted: May 18, 2012 at 10:37 AM (#4134812)

Woah, that's an awesome factoid.

21. MM1f Posted: May 18, 2012 at 10:58 AM (#4134842)

Thompson earns approximately $13,000 a month in the minors. After taking online classes for the last few winters, he recently passed the certified public accountant exam.

Frankly, I am stunned that Thompson was making 13k a month in AAA. He wasn't on the Phillies 40 man was he?

22. Fernigal McGunnigle has become a merry hat Posted: May 18, 2012 at 12:00 PM (#4134925)

Moonlight Graham's brother Frank Porter Graham is something of a legendary figure in North Carolina. He was, among other things, the president of the University of North Carolina, a US Senator, the guy in charge of the arbitration that eventually led to the independence of Indonesia, and the UN's man in charge of trying to work out the Kashmir problem. It's pretty odd that, outside of North Carolina, Moonlight is far more famous.

23. esseff Posted: May 18, 2012 at 12:11 PM (#4134944)

Brian Esposito could have been a modern Moonlight Graham. Was called up because of injuries to Cardinals catchers to be the backup until Kelly Stinnett could arrive after coming out of retirement. Esposito got into one game and played an inning but didn't bat. Then he ruined the whole thing by hanging around until the Astros brought him up three years later and put him into two games/three ABs (no hits).

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Thursday, May 17, 2012

Rich Thompson, the modern-day Moonlight Graham, gets another shot with the Rays

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