Thomas Norman Thompson (May 22, 1947 - September 30, 2019) was an American infielder and manager in minor league baseball. As a player, he stood 6'1" (1.85 meters) tall and weighed 160 pounds (73 kg). He threw and batted right-handed.
Thompson was an infield instructor in the St. Louis organization before beginning his managerial career on June 14, 1977, taking over for Buzzy Keller as skipper of the Cardinals' Arkansas Travelers Double-A affiliate. Thompson rallied the below-.500 Travelers to the second-half Texas League championship, then won the TL playoffs. He managed for the next 17 full seasons (1978–1994) in minor league baseball, working for the Cardinals, Montreal Expos and Texas Rangers, and winning two additional league championships. He managed at the Triple-A level for the Springfield Redbirds and Oklahoma City 89ers. All told, his record as a manager was 1,258 victories and 1,172 losses (.518).[1][2]
He spent the last years of his career as the Miami Marlins' Senior Adviser for Player Development. Thompson died of natural causes on Sept. 30, 2019 in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA at the age of 72.[4]
References
^Howe News Bureau, Montreal Expos 1985 Organization Book. St. Petersburg, Florida: The Baseball Library, 1985
^Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, eds., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007