Clint Thomas
{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Clint Thomas
|image=Clint Thomas 1924.jpg
|image_size=200
|caption=Thomas at the 1924 Colored World Series
|position=Second baseman / Center fielder
|bats=Right
|throws=Right
|birth_date={{Birth date|1896|11|25}}
|birth_place=Greenup, Kentucky, U.S.
|death_date={{Death date and age|1990|12|2|1896|11|25}}
|death_place=Charleston, West Virginia, U.S.
|debutyear=1920
|debutteam=Brooklyn Royal Giants
|finalyear=1938
|finalteam=New York Black Yankees
|statleague=Negro league
|stat1label=Batting average
|stat1value=.292
|stat2label=Home runs
|stat2value=59
|stat3label=Runs scored
|stat3value=469
|teams=
- Brooklyn Royal Giants (1920)
- Columbus Buckeyes (1921)
- Detroit Stars (1922)
- Philadelphia Hilldale Giants (1923–1928) [https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1Wcncq5-bHdVWNfU0VTOTlZMlk "With Taber on Mound Chester Beats Hilldale" Chester Times, Chester, PA, Tuesday, July 29, 1924, Page 6, Column 1]
- Atlantic City Bacharach Giants (1928–1929)
- Homestead Grays (1929)
- New York Lincoln Giants (1930)
- New York Black Yankees (1931–1934, 1937–1938)
- Chicago American Giants (1934)
- New York Cubans (1936)
- Newark Eagles (1936)
|highlights=
}}
Clinton Cyrus Thomas (November 25, 1896 – December 2, 1990), nicknamed "Hawk", was an American professional baseball player born in Greenup, Kentucky. He was an outfielder and second baseman in the Negro leagues from 1920 to 1938, where he earned the nickname "Hawk" for his sharp-eyed hitting and center field skills.
Career
Thomas played for the Brooklyn Royal Giants, Columbus Buckeyes, Detroit Stars, Hilldale Club, Bacharach Giants, New York Lincoln Giants, New York Harlem Stars, Indianapolis ABCs, New York Black Yankees, Newark Eagles, and Philadelphia Stars.
Thomas was a member of the Philadelphia Hilldale teams that won three consecutive Eastern Colored League championships from 1923 to 1925 and the Negro World Series in 1925.Riley 2002, p. 775. He joined the New York Black Yankees in 1931 and, the following year, "ruined" the opening of Greenlee Field by scoring the only run and making a game-saving catch in the Black Yankees defeat of Satchel Paige's Pittsburgh Crawfords. Nicknamed "the Black DiMaggio", he once hit a home run off Fidel Castro in an exhibition game in Cuba.{{cite book|title=The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia|year=2007|publisher=Sterling Publishing|isbn=978-1-4027-4771-7|pages=1699}}
After his baseball career ended, Thomas worked as a custodian and staff supervisor for the West Virginia Department of Mines and as a messenger for the State Senate. He died on December 2, 1990, in Charleston, West Virginia.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE7D81039F935A35751C1A966958260 "Clinton C. Thomas, Baseball Player, 94"] - New York Times
References
{{reflist}}
Sources
- {{citation | last=Riley | first=James A. | title=The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues | place=New York | publisher=Carroll & Graf | year=2002 | isbn=0-7867-0959-6 }}
External links
{{Baseballstats|mlb=816983|br=t/thomacl03}} and [https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=thomas005cli Baseball-Reference Black Baseball stats] and [https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=thoma01cli Seamheads]
- [https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/clint-thomas/ Clint Thomas] at SABR Bio Project
{{1925 Hilldale Club}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Clint}}
Category:Bacharach Giants players
Category:Brooklyn Royal Giants players
Category:Chicago American Giants players
Category:Columbus Buckeyes (Negro leagues) players
Category:Detroit Stars players
Category:Hilldale Club players
Category:Homestead Grays players
Category:New York Lincoln Giants players
Category:New York Black Yankees players
Category:New York Cubans players