San Francisco Giants: Happy Birthday, Robby Thompson!

Happy 57th birthday to Robby Thompson, one of the best second baseman to ever wear a San Francisco Giants uniform.

The San Francisco Giants made one of the best draft selections in franchise history when they chose Robby Thompson with the No. 2 overall pick in the secondary phase of the 1983 draft.

By 1986, he was the team’s starting second baseman on Opening Day.

Thompson hit .271/.328/.370 with 27 doubles, seven home runs, 47 RBI and 73 runs scored as a rookie to finish second in NL Rookie of the Year balloting behind St. Louis Cardinals closer Todd Worrell.

He would spend eight seasons as the team’s everyday second baseman, and 11 seasons total with the franchise, which was his entire MLB career.

During that eight-year run as a staple in the lineup, he posted a 111 OPS+ while hitting .265/.334/.415 and averaging 26 doubles, 13 home runs, 51 RBI and 4.0 WAR.

He was a two-time All-Star, and he enjoyed his best all-around season in 1993 when he hit .312/.375/.496 with career-highs in OPS+ (136), doubles (30), home runs (19), RBI (65) and WAR (6.3). He also took home Gold Glove and Silver Slugger honors that season.

Among his other career highlights, he hit for the cycle on April 22, 1991:

David Schoenfield of ESPN.com recognized Thompson as the greatest MLB player in the history of the University of Florida back in March in a fun, bracket-style article centered around the best MLB player from each team that was playing in March Madness.

New York Mets rookie slugger Pete Alonso figures to have something to say about that before too long, but it was still a nice nod to a player who sometimes goes overlooked among the stars of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In my recent rundown of the greatest second basemen in Giants franchise history, Thompson took the No. 4 spot. You can find the full list at the link below:

It was on this day, 57 years ago, that he was born in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Happy Birthday, Robby Thompson!