Leo Thomas

Leo Raymond Thomas
(Tommy)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11½", Weight 178 lb.
• High School Alameda High School
• Debut April 29, 1950
• Final Game July 27, 1952
• Born July 26, 1923 in Turlock, CA USA
• Died March 5, 2001 in Concord, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Infielder Leo Thomas was signed as an amateur free agent by the Brooklyn Dodgers before the 1942 season. He spent his first season in pro baseball in 129 games with three different minor league clubs, hitting for a combined .274 average. Shortly thereafter, the young man was inducted into the military and spent the next three years (1943-1945) serving in the United States Navy, during World War II.

Fresh out of military in 1946, he was optioned to the West Texas-New Mexico League and had a great season, hitting at a career-high .363 with 16 home runs for the seventh-place Abilene Blue Sox. He was 6th in the high-offense league in average. Leo had another good year in 1947, hitting at a .281 clip with two different clubs and was outstanding again in 1948 with the Spokane Indians, hitting .323 with 6 homers.

These performances landed Thomas with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League for the next three seasons (1949-1951). He started his three-year run in 1949 by hitting .293 with 208 base hits, including 18 home runs and 43 doubles in 709 at-bats. Leo fell off to a .267 average with only 4 homers for Portland in 1950 but came back in 1951 like wildfire, hitting at a .310 clip with 27 home runs, included in his 198 base-hits, and had 106 RBIs.

Leo had been a solid third baseman for Portland during these three seasons and it earned him his first look at big league pitching in 1950 when the St. Louis Browns purchased him from the Cleveland Indians. That season, he appeared in 35 games but hit only .198 with 1 home run. Leo got another look with the Browns in 1952, appearing in 41 games. In mid-June of the season, the Browns traded him to the Chicago White Sox for Willie Miranda and Al Zarilla. Leo appeared in 19 outings for the White Sox in 1952, picking up only 4 hits in 24 trips. This ended Leo's major league time with a career average of .212 and 1 round-tripper.

Leo dropped back into the minors, finishing out the 1952 year with the Seattle Rainiers, hitting .280 in 56 games. Thomas finished out his 13 seasons of professional baseball, all in the high minors with average success, and ended in 1957 as a playing manager of the Salinas Packers of the California League who finished fourth with a record of 68-67. This marked the end of active duty for Leo. He finished his minor league career with a hitting average of .296 along with 104 home runs and 412 RBIs while appearing in 1,728 games.

After baseball, Leo was a bartender in the San Francisco, CA area. Thomas stated, "I enjoyed my years in baseball very much, and also my years as a bartender. I worked at Spanger's Fish Grotto which had many sports personalities and fans among the clientele."

Thomas died March 5, 2001, at age 76 in Concord, CA.

Sources

Baseball Players of the 1950s