Fresco Thompson

Lafayette Fresco Thompson (June 6, 1902 – November 20, 1968) was an American Major League Baseball second baseman and executive. Thompson was born in Centreville, Alabama. In 1916, his family moved to New York City, where Thompson attended George Washington High School and Columbia University. At Columbia, he was a football teammate of Lou Gehrig's, but Thompson left the school to turn professional before he could join Gehrig on the Lions' baseball team.

A right-handed batter and thrower, Thompson stood 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) tall and weighed 150 lb (68 kg). His pro career began at the Class D level of the minors in 1923. After three years of seasoning, he made his debut in September 1925 with the eventual world champion Pittsburgh Pirates. Following brief appearances with the Pirates (14 games in 1925) and New York Giants (two games in 1926), Thompson was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1927 when the Giants obtained Rogers Hornsby. He had his most productive years with the Phils, playing in Baker Bowl, twice hitting over .300. Overall, he batted .298 in 669 games played, 762 hits, and 2,560 at bats over nine National League seasons (1925–32; 1934).

After his playing days, Thompson managed in the minor leagues and in 1946, he became an assistant farm director for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Thompson moved up the executive ladder, and survived the front-office purge that followed Branch Rickey's departure in October 1950. During the shakeup, Thompson became a vice president and the team's second-ranking baseball executive, responsible for all minor league operations, while another VP, Buzzie Bavasi, assumed control of the big-league Dodgers' operations.

Thompson continued in that role after the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958. When Bavasi left to become president of the expansion San Diego Padres on June 4, 1968, Thompson became the Dodgers' executive vice president and general manager. During the transition, he presided over the Dodgers' hugely successful 1968 amateur draft. The regular and secondary phases of the 1968 June lottery netted the Dodgers Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Ron Cey, Bill Buckner, Bobby Valentine, Joe Ferguson, Doyle Alexander and others. However, a few weeks later, Thompson was diagnosed with cancer, and he died in November in Fullerton, California, at the age of 66. He was succeeded as general manager by the club's scouting director, Al Campanis.