1987 Fleer, Bobby Thigpen

#507 Bobby Thigpen

Yesterday, I posted a card from the White Sox old bullpen coach, Juan Nieves. Here is one from their current bullpen coach, Bobby Thigpen.

I got this card, and another one, signed by Bobby at Spring Training last year. We went to see the White Sox game and got there early enough to watch the players do their morning workouts on the back fields. Unfortunately, the Major League camp was not working out that day, but all of the minor leaguers were. Most of the autographs I got that day were from the minor league coaches. Towards the end of the workout, though, I noticed a guy signing who had driven out to the field on a golf cart. I had no clue who it was and I had to ask one of the other guys. Turns out it was Bobby. I thought for sure that I would recognise him if I saw him, but that was not the case.

I was pretty excited to get these cards signed because Bobby was a Major League record holder for many years. In 1990, he saved 57 games for the White Sox. That was eleven more than the old record that was set by Dave Righetti in 1986. Bobby's record stood for eighteen years before Francisco Rodriguez saved 62 for the Angels in 2008. Bobby is still in second place for the single-season saves mark. Dave Righetti, however, has dropped out of the top thirty.