Shirley C. Thompson was best known as the co-editor of the first baseball encyclopedia. He published under the name "S.C. Thompson" and was known to his friends as "Tommy."

Musical career

Thompson was a musician by trade, beginning his career as a drummer

Drummer

A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

 before becoming a top concert cornetist. In 1921, he joined John Sousa's band as a bassoon

Bassoon

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...

 player. Thompson moved to Long Beach

Long Beach, California

Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...

 in 1950, where he played in the Municipal Band and served as president of the local musician's union.

Baseball Encyclopedia

Baseball was Thompson's passionate hobby, and he had spent more than twenty years collecting information on the history of the game and its players. In 1944, he discovered that sportswriter Hy Turkin

Hy Turkin

Hy Turkin was a sportswriter best known for co-editing the first baseball encyclopedia.Turkin was born in New York, one of seven children. He joined the staff of the New York Daily News after graduating from Cooper Union in 1936 with a degree in electrical engineering...

 lived around the corner from him, and the two struck up a friendship. That would eventually lead to a collaboration on the first baseball encyclopedia, using Thompson's archives as a starting point. The book, published in 1951 by A.S. Barnes was universally hailed as a quantum leap in the field of sports reference. Turkin died in 1955, but Thompson edited four more editions of the book before his death in 1967. The book continued with other editors until 1979.

Death

Thompson died after a prolonged battle with cancer. He and his wife Rose did not have any children.