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Thursday, May 30, 2002

By Rich Emert

Major League Baseball will have its amateur draft Tuesday and Wednesday and it will be interesting to see whom the Pirates select as the No. 1 pick. In 1974, Scot Thompson of Knoch High School in Butler County was an interesting first-round choice by the Chicago Cubs. Interesting because Knoch did not have a baseball team at the time. Thompson was the seventh player selected and signed with the Cubs. A left-handed-hitting first baseman/outfielder, he played eight years in the majors with the Cubs, Giants and Expos after being called up and playing in 19 games at the end of the 1978 season. He hit .417 in those games, and the next season, Thompson hit .289 in 346 at-bats as a rookie with the Cubs.

He finished with a career batting average of .262 and 110 RBIs. His last season was 1985 with the Expos.

Thompson, 46, has worked in the Butler office of Hefren Tillotson for the past seven years and is a resident financial advisor.

Q: Did you know you were going to be drafted in the first round?

A: I had heard from some teams and knew I was going to be drafted, but I wasn't sure where or by which team. It was all pretty exciting.

Q: Since Knoch didn't have a baseball team, where did scouts see you play?

A: I played American Legion ball and in the Prep League in Butler. I guess it was unusual to be drafted from a high school that didn't have a [baseball] team.

Q: Today, you can find out almost immediately on the Internet about the draft. How did you find out which team drafted you?

A: I was camping out and my mother came over and told me the Cubs had called. My one buddy had woods by his house, and we built a lean-to and that's where we were.

Q: You went home right away to talk to the Cubs, right?

A: No, I think I ended up staying there with my friends. There was no need to rush home because [the Cubs] had said they would be in contact with me.

Q: After you signed, where did the Cubs send you?

A: I went to Bradenton, Fla. The Cubs and the Pirates were sharing a minor-league team there at the time.

Q: How old were you?

A: I was 18, and I guess being away from home for the first time and all was tough at first, but I had kind of been preparing myself for that.

Q: Did you feel any pressure to perform since you were the team's No. 1 draft pick?

A: I guess I did because I didn't get a hit in my first 39 at-bats at Bradenton and I think I struck out twice. It was all because I was trying to do too much. I remember sitting there one day, and there were these two guys talking about Vernon Thompson [his first name] and deciding what I should look like. They didn't know who I was, and it was interesting to listen to them. I ended up hitting .250 that first year, but I didn't start out well.

Q: Was it a big transition going from playing Legion ball and in the Prep League in Butler to the minor leagues?

A: My dad [Bill] had played professional ball and he helped get me ready, so it wasn't too bad. The biggest thing was that you went from playing 40 or 50 games to playing almost twice as many. It is just the grind of playing so many games in one season that you have to get used to.

Q: You were a left-handed hitter and there is that thing in the majors where left-handers are not supposed to be able to hit left-handed pitchers. Did you run into any of that?

A: Oh yes. I thought I hit left-handers well because my dad was left-handed and he used to pitch to me all of the time. But when I got to the majors, they tried not to have me hit against left-handers where, in reality, I probably hit them better than right-handers. I don't see as much of that in baseball today. It seems like the good left-handed hitters are in there against everybody.

Q: Who did your father play pro ball for?

A: He was in the Cincinnati and the Milwaukee [Braves] organizations, but was behind Ted Kluszewski [in Cincinnati] and Joe Adcock [in Milwaukee] and didn't make it [to the major leagues]. He started out as a pitcher and then hurt his arm and they made him a position player because he hit well as a pitcher.

Q: How did you end up coaching the high school team at Knoch?

A: Dave Bracco [Knoch's athletic director] called me up and said they didn't have anybody to coach the team and wondered if I could step in for a year. I talked to the people at Hefren Tillotson if I could do it because I'd need some time off and they said that I could with the understanding it would be for just one season. I had a great time doing it, but it was just going to be for that one year.

Play "The Game" and send comments on "Where Are They Now?" to Rich Emert at emert196@attbi.com.