Thad Bosley

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Thaddis Bosley Jr. (born September 17, 1956 in Oceanside, California) was an outfielder for the California Angels (1977 and 1988), Chicago White Sox (1978-80), Milwaukee Brewers (1981), Seattle Mariners (1982), Chicago Cubs (1983-86), Kansas City Royals (1987-88) and Texas Rangers (1989-90).

Bosley was called up to the Angels after hitting .326 in 69 games for the Salt Lake City Gulls of the Pacific Coast League, and made his Major League debut on June 29, 1977. He appeared with two division champions: the 1981 Brewers and the 1984 Cubs. Both teams lost their respective League Championship Series, however, so Bosley never played in a World Series.

Bosley was a journeyman, never getting more than 219 at-bats in a season and rarely hitting well when he did play, with little power. He had decent range in the outfield early in his career, but those skills eroded with time. Nonetheless, Bosley played fourteen major-league seasons, appearing in 784 games with 1,581 at bats, a .272 batting average and twenty home runs.

On July 5, 1987, Bosley's Royals met the Toronto Blue Jays in Kansas City. Bosley was not in the starting lineup, but in the eighth inning, he pinch-hit for light-hitting second baseman Buddy Biancalana, reaching on an error by Toronto pitcher Dave Stieb and eventually scoring the tying run. Curiously, Bosley stayed in the game at second base despite (1) having never played the position in a major-league game before (or since) and (2) being a left-hander. Lefty middle infielders are extremely rare in baseball, and in fact (as of 2007), no southpaw has played second or shortstop in a big-league game since. Bosley did not handle a chance at second and was himself pinch-hit for, by Frank White, in the bottom of the ninth. (KC won the game, 4-3, in ten innings.) [1]

Bosley was a coach for the Oakland Athletics from 1999-2002.

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