Thompson waxes nostalgically about baseball career

Mike Thompson works in fleet and commercial sales at Trapp Chevrolet in Houma.

But the 57-year-old family man was once an ace on the hill for Vandebilt Catholic High School and Northeast Louisiana University (now the University of Louisiana at Monroe).

Thompson was the Class A Player of the Year during his junior and senior campaigns with the Terriers and helped lead the Indians to a college World Series appearance.

The SportsNet caught up with Thompson to talk a little baseball, a sport that is still near and dear to his heart.

SportsNet: So how did Mike Thompson discover baseball?

Mike Thompson: My father played for the Houma Indians in the 1940s. It was part of the Class D Evangeline League. He eventually wound up playing for a Yankee organization for a couple of years. My dad was the one that got us involved in baseball. My first team was a Houma Recreational Department team called the White Sox. I was 8 years old then.

SN: Remember your first glove?

MT: I got my first glove when I made that baseball team. My dad actually got gloves for me and my twin brother Mitch gloves. Compared to today’s modern glove, it was pretty big and heavy for my small hand.

SN: Did the game come naturally, or did you struggle during the early days?

MT: It came fairly easy I guess. When I grew up, it was long before computers and video games. And we didn’t watch a whole lot of TV. After school, we’d go out to an empty field and play some kind of sport like baseball.

SN: By the time you got to high school, was there a certain point in your career that you started to distance yourself from the majority?

MT: I wouldn’t say distance. When we played in Houma in those days, there were a whole bunch of good athletes. It was a tough area back then. We had a lot of other good players on our team.

SN: I’m guessing that your Vandebilt team was pretty good.

MT: My sophomore, junior and senior year, we lost in the state finals three years in a row. But it wasn’t all that bad because to be honest, with the way I was raised, it is not that important. It was always nice to win a ball game, but the most important thing was to go out and give it your best shot each time. If you did that, there would be nothing to hang your head about.

SN: Have any specialty pitches?

MT: I threw fairly hard – in the mid ’80s, – had a good curveball and good control. I finished with a 31-3 record.

SN: Not bad. So why the University of Louisiana-Monroe?

MT: My twin brother and I had numerous scholarship offers and it pretty much came down between Nicholls State and Northeastern. Northeastern was interested in Mitch because they wanted a shortstop, and they weren’t really looking at me because they didn’t need a pitcher. They said they really wanted Mitch, but they would take me also. But he was their first priority. I guess I wanted to go there to prove to them that I could help them, too.

SN: How good were those college teams when you played?

MT: My freshman year, we won the Gulf States Conference, which was comprised mostly of state schools. We won it again my sophomore and junior year. My freshman year we went to the NAIA Regional Tourney in Phoenix, Ariz and lost in the first round. My sophomore year we went back to the NAIA, won, and stayed for the World Series (we lost the final game to Eastern Michigan 1-0). I made the All-Series team that year because I went 2-0 as a pitcher (against Eastern Michigan). My junior year we lost in the final game of regionals.

SN: Ever consider taking a stab at the majors?

MT: Had a couple teams I was talking to, and the Kansas City Royals were interested and wanted me to fly to Sarasota, Florida to join the Rookie League team. At the time though, I finished school and was married. So I turned it down.

SN: What do you think about the state of today’s professional game? With the steroid scandals that rocked Major League Baseball in 2007 and the recent release of the Mitchell Report, do you think baseball is in serious trouble?

MT: It’s hard for me to honestly blame the players. I really feel it’s Major League Baseball’s fault and responsibility. What MLB should do is say “What has happened has happened, and from this day forward, everyone is subject to a random test. If you fail it, you’re banned for life.”

SN: Is there a small part of you that wishes you could do your playing career all over again?

MT: Oh yeah. There’s not a day that goes by when I sit on a rocking chair on the back porch and say “What if?” But hindsight is 20-20, and I’ve had a really good life.