His draft class included big leaguers Sele, Hatteberg and Stocker, but John Thompson’s overshadowed journey was anything but small

The baseball draft of 1991 was something special in the Spokane area. Washington State had two first-round selections – Aaron Sele and Scott Hatteberg. Central Valley’s Kevin Stocker was a second-round pick out of the University of Washington.

And the Seattle Mariners selected Shadle Park’s John Thompson in the 45th round.

Who?

Thompson, like Sele, Hatteberg and Stocker, went on to a lengthy career in pro ball. He just never made it to the big leagues.

“It was everything I ever wanted to do since I was a little kid. To get drafted and be at Shadle Park High School and have them announce it over the intercom for everybody to hear was pretty cool,” Thompson said.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound right-hander chased the big league dream until 2004. He pitched in the Northwest League, the Carolina League, the Mojave Desert, Louisiana and Taiwan. A starter in the beginning, he eventually became a reliever and stuck with the dream until a knee injury ended his career.

“I had some good years, but I never really had back-to-back good years. And I was with the Mariners and the Mariners were really good in the ’90s. Not many guys moved up,” Thompson said.

After six years with the Seattle organization that included Double-A stops in Memphis, Tennessee, and Orlando, Florida, Thompson split the next season with the Chicago White Sox’s and Kansas City Royals’ teams in the Carolina League.

He had four saves and a 3.48 ERA for Kansas City’s Wilmington (North Carolina) Blue Rocks, who were declared league co-champions when their playoff series with Myrtle Beach (South Carolina) was halted because of an incoming hurricane.

“It was the only championship I ever won,” Thompson said.

The next four years were spent in independent leagues. A good season in Sonoma, California, led to a contract to play in Taiwan. Thompson considered it a great cultural experience.

“The food was awesome, but I ate a lot of mystery meat. I thought it was meat, I don’t know,” he said.

Baseball in Taiwan was a little different than back home. There were only five imported players per team, and Thompson’s team – translated as Koashing Lightning Gods – was comprised largely of military personnel. There wasn’t much of a clubhouse, and players left the ballpark dressed in their baseball uniforms and head home.

“Can you imagine walking around Seattle and seeing Edgar Martinez in uniform getting a hot dog at one of those food carts?” Thompson said.

The season in Taiwan did not lead to an offer to play in Japan as Thompson had hoped, so he went back to Louisiana where he had played with an independent league team in Alexandria. The knee injury ruined that plan, and he moved to New Orleans.

“I met my wife, Missy, in New Orleans and we were in New Orleans during Katrina. We left the night before because one of the old shrimp guys I knew said, ‘Hey! Get out of town.’ ”

It was good advice. The couple headed for the Texarkana border. By the time the levees broke in New Orleans, Thompson and his future wife were on their way to Spokane.

Looking back at his baseball experiences, Thompson focused on the entertainment that is such an integral part of a minor league game.

It wasn’t just the mascots and the contests between half innings but “some ballparks would pick out (an opposing batter) with a lot of strikeouts so every time the guy would strike out everyone in the stands would get a Snickers bar,” Thompson said. “You didn’t want to be the Snickers guy. And he would go 0 for 4 with four strikeouts. Every time!”

On a personal level, Thompson recalled his days at Shadle Park. The Highlanders finished third in the state playoffs his junior year. That summer, their American Legion team finished second in a national tournament in Cooperstown, New York.

“That was probably my favorite time in baseball. We all were like best friends. We hung out together. Playing Legion ball with your buddies is one of the best,” he said.

In the end, his trek through the minors – with his best seasons of 19 saves in 1995 and another 14 in 1996 – did not lead to a promotion to the big leagues, but it was a journey not made available to many people.

He chased the dream for 14 years – pretty good for a 45th-round draft pick.

“When it was happening, I had a goal to make it to the big leagues,” Thompson said. “It was a goal, the light at the end of the tunnel.”

“Everyone said, ‘Good job, you almost made it,’ but I felt kind of like a failure. Looking back now, after nearly 20 years, I feel pretty good about it. I gave it everything I had every night.”