He played in Major League Baseball for the Detroit Tigers, California Angels, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Montreal Expos from 1976 to 1986.

With regular first baseman Dan Meyer batting .192 with only two RBIs, the Tigers gave the job to Thompson early into the 1976 season.

[2] In 1977, Thompson was batting .276 with 12 home runs and 65 RBIs at the All-Star break to gain selection to the AL squad, but he did not appear in the game.

The Angels had a shortage of power hitters due to injuries to Don Baylor and Brian Downing at the time.

[6] Thompson assumed first base duties upon his acquisition by the Angels with Hall of Famer Rod Carew shifting to designated hitter, however, they traded positions by the end of the season.

Thompson batted over .300 for the Angels, but was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates during spring training the following season for Mickey Mahler and Ed Ott.

Immediately after acquiring Thompson, the Pirates dealt him to the New York Yankees for Jim Spencer and minor league pitchers Greg Cochran and Fred Tolliver,[7] however, commissioner Bowie Kuhn voided the deal.