Thomas James Robson (January 15, 1946 – April 20, 2021) was an American Major League Baseball player, coach and author. He played first baseman and designated hitter for two seasons for the Texas Rangers. He is author of The Hitting Edge.

Personal life

Robson was born January 15, 1946, in Rochester, New York. He attended Camelback High School in Phoenix, Arizona. He attended Phoenix College, a community college, and later Utah State University in Logan. He was drafted by the New York Mets in the 50th round of the 1967 amateur draft. His nephew is Major League third baseman Mike Moustakas. On April 20, 2021, Robson died of natural causes, aged 75.

Professional baseball career

He played for the Texas Rangers for six games during the 1974 season and 17 games during the 1975 season. After batting .320 with 13 home runs with the Spokane Indians, he was acquired by the New York Yankees from the Rangers organization at the Winter Meetings on December 9, 1975. He ended his playing career in Nippon Professional Baseball with the Nankai Hawks in. After retiring, he became a coach in the Rangers' organization. He spent seven years on the coaching staff of Rangers' manager Bobby Valentine, followed Valentine back to Japan to coach with the Chiba Lotte Marines and then followed him again to New York join his staff as the hitting instructor and, later, bench coach for the Mets. He served as the Cincinnati Reds' hitting coach for the first four months of the campaign under Bob Boone. In, he returned to Japan and reunited with Valentine to coach for the Chiba Lotte Marines.