 robert thomas "bobby" thigpen (born july 17, 1963 in tallahassee, florida) is a former relief pitcher in major league baseball. he is noted for setting the major league record of 57 saves during the  season, which has since been broken by former los angeles angels of anaheim pitcher francisco rodrÃ­guez. he is the former pitching coach of the winston-salem dash. he is currently bullpen coach for the chicago white sox. ==baseball career== after two years at seminole community college, thigpen moved on to pitch and play the outfield for mississippi state university and coach ron polk. among his teammates were future major-leaguers will clark, rafael palmeiro and jeff brantley. thigpen was part of msu's 1985 college world series team, recording a .305 batting average and saving seven games during the season. thigpen was selected by the chicago white sox in the fourth round of the 1985 amateur draft. he made the major leagues the next august and moved into the white sox's closer role. after two straight 30-save seasons, thigpen had the best season of his career in 1990, setting the then-major league record of 57 saves. he also maintained a 1.83 era and was named to the al all-star team. he also blew eight saves that season, including two three-run leads. he later began to battle injuries, starting with a back problem developed after the 1990 season, when some players went on an exhibition tour of japan. thigpen's effectiveness waned and he was supplanted in the closer role by roberto hernÃ¡ndez. during the  season, thigpen was traded to the philadelphia phillies for josÃ© deleÃ³n, and pitched in the nlcs and world series for philadelphia. the following season, he sig
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