Dickie Thon didn’t spend much time weighing risk or comfort when his son needed a kidney. The former Houston Astros‘ All‑Star shortstop called it a “no‑brainer” to donate one of his own, he told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart. Thon underwent transplant surgery less than eight weeks ago.
Former Houston Astros All-Star Dickie Thon Donates Kidney to Son Joe Thon
Thon, 67, is now back in Puerto Rico, recovering from the December operation at Houston Methodist Hospital that linked father and son in a way no box score can capture. He went into the operating room first, with Joe following minutes later. Both were out of the hospital in under a week and were told it would take roughly a year for Joe to feel fully normal again.
It’s not the first time Dickie has faced serious adversity. In 1983, he was an All‑Star for Houston, hitting .286 with 20 home runs, 79 RBIs, and 34 steals over 154 games, good for a 127 OPS+ and 7.4 WAR in his age‑25 season. The next April, a Mike Torrez fastball broke the orbital bone around his eye, effectively ending his run as one of the most dynamic shortstops in the National League, even as he fought his way to nine more big‑league seasons and 1,176 career hits.
McTaggart notes that Thon never really regained full depth perception, but he stayed in the game and eventually shifted his focus to family and player development. When doctors told him he was the best kidney match for Joe, he didn’t hesitate. “I didn’t even think about it,” he told MLB.com. “I just feel like that I wanted to do it and I needed to do it.”
Joe Thon’s Career and Health Battles
Joe was drafted by the Blue Jays in 2010 and signed for $1.5 million to skip a commitment to Rice. He was profiled as a “solid defender with an above‑average arm” and enough bat to dream on. During a routine Spring Training physical in 2011, before he played a professional game, tests found fluid around his heart and lungs; further work‑ups led to a kidney‑disease diagnosis that instantly changed the job description from “prospect” to “survivor.”
Even so, Joe carved out many seasons of minor and foreign-league ball, playing within the Blue Jays and Cardinals‘ systems, and winter ball in Puerto Rico. He played 621 games across all levels, hitting .233/.310/.340 with 30 home runs, 195 RBIs, and 63 stolen bases in 2,195 plate appearances. His Minor League line alone — 502 games with a .243/.318/.356 slash, 27 home runs, 178 RBIs, and 58 steals.
From Dialysis to the Dugout
As his playing days wound down, Joe shifted into coaching. McTaggart notes that he joined the Astros’ system as a development coach at Single‑A Fayetteville in 2021, managed there in 2022, and then took over Double‑A Corpus Christi in 2023 and 2024. By then, the disease had advanced to the point that he needed peritoneal dialysis.
When symptoms worsened last January, he was on hemodialysis while serving as bench coach for the Dodgers’ High‑A Great Lakes affiliate in Michigan, close enough to his in‑laws that his wife and young son could help him through treatment. In Nov. 2024, he also suffered an orbital stroke that cost him the vision in his right eye, McTaggart noted.
Despite all of that, Joe is planning to join the Dodgers’ Triple‑A staff in OKC this season. Doctors have told him he’ll be on immunosuppressants for life, with added risks of infections and viruses.
“I had a couple of episodes [where] I didn’t think I was going to make it,” Joe told MLB.com. “Right now, I’m trying to focus on my family, my players, my team, my staff, and try to help them as much as possible. You focus on that because you don’t know how long things will last.”
If he’s able to keep doing that in Oklahoma City this year, it will be because his father was willing to trade a kidney for more time — a second life‑changing moment for a family that’s already absorbed more than its share of fastballs life had no business throwing.
Lifesaver: Former Astros All‑Star Donates Kidney to Son