Robert Joseph Thorpe (June 12, 1935 – March 17, 1960) was an American professional baseball player, a right-handed pitcher who experienced instant success at the minor league level, had a brief and promising trial with the 1955 Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball, then was driven from the game by a sore arm and elbow surgery by the end of 1959. Less than a year after his retirement from baseball, Thorpe was working as an apprentice electrician on power lines in his native city of San Diego, California, when he was accidentally electrocuted at the age of 24.