Thomas Herbert Upton was born in Esther, Missouri, on December 29, 1926. He attended the University of Pennsylvania during the 1945-1946 academic year as part of the V-12 Navy Program. During that year at Penn, he played on Penn’s 1946 varsity baseball team. Upton played shortstop as well as being an infielder at second and third base.
Before the 1944 season, while a student at Bucknell University, Upton was signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent. In November of 1949, he was drafted from the Yankees by the St. Louis Browns. Upton made his major league baseball debut on April 19, 1950, as a first baseman with the St. Louis Browns. His major league career consisted of 181 games played in two seasons in St. Louis and then one season for the Washington Senators. In July of 1951 the New York Yankees purchased Upton from the St. Louis Browns; the following November he was traded to the Chicago White Sox and then to the Washington Senators. In May of 1952 Upton was traded to the New York Yankees, but did not play for them.