Parson Nicholson

Born: April 14, 1863
Died:
MLB Debut: September,14, 1888
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Thomas "Parson" Nicholson played semipro baseball in 1885 and 1886 before playing for Steubenville and Wheeling in the Ohio State League in 1887 at the age of 24. As the season wound down, the St. Louis Browns attempted to sign him in late September of 1887 to fill in for Yank Robinson, who suffered a spiked hand. Negotiations dragged on and ultimately he was signed in late October, 1887. He entered spring training in 1888 with the Browns as the favorite to start at shortstop, with Yank Robinson moving to second base. However, when games started in the spring, Chippy McGarr started at second base for the Browns while Robinson played short. Nicholson sat for the first two games between the Browns and Whites before starting at second base for the Whites in the third game. He then sat for another week or so before playing for the Whites again, this time in right field, in a couple of games against the Browns. After Jack Crooks was injured, Nicholson took over at second base for the Whites for the remainder of spring training. He was formally transferred to the Whites roster late in April. He batted lead off in every game for the Whites (one of only three to play in every game, along with Crooks and Burch), playing at second base and occasionally in the outfield.

After the Whites disbanded, Nicholson went back to Ohio to re-join Wheeling. Wheeling sold him to Detroit in the National League in September, where he made his major league debut on September 14, 1888. Detroit folded after the season. Nicholson joined Toledo in 1889 and returned to the majors in 1890 when Toledo moved to the American Association. He was back in the minors again in 1891 at Sioux City, and, except for 45 games with Washington in 1895, remained in the minors until 1899, when he returned to Wheeling as player-manager for his final season at age 36. After his basebal career ended, he returned to his hometown of Bellaire in Ohio, where he owned a shoe store and served a term as mayor. He died in 1917 from bronchopneumonia.



Major League record for Parson Nicholson

Batting stats
Year   Team              Pos            Age    G   AB    R    H   2B   3B   HR  RBI   BB    K   SB   CS     AVG    OBP    SLG
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1888   Det-N             2B              25   24   85   11   22    2    3    1    9    2    7    6        0.259  0.284  0.388
1890   Tol-a             2B-C            27  134  523   78  140   16   11    4   72   42        46        0.268  0.333  0.363
1895   Was-N             SS              32   10   38    7    7    2    1    0    5    7    4    6        0.184  0.311  0.289
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals (3 yrs)                               168  646   96  169   20   15    5   86   51   11   58    0   0.262  0.326  0.362


Stats with the St. Louis Whites

Batting stats
Year Team Pos Age G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1888 STW 25 39 170 32 47 8 2 1 23 0.277 0.365

Spring stats for the Whites

  Date       Opponent      Pos.   AB    R   BH   2B   3B   HR	SB   BB    K
3/28/1888    Browns         2b     4    2    2                   3
 4/7/1888    Browns         rf     4    1    2              1    0          
 4/8/1888    Browns         rf     4    0    1                   0
4/12/1888    Kansas City    2b     4    0    0
4/15/1888    Browns         2b     4    0    1                   0
4/16/1888    Bloomington    2b     5    3    4                   1
4/17/1888    Bloomington    2b     4    3    1                        1
4/18/1888    Bloomington    2b     3    3    1         1
4/19/1888    Peoria         2b     4    1    1
4/20/1888    Peoria         2b     5    1    1
4/21/1888    Davenport      2b     4    1    1    1              0          
4/22/1888    Davenport      2b     4    2    2         1         0
4/23/1888    Rockford       2b     4    0    0
4/24/1888    Rockford       2b     4    3    2                   1
4/25/1888    Dubuque        2b     4    1    1    1              0
4/26/1888    Dubuque        2b     3    0    0                   0
Totals (16 G)                     64   21   20    2    2    1    5    1    0
30 putouts, 36 assists and 9 errors