Fred Nicholson

Fred Nicholson
Outfielder
Born: (1894-09-01)September 1, 1894
Honey Grove, Texas, U.S.
Died: January 23, 1972(1972-01-23) (aged 77)
Kilgore, Texas, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 11, 1917, for the Detroit Tigers
Last MLB appearance
September 16, 1922, for the Boston Braves
MLB statistics
Batting average.311
Home runs12
Runs batted in108
Teams

Fred Nicholson (September 1, 1894 – January 23, 1972), was a Major League Baseball player who played outfielder from 1912-1922. He would play for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Braves, and Detroit Tigers.

Despite never playing fulltime, Nicholson proved to be a good contact hitter in an era where pitchers tended to dominate in stats. With the Pirates in 1920, Nicholson would finish the season with an astounding .360 batting average in 271 plate appearances. Amazingly, despite such abilities with the bat, Pittsburgh would trade him in January 1921 to the Braves where he would end up batting .327 in 272 plate appearances. Nicholson would regress in 1922, batting just .252 and then leave pro baseball for ten years, before returning in the minor leagues from 1932 to 1935. Nevertheless, Nicholson's career .311 batting average in 891 plate appearances was exceptional during the period in which he played.