Kid Nichols
Kid Nichols was one of the great early pitchers in baseball history, and he is still among the all-time leaders in games won more than 100 years after his retirement.
Nichols reached the Major Leagues in 1890 with the Boston Beaneaters (later to become the Braves), and he was an immediate success. He had 222 strikeouts, an ERA of 2.23, 47 complete games, and led the league with 7 shutouts.
Over the next 8 seasons, he reached the 30-win plateau 7 times, which is still the career record. He started over 40 games in each of his first 10 seasons, and pitched at least 37 complete games in each of those seasons. He was occasionally used in relief, and actually led the league in saves in 4 different seasons.
In 1897 and 1898, he was the best pitcher in the league, leading all players in both wins and saves each time, and he posted a career-low 2.13 ERA in 1898. Though he never led the league in ERA or strikeouts, he was always among the leaders in each, finishing in the top 5 in ERA 6 times and strikeouts 7 times.
Nichols made history in 1900 when he reached the 300-win mark, which is a very exclusive club, and he is still the youngest player to reach that level, since he was only 30 at the time. The Beaneaters won 5 championships during his time there, though this was the era before the World Series began.
Nichols is currently #7 on the all-time wins list with 361, and #4 in complete games pitched. He reached 20 wins 11 times and 30 wins 7 times, leading the league in wins for 3 straight years, and even though he is hardly remembered today, there is plenty of evidence to show that he has earned a spot on the list of the top players of all time.
No comments:
Post a Comment