Today on the blog we take a look at my "19th Century Base Ball
Champions" card for Hall of Fame pitcher Kid Nichols, from my custom set
released back in 2018 in deluxe cigarette pack packaging:
Nichols
was an absolute top tier pitcher over his 15 Major League seasons,
ultimately winning 362 games and at one point stringing together seven
30-win seasons in eight years between 1891 and 1898 for Boston.
In
his first season at the age of 20 in 1890 he posted 27 wins, followed
by those 30 win campaigns with a 27-win year thrown in, then two more
20-win seasons over his last six seasons, one of which was a 21-win
season in 1904 after missing two years as he played for Kansas City of
the Western League in 1902 and 1903.
Incredibly, he posted 26
and 21 wins for K.C. those two years, and he easily could have been the
second 400-game winner in baseball history had he not played those two
years outside of Major League ball.
By the time he retired, he
finished with a record of 362-208, good for a .635 winning percentage
over 621 games, 562 of which were starts, with an incredible 532
complete games, tossing 48 shutouts while saving 16, with 1881
strikeouts over 5067.1 innings.
Just insane numbers for the "Kid" from Madison, Wisconsin!
In
1949 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, rightfully having his place
among other 300-game winners from the 19th Century like Charles
Radbourne, Cy Young and Mickey Welch, among others.
Over his
21-year professional career, he won 504 games against 264 losses,
tossing over 60 shutouts and striking out just under 2500 batters!
Amazing!
