Alfred Henry Nichols (born as Alfred Henry Williams; February 14, 1852 – June 18, 1936) was an English

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player for three seasons. Born in Worcester,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, he played for three different teams, and mainly played as a

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

. After his third season, in 1877 as a member of the

Louisville Grays The Louisville Grays were a 19th-century United States baseball team and charter member of the National League, based in Louisville, Kentucky. They played two seasons, 1876 and 1877, and compiled a record of 65–61. Their home games were at ...

, he was suspended from baseball for the remainder of his life for his part in throwing games for money. He is also the first person born in England to play Major League Baseball.

Career

Nichols got his start at third base for the Brooklyn Atlantics of the National Association. He batted only .153 in 32

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Associat ...

that season. The following year, after the collapse of the Association, he played for the New York Mutuals of the new

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

and didn't fare much better, hitting .179 in 57 games.

Banishment

It was for the Louisville Grays in that he would gain infamy. It was determined that he was involved in throwing games for money along with teammates George Hall, Jim Devlin, and Bill Craver. As a personal friend of Hall, he was brought in to play third base at Hall's insistence to replace Bill Hauge when he had to take time off due to injury. At this point, Louisville was in first place, but soon after Nichols' arrival, the team began to lose games at an alarming rate. Club President Charles E. Chase started to become suspicious when Nichols was still playing even though he continued to make key errors when Hauge was well enough to return to his starting position. His suspicion was confirmed when he received a couple telegrams instructing him to watch his players. Chase confronted the players, and Hall and Devlin confessed. The matter was referred to National League president

William Hulbert William Ambrose Hulbert (October 23, 1832 – April 10, 1882) was an American professional baseball executive who was one of the founders of the National League, considered by many to be baseball's first major league, and was also the president ...

, and Nichols was formally banned from Major League Baseball on December 4, 1877.

Personal life

Nichols came to the United States from England in 1861. After his banishment from baseball, he spent most of his life in the

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

area, got married and raised a family. He worked at various jobs, including as a shipping

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

and

inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia The rank of Inspector is present in all Australian police forces excep ...

, and was very remorseful about his role in the scandal, making many unsuccessful attempts to earn reinstatement. He died in Richmond Hill, New York, at the age of 84. He was

cremated Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

and interred at

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope, Brooklyn, South Slope/Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, Win ...

in Brooklyn.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nichols, Al 1852 births 1936 deaths Major League Baseball players from England English baseball players Major League Baseball third basemen Louisville Grays players Brooklyn Atlantics players New York Mutuals players Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery Major League Baseball controversies Sportspeople banned for life Sportspeople from Worcester, England Pittsburgh Allegheny players Match fixers English emigrants to the United States