Kid Nichols

HandednessBats Switch · Throws Right

Listed at5 ft 10 in · 175 lb

BornSeptember 14, 1869 · Madison, WI, USA

MLB debutApril 23, 1890

Final gameMay 18, 1906

Seasons15 (1890–1906)

Boston Beaneaters 1890–1901; St. Louis Cardinals 1904; Philadelphia Phillies 1905; St. Louis Cardinals 1905; Philadelphia Phillies 1906

Percentile snapshot

1905 season — qualified pitchers

21.4

28.6

39.3

61.9

36.9

SHO

21.4

193

60.7

78.6

23.8

59.5

190.3

27.4

ERA

3.12

29.8

WHIP

1.256

29.8

K/9

3.12

26.2

FIP

2.82

51.2

FIP-

96.0

65.5

ERA+

94.0

38.6

sWAR

1.5

40.5

of 85 qualified 1905 pitchers (min 155 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

131.6

sWAR

97.1

99.9

ERA+ measured against qualified careers (1,000+ IP), 1,334 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1890	49	186	174	18	43	5	1	0	23	11	36	2	.247	.296	.287	.583	74.6	69.9	.286	9.9
1891	52	196	183	21	36	6	0	0	27	12	31	1	.197	.250	.230	.480	50.4	39.8	.238	8.1
1892	57	213	197	21	40	6	2	2	21	16	52	3	.203	.263	.284	.547	69.8	65.2	.269	6.8
1893	53	193	177	25	39	3	2	2	26	15	22	4	.220	.285	.294	.579	61.6	53.7	.284	8.3
1894	51	189	170	39	50	11	2	0	34	16	24	1	.294	.358	.382	.741	82.9	78.4	.350	6.2
1895	49	176	161	23	37	3	2	0	18	14	29	0	.230	.291	.273	.565	56.6	46.0	.277	8.2
1896	51	169	147	27	28	3	3	1	24	12	18	2	.190	.256	.272	.528	47.8	39.2	.258	8.7
1897	46	160	147	20	39	5	0	3	28	7	18	4	.265	.316	.361	.677	79.8	78.3	.322	9.7
1898	51	167	158	26	38	3	3	2	23	4	8	0	.241	.268	.335	.604	70.1	72.4	.289	10.1
1899	42	144	136	13	26	3	0	1	12	6	9	1	.191	.225	.235	.461	31.2	26.2	.224	6.1
1900	29	99	90	14	18	0	0	1	7	7	8	1	.200	.258	.233	.491	43.2	35.9	.244	3.7
1901	55	175	163	16	46	8	7	4	28	8	39	0	.282	.316	.491	.807	124.0	131.5	.371	5.2
1904	36	117	109	7	17	1	2	0	5	7	26	0	.156	.214	.202	.416	33.4	29.8	.209	5.6
1905	25	77	75	3	15	1	0	0	2	2	23	0	.200	.221	.213	.434	28.6	30.7	.211	1.5
1906	4	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-119.8	-100.0	.000	-1.0

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1890	48	47	27	19	0	47	7	374	105	112	222	8	424.0	2.23	1.146	4.71	2.73	76.7	159.8	9.9
1891	52	48	30	17	3	45	5	413	113	103	240	15	425.3	2.39	1.213	5.08	2.58	77.2	139.9	8.1
1892	53	51	35	16	0	49	5	404	143	121	192	15	453.0	2.84	1.159	3.81	2.89	87.8	115.6	6.8
1893	52	44	34	14	1	43	1	426	166	118	94	15	425.0	3.52	1.280	1.99	4.20	90.1	132.6	8.3
1894	50	46	32	13	0	40	3	488	215	121	113	23	407.0	4.75	1.496	2.50	4.95	93.0	112.1	6.2
1895	48	43	27	16	2	43	1	434	148	90	148	15	390.7	3.41	1.341	3.41	4.05	84.9	140.0	8.2
1896	49	43	30	14	1	37	3	387	117	101	102	14	372.3	2.83	1.311	2.47	4.10	94.1	154.1	8.7
1897	46	40	31	11	3	37	2	362	108	68	127	9	368.0	2.64	1.168	3.11	3.53	82.0	162.9	9.7
1898	50	42	31	12	4	40	5	316	92	85	138	7	388.0	2.13	1.034	3.20	3.06	84.8	168.8	10.1
1899	42	37	21	19	1	37	4	326	114	82	108	11	343.3	2.99	1.188	2.83	3.49	90.8	128.8	6.1
1900	29	27	13	16	0	25	4	215	79	72	53	11	231.3	3.07	1.241	2.06	4.06	110.0	120.2	3.7
1901	38	34	19	16	0	33	4	306	115	90	143	8	321.0	3.22	1.234	4.01	3.30	99.1	103.4	5.2
1904	36	35	21	13	1	35	3	268	71	50	134	3	317.0	2.02	1.003	3.80	2.13	80.0	132.1	5.6
1905	24	23	11	11	0	20	1	193	66	46	66	2	190.3	3.12	1.256	3.12	2.82	96.0	94.0	1.5
1906	4	2	0	1	0	1	0	17	12	13	1	0	11.0	9.82	2.727	0.82	6.17	236.5	26.6	-1.0

sWAR is the season TOTAL for a player who both hit and pitched: the record book carries one figure per season, not a split, so the same number appears on both lines rather than being counted twice.

Career totals

Batting

650

2,264

2,090

273

472

RBI

278

137

343

.2258

OBP

.2774

SLG

.2995

OPS

.5769

Pitching

G (P)

621

209th-most career G (P)

562

26th-most career GS

362

7th-most career W

208

39th-most career L

532

4th-most career CG

SHO

25th-most career SHO

5,067

11th-most career IP

SO (P)

1,881

112th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

1,272

37th-most career BB allowed

ERA

2.955

163rd-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.2237

234th-lowest career WHIP

K/9

3.34

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB
1901-07-05	ATL @ CIN Gameday	5	1	4	2	0	0	0	6
1901-08-23	PHI @ ATL Gameday	5	1	3	0	0	1	1	6
1901-06-27	STL @ ATL Gameday	5	2	2	1	0	1	2	6
1901-06-22	PIT @ ATL Gameday	3	0	3	1	0	0	4	4
1901-10-02	ATL @ PIT Gameday	4	0	2	0	1	0	3	4

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1904-08-11	STL @ LAD Gameday	17.0	9	3	0	1	14	1
1901-06-12	ATL @ CIN Gameday	12.0	9	6	4	6	9	0
1904-07-14	LAD @ STL Gameday	9.0	4	1	0	0	9	0
1901-08-23	PHI @ ATL Gameday	12.0	17	6	6	7	7	1
1901-05-03	SF @ ATL Gameday	9.0	8	2	2	2	7	0

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

Hall of Fame, 1949 (Old Timers)

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.