Fred Nicholson

Fred Nicholson (September 1, 1894 in Honey Grove, Texas – January 23, 1972 in Kilgore, Texas), 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 of 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.