- Al Nichols
Alfred Henry Nichols (
February 14 ,1852 -June 18 ,1936 ) was aMajor League Baseball player for three seasons. Born Alfred Henry "Williams" inWorcester ,England , he got his start at thethird base for the by|1875Brooklyn Atlantics of the National Association. He batted only .153 in 32games played that season. The following year, after the collapse of the Association, he played for theNew York Mutuals of the newNational League , and didn't fair much better, hitting .179 in 57 games.cite web| title = Al Nichols' statistics | work = retrosheet.org | url=http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/N/Pnicha102.htm | accessdate = 2007-12-25 ]It was for the
Louisville Grays in by|1877 that he would gain infamy. It was determined that he was involved in throwing games for money along with teammates George Hall,Jim Devlin , andBill 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 good enough to return to his starting position. His suspicion was confirmed when received a couple telegrams instructing him to watch his players.cite web| title = The Fix Is in: A History of Baseball Gambling and Game Fixing Scandals By Daniel E. Ginsburg, pgs. 44-47 | work = books.google.com | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=lOjvggO19joC&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=%22al+nichols%22+baseball&source=web&ots=xaljAcXKjf&sig=fX4Wn3uwcZDVQrjBOar2nXy75ks#PPA47,M1 | accessdate = 2007-12-25 ] Chase confronted the players and to which Hall and Devlin confessed, and the matter was referred to National League presidentWilliam Hulbert , and Al was formally banned from Major League Baseball onDecember 4 , by|1877.cite web| title = 1877 Chronology | work = baseballlibrary.com | url=http://www.baseballlibrary.com/chronology/byyear.php?year=1877 | accessdate = 2007-12-25 ]After his bannishment, he spent most of his life in the
Brooklyn, New York area, got married and raised a family. He worked at various jobs, including as a shippingclerk andinspector , and was very remorseful about his role in the scandal, making many unsuccessful attempts to earn reinstatement.cite web| title = Peter Morris, Baseball Historian | work = petermorrisbooks.com | url=http://www.petermorrisbooks.com/al_nichols.htm | accessdate = 2007-12-25 ] He died inRichmond Hill, New York , at the age of 84. He wascremated and interred atGreen-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.References
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