Chet Nichols (nichoch02)
From BR Bullpen
Chester Raymond Nichols Jr.
- Bats Both, Throws Left
- Weight 195 lb.
- Debut April 19, 1951
- Final Game April 24, 1964
- Born February 22, 1931 in Pawtucket, RI USA
- Died March 27, 1995 in Lincoln, RI USA
[edit] Biographical Information
Chet Nichols Jr. was the son of former major league pitcher Chet Nichols Sr. (1926-32). He was signed as an amateur free agent before the 1949 season. The left-hander started his baseball career with the Evansville Braves of the class B Three-I League and would ring up a 14-7 record with a 2.32 ERA while pitching 198 innings in his first year in the pros.
Up with the AAA Milwaukee Brewers in 1950 the going was a little rougher and Chet would have a 7-14 record with a 3.73 ERA. He still would get a chance at the majors with the 1951 Boston Braves and was second in the balloting for the 1951 National League Rookie of the Year after the 20-year-old left-hander was 11-8 with a league-leading 2.88 ERA for the season.
Chet would suffer a shoulder injury while serving two years (1952-1953) in the United States Military during the Korean War, setting back his mound career. He did win nine games for the transplanted Braves, now in Milwaukee, in both 1954 and 1955, but spent most of the late fifties in the minor leagues.
After winning 18 games for the Vancouver Mounties of the Pacific Coast League in 1960, he would be back in the majors with the Boston Red Sox from 1960 to 1963 and would close out his major league run with the Cincinnati Reds in 1964 with a 34-36 career record and a 3.64 ERA while appearing in 189 games. Nichols had spent six active seasons in the minors and ended his time there with a 56-45 record and a 3.37 ERA.
Nichols returned to his home state of Rhode Island and was in the banking business, retiring as a vice-president in 1987. He then returned to baseball as a minor league pitching instructor for the Boston Red Sox and later for the Baltimore Orioles prior to passing away on March 27, 1995, at age 64 in Lincoln, RI.
