Simon Nicholls was a very devoted family man, who so loved his Maryland farm, that when Connie Mack scouted him from the Maryland
Agricultural College (now Univ. of Maryland), Simon would commute to Philadelphia from his farm. Simon was one of the first graduates
from this College. And, Connie Mack preferred to have College guys on his A's team. Nicholls' life story is the "stuff" that used to inspire
some great true life Hollywood BB movies.
Connie Mack acquired Nicholls at the end of the 1906 season. Simon was an average hitter, but an excellent shortstop. One of Nicholls'
best days at bat was on Opening Day of Shibe Park on April 12, 1909. He got a Double, 2 Singles, and a Walk. He scored 4 Runs to win
the 1st game at the A's new Stadium....in front of an unprecedented 35,000 fans.
December 1, 1909, Connie Mack traded Nicholls to Cleveland. This trade hurt Nicholls, since it took him away from his family and farm.
So, after 3 games with Cleveland, Nicholls retired. That season he connected with Jack Dunn, Manager of Baltimore (Eastern League),
who was impressed with Nicholls' play and made him field captain in 1911. Unfortunately, Nicholls contracted typhoid fever and died at
the young age of 28 on Mar 12, 1911.
Nicholls 350 Series T206 card (with bat pose) was actually intended by American Lithographic as a 350/460 series subject. Proof of this
is found in the SOVEREIGN "350/460" group of 66 subjects. Furthermore, his card was printed with an American Beauty 350 (No Frame)
back. However, this card of Nicholls was not printed with any 460 series backs. I'm sure this was due to his Major League career ending
in early 1910 (prior to the printing of any of the 460 series backs).
TED Z
a.k.a......T-Rex TEDÂ
