George Nicol

George Edward Nicol (October 17, 1870 – August 4, 1924) was an American baseball pitcher and outfielder who played three seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the St. Louis Browns, Chicago Colts, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Louisville Colonels from 1890 to 1894. Possessing the rare combination of batting right-handed and throwing left-handed, he served primarily as a right fielder when he did not pitch.

Signed by the Browns without having previously played any minor league baseball, Nicol made his debut on September 23, 1890, and pitched—what was then considered to be—a no-hitter. The following season, he joined the Chicago Colts in July after starting in the minor leagues. After a two-year sojourn away from the major leagues, he signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1894. In August of the same season, he was traded to the Louisville Colonels, with whom he played his final major league game on September 29, 1894.

Personal life Nicol was born on October 17, 1870, in Barry, Illinois. His father, Matthew Nicol, immigrated to the United States from Scotland in 1852, while his mother, Eliza, was born in America. As a youngster, he played baseball for a semi-professional club in nearby Mount Sterling. There, he rose to fame as a left-handed pitcher —probably due to rarity and valuableness of southpaws —and eventually got the opportunity to play in the major leagues before he turned 20. The team were in desperate need for players; their situation was a microcosm of the American Association (AA) that already had few players with major league experience to begin with. The league's precarious situation was not helped by the fact that they had to compete with both the well-established National League (NL) and the newly formed yet highly popular Players' League. Although the latter league lasted just one season, they were able to outdraw both the AA and NL in terms of attendance. Although the game was previously considered a no-hitter, As a result, Nicol's debut was one of fifty no-hitters deleted from the official record books.

In , Nicol joined the Wilkes-Barre Coal Barons of the Atlantic League. The league disbanded in June of that year, whereupon he joined the Detroit Tigers, who were now part of the American League. He was released at the end of the season, having batted .258 in 73 games. He returned to the now-expanded Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League in and played there for two seasons. His career after is unclear, although the Society for American Baseball Research writes that he signed with a Wisconsin State League team based in Freeport, Illinois, and played for them for the remainder of the year before retiring from professional baseball.