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Chester Raymond Nichols
Milwaukee Braves
Pitcher
Born: February 22, 1931, Pawtucket, RI
Signed: Signed by the Boston Braves as an amateur free agent, December 23, 1948
Major League Teams: Boston Braves 1951; Milwaukee Braves 1954-1956; Boston Red Sox 1960-1963; Cincinnati Reds 1964
Died: March 27, 1995, Lincoln, RI (age 64)
Chet Nichols' father, Chet Nichols Sr., pitched six seasons in the majors between 1926 and 1932 with the Pirates, Giants and Phillies. The younger Chet Nichols had three distinct stints in the majors between 1951 and 1964, with each stint interrupted by multiple years away from the big leagues. His first season in 1951 with the Braves was his best. Nichols led the league with a 2.88 ERA and was 11-8 in 33 games pitched, finishing as runner-up to Willie Mays (#130) in the Rookie of the Year voting. He'd miss two full seasons while serving in the Army during the Korea War, and when he returned in 1954, the Braves had moved to Milwaukee. Plagued with wildness, Nichols walked more than he struck out during his two-plus seasons back with the Braves, and he'd toil in the minor leagues for four seasons before returning to the majors with the Red Sox in 1960. He spent all of 1958 as a bank teller back in his home state of Rhode Island.
Building the Set
December 25, 2003 from San Diego, CA (Kit Young Cards) - Card #247
My Dad/Santa brought me nine cards for our set for Christmas in 2003, with all but one of the cards coming from his dealer of choice, Kit Young Cards in San Diego. The Brooklyn Dodgers team card (#166) was the lone non-Kit Young Cards addition, as that card came from TemDee in Turnersville, New Jersey. It was a strange mix of commons from Kit Young Cards, with no semi-star or star card to balance out the lot. We were admittedly in a lull collecting the set, with only 18 cards added during all of 2003 and only six cards added, as Christmas presents, in 2004.
December 25, 2003 from San Diego, CA (Kit Young Cards) - Card #247
My Dad/Santa brought me nine cards for our set for Christmas in 2003, with all but one of the cards coming from his dealer of choice, Kit Young Cards in San Diego. The Brooklyn Dodgers team card (#166) was the lone non-Kit Young Cards addition, as that card came from TemDee in Turnersville, New Jersey. It was a strange mix of commons from Kit Young Cards, with no semi-star or star card to balance out the lot. We were admittedly in a lull collecting the set, with only 18 cards added during all of 2003 and only six cards added, as Christmas presents, in 2004.
Pictures from the Christmas of 2003 show us opening gifts at my Mom's house on December 26th, which has since become a tradition for us. So while the official set records indicate these nine cards were added on December 25th, it was most likely a day later I opened the cards while in Millville.
The Card / Braves Team Set
That's a nasty scratch across Nichols' eye and if I were ever looking to upgrade some of the cards in our set, this would be a good candidate. Like a lot of the players appearing in the set's fourth series, this card marks Nichols' return to Topps after a lengthy absence and he wouldn't appear in his next Topps set until 1961. The first cartoon panel on the back features a cameo from his father, and the second cartoon panel highlights his ERA title from 1951. The third panel showcases his statistics against the Giants in 1955. He was 3-0 in five starts against the Giants with a 3.89 ERA.
1956 Season
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First Mainstream Card: 1952 Bowman #120
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (5): 1952, 1956, 1961-1963
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1983 Topps 1952 Reprint Series #288
23 - Nichols non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 1/29/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
The Trading Card Database
Previous Card / Next Card
Order Collected: #266 Don Ferrarese - Brooklyn Dodgers / #281 Art Houtteman - Cleveland Indians
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