This Nichols card has always perplexed me: is it the Kid ?

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Posted By: Brian H 

Way back when this card was not recognized as the great Charles "kid" Nichols (find a price guide from back several years and it is a common).
Then I recall reading a well-reasoned piece in the Vintage Collector (one the the first few issues I think) that identified this player as "Kid" Nichols and also explained that NL Fan Craze cards are 1906s and the ALs are 1904s (the author used the sets player composition and team identification to do this). Previously (again find an old price guide)all of the Fan Craze cards (both leagues) were listed as 1904 issues.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1841525992

The problem I have with this card now that I actually see it (it doesn't show up much) is that it just doesn't look to me like Kid Nichols when I compare it with the (few) other photos I have seen of him.
any comments?


* I might add (just to be clear) that the seller, David Bryan is a one of the best and I am in no way criticizing him (or PSA for that matter). I just find this card rather perplexing. There are some others in the Fan Craze set that I also find mysterious -- Jacobson for instance, who is he? I

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Posted By: Andy Baran

Brian,

I don't know if the photo is actually Nichols, but I'm sure that the card was meant to be of Kid Nichols, as he is the only Nichols on Philadelphia in 1905 - 1906.

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Posted By: David

It looks like Kid Nichols to me. Nichols often had a mustache which gave him a diffrent look.

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Posted By: Kevin Cummings

I would think that by now someone would have done some sort of analysis of the available images of Kid Nichols and laid the issue of whether the Fan Craze card was him to rest.

When I look at the Fan Craze image and the one on the Baseball Hall of Fame site, it seems it can't be him.

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Posted By: John(z28jd)

The picture might not be him,i dont know,but i dont who else the card was supposed to be of if its not him.Maybe its an old error card. The Jacobson in the set is Albert "Beany" Jacobson,who had the pleasure of pitching for one of the worst teams,1904 washington senators who were 38-113,and he finished 6-23,went 17-23 the rest of his career for a couple other bad teams(and one decent team)so he wasnt as bad a his record indicates..Since its a st louis card of him,that would make the printing year for that card 1906 more than likely as that was his first year with the team not 1904 as indicated on the case. He's the only guy that fits the description of the card,but does go against the general concensus of thinking all AL players are from 1904.

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Posted By: B. Hodes

Yes it could be Beany Jacobson except that the great Beany was in the AL not the NL.

As for Nichols, certainly it is supposed to be him but it isn't his picture -- maybe like that 1969 Aureillo Rodriguez (sp?) card picturing the bat boy.

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Posted By: John(z28jd)

for jacobson,he was on st louis browns,who were in the AL.....the card says st louis,and the holder and listing on ebay both AL,so i think they meant the browns

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Posted By: craig

there is a chance that the jacobson could be william "babydoll" jacobson. He played for the browns around that time.

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Posted By: Rhett

Craig yo are off by a good decade, Baby Doll didn't start playing til 1915. The card is obviously Albert (because it lists his name as such). Never really understood the 1904 date because of this card. Unless the Fan Craze Co. could tell the future I believe this card dates the AL set as a 1906 issue, as opposed to the 1904 date attributed to it. Albert played fro Washington(A.L.) during the 1904 and 1905 seasons, he was picked up by St. Louis in 1906. Here's a scan of the card for reference.

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Posted By: Julie

make me pick that heavy thing up so early in the morning!

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

I think people KNOW they both came out in '06. Pretty soon, it'll turn out they were the first Topps sets...