Nicholson threw and batted right-handed, and was listed as tall and . In , his second season in the Baltimore
farm system, Nicholson
batted .298 for their
Aberdeen Pheasants affiliate (managed by
Earl Weaver) with 35 home runs, tied for the lead in the
Class C Northern League. The following year saw Nicholson promoted all the way to
Triple-A, and his
MLB debut on
May 24, 1960 at age 20. Facing the White Sox at Comiskey Park, he went
hitless with one
walk in four
plate appearances. He remained on the Baltimore roster all season and hit five home runs, but
struck out 55 times in 133 trips to the plate. He spent back in the
minor leagues, mainly in the
Double-A Southern Association, before being given a full-year audition with the
Orioles. He played in 97 games, starting 80 of them in the outfield, but he batted only .173 with nine homers and 76 strikeouts in 202 plate appearances. On
May 5, 1962, Nicholson was the last Orioles' batter of a no-hitter pitched by
Bo Belinsky of the
Los Angeles Angels,
popping out to third base. In January 1963, Baltimore traded Nicholson, future
Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm, and
infielders Ron Hansen and
Pete Ward to the Chicago White Sox for Hall of Fame
shortstop Luis Aparicio and
outfielder Al Smith. Nicholson had his best season in the majors in , producing 103 hits with a career-high 22 home runs, but he struck out 175 times, setting a new
MLB record. Strikeouts would prove to be Nicholson's
Achilles heel during his big-league career; in , his second consecutive season as the White Sox' regular left-fielder, he fanned 126 times, fifth in the
American League. Over his career, he struck out 573 times in 1,662 plate appearances, once every 3.4 times he came to the plate.
573 foot home run On May 6, 1964, during the first game of a
doubleheader at Comiskey Park, Nicholson hit a home run off
Moe Drabowsky of the
Kansas City Athletics that either bounced off the left-field roof or entirely cleared it. The ball was found across the street. Howie Roberts, the White Sox' traveling secretary, told the Associated Press: "If it had landed on the roof, it would have a visible bruise on it. It cleared the roof." The home run was officially measured at . Nicholson homered three times in that doubleheader, although he would hit just 13 home runs during the entire 1964 season. After the campaign, the White Sox traded Nicholson and
catcher Bill Heath to the Houston Astros for pitcher
Jack Lamabe and cash. The Astros traded Nicholson and
Bob Bruce to the
Atlanta Braves for
Eddie Mathews,
Arnold Umbach, and a
player to be named later after the 1966 season. For his MLB career, he played in 538
games and had 1,419
at bats, 184
runs, 301
hits, 32
doubles, 12
triples, 61 home runs, 179
RBI, six
stolen bases, 219
walks, 540 total bases, four sacrifice hits, 12 sacrifice flies, and seven intentional walks. He compiled a .212
batting mark, .318
on-base percentage and a .381
slugging percentage. ==Death==