Billy Nash

Washington’s Nationals opened their 1875 National Association season at their DC grounds. Defeated 8-2 by the defending three-time champ Boston Red Stockings, the teams then moved 90 miles to Richmond, Virginia, for the next two games, those being the first Association games ever played in “The South.” Danbury, Connecticut, manufacturer/promoter Alfred P. Sturges had contracted a few teams to play in his wife’s hometown throughout the season in an effort to draw large crowds for the probable not-so-competitive Washington club. The Richmond Fair Grounds (currently the Monroe Park area) was the site of the slaughters as the Stockings waltzed 22-5 and 24-0. Likely in the crowd was a 10-year-old boy, who lived only a few blocks away on West Clay Street and a well-to-do boot manufacturer, who was enthralled by the sport’s spectacle. In less than 10 years the boot magnate fielded his own amateur team and the then teenager was a main cog on it. By 1891 the kid was captain of the champion Boston Beaneaters, the National League descendants of those Red Stockings he had watched with awe.

William Mitchell “Billy” Nash born in the ruins of Richmond on June 24, 1865, only two months after retreating Confederate troops strategically burned the city’s main business section and President Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated. William M. was the second son of five children of policeman William Frederick Nash and wife Jeannette (Smith). In the ensuing years William F. changed jobs twice, according to city directories and the 1870 and 1880 census. Sgt. Nash had served in the Confederate Army’s Parker Battery Quartermaster Unit from March 1862 to his attendance at the Appomattox Court House surrender.

Tragedy struck the family in 1874 when eldest son Albert Sidney died and again when mom Jeannette passed in March 1878 of an unrecorded illness. Single-dad William, whose service records say suffered post-war from bronchitis, bouts of typhoid and dysentery, was by then employed at the rebuilt Gallego Manufacturing Company. The Gallego Flour Mill complex was the largest in the country before it was torched as the final defiant act of the rebels as they escaped their beloved Confederate capital. Father Nash remarried in 1880 and with Emma Harris parented four more children. Eventually William F. started his own grocery business at 504 North Second Street where the first Nash brood had moved by 1879.

In 1882 teenager Billy was working for the Boschen Shoe Company when Henry C. Boschen decided his factory and city deserved a better baseball team than the one he organized and played for against local teams in the late 1870s. In March 1883 there was a reorganization notice in the Richmond Dispatch about forming a better club and Billy, possibly the youngest member at 17, held down the third-base slot.1 Seeing the popularity of “base ball” growing, another group, the Virginia Base Ball Club, started its own team in June 1884, boldly drawing/stealing from the Boschens and upgrading further with out-of-state talent.

Nash was recruited with older Richmond-born players Jim Powell, Ed Glenn, and Ed Ford. The Eastern League allowed the Virginias entry but soon a few of its other clubs folded and the EL was in a shaky situation. When the American Association Washington Statesmen (12-51) succumbed to various problems, president William C. Seddon and his Virginians (28-30) escaped to that higher plateau to complete the Statesmen schedule. They were usually overmatched (12-30) but young Nash showed promise, as did their Kingston, New York, outfielder, Dickie Johnston. Players were at a premium since the Union Association, a third “major league,” was in operation, so even mediocre talent was in short supply.

Nash hit just .199 but half his hits were for extra bases and his fielding was considered above average. The first five EL games were in Richmond and Philadelphia’s Athletics trounced their hosts 14-0 to welcome them to the AA on August 5. Veteran Bobby Mathews kept Billy hitless. Next day Nash singled and scored off Billy Taylor, but Philly won 5-4. Then Brooklyn came to town and Nash contributed three runs, and an RBI from two hits (triple) off Adonis Terry as Richmond prevailed, 10-2. The Virginians then lost 9-2 and tied 5-5 to end its first professional home stand. In the loss Billy had a double, then tripled, scored twice, and plated a run in the tie. Richmond’s one shining stint was later sweeping the host Pittsburgh Alleghenys, 10-5, 2-1, and 8-4. Billy scored five runs (3-for-12) but made five errors. On September 15 in St. Louis, Nash belted his first home run, off starter Dave Foutz. Browns reliever “Parisian” Bob Caruthers got the 7-6 comeback win.

Looking for a comfy niche in 1885, the Richmond club found itself back in the EL. Insurance man Thomas Alfriend was now team president and a few new players were added along with manager Joseph Simmons. Richmond was suddenly a powerhouse, repeatedly whipping all opponents. They were very good – in fact too good. By mid-July the first-place Virginians were so dominant that many fans stopped coming to boring, sure=win games and by mid-August players had to be sold to keep the franchise solvent. On August 18 they were 59-14. In his final week as a Virginian, Nash hit .333, with two home runs, with four singles in the season finale. On August 21, both Nash and Johnston (.329/16 HRs) were sold to NL Boston’s Beaneaters for $1,250. Without its stars, the Virginias collapsed and lost the pennant by two games.

Beaneater president Arthur Soden and player-manager John Morrill likely knew of young Nash’s abilities from exhibition games in April. Until then Boston’s fans were used to only two third-sackers, Harry Schafer of the NA Red Stockings and initial NL squad, and then Ezra Ballou Sutton, who replaced him in 1877. Nash and Johnston finished up 1885’s last 26 games starting on September 1, in a 2-0 win at Providence. Both had come from an apparent pennant cake-walk to Boston, which was having its worst season of the nineteenth century (46-66). In addition, Nash was being groomed to take over the position of a near diamond god, Sutton, then 35, who was leading Boston in six offensive categories and was second in triples.

The defending NL champ Providence Grays’ Fred L. “Dupee” Shaw, a Boston boy, lost that 2-0 game but collared Nash. At his new South End Grounds home the next day, righty-swinging Nash (5-foot-8, 165 pounds) not only got his first two hits, but his sacrifice in the 11th inning knocked home the game-winning run to beat Charlie “Old Hoss” Radbourn, 4-3. Two more hits and being part of a rarely executed 5-3-5 double play with player-manager Morrill help crush Providence and Shaw, 11-1 the following afternoon. In his first 10 NL games Nash was 13-for-38 with 16 putouts, 17 assists, and only five errors. Boston fans were pleased with their Southern pickup and the team was 13-13 in those 26 outings. In a second Radbourn-hurled, 11-inning game, Nash had two hits, and the game-winning RBI before scoring on Sutton’s insurance blast for a 9-6 victory.

By 1886 Sutton (.294), who began his career at the NA’s creation in 1871, was playing four positions and because of age his batting prowess was in decline. Nash replaced him at third base in 1886. Morrill took his Bostons to Richmond for spring training and Nash and Johnston were welcomed back along with Edward “Pop” Tate. Boston beat Rochester, 14-2, in the first exhibition, and Nash was the only regular to go hitless. In five games he was 4-for-23 (.174). Boston improved but was still not a contender, though Nash posted a decent rookie campaign (.281). In Detroit on August 27, he hit his first NL home run, aiding Boston’s 7-3 win.

On December 4, 1886, Nash got his first national notoriety as he was profiled in the New York Clipper as an outstanding new player who was taking over from the revered Sutton, who had 10 fine years with Boston. “Nash has a lively, dashing style, and his throwing is remarkably swift and accurate,” said the Clipper.2

For the next three seasons Boston continued to improve by acquiring experienced players such as Chicago’s Mike “King” Kelly. Then owner Soden raided Detroit for tandem-catching Charlies, Bennett and Ganzel, and infielders Dan Brouthers, and Hardy Richardson. Nash was now surrounded by solid talent on the diamond. He led the Beaneaters in RBIs in both 1887 and 1888. On July 16, Nash finally homered over the South End Grounds I fence, to help beat Indianapolis, 6-1. Boston could have won the NL flag in 1889 but was nipped by New York in the final four games when NY was 4-0, Boston 2-2.

The August 10, 1889, edition of The Sporting News detailed the career of Nash complete with pen and ink portrait.3 Boston looked competitive for 1890 until the new Players League lured several Beaneaters to the rebel Boston Reds. Nash was a jumper, signing while on a December barnstorming tour in California. The PL Reds proved to be a relentless scoring machine (1,031 runs) thanks to ex-Beaneaters Richardson (.328, 16 HRs, 152 RBIs), Brouthers (.335), King Kelly (.325), Joe Quinn (.300), and Harry Stovey (.298, 12 HRs, 145 R), plus Tom Brown (.280, 149 R), and Arthur Irwin (.260). Nash hit only .275 but was third on the club with 94 RBIs and took 90 walks. His defense was also a factor as he led “hot corner” guardians in assists and DPs. More telling was that with a roster of noted stars it was Nash who captained the Reds when manager Kelly was absent. Boston (81-48) easily won the PL’s only pennant. The Reds played at the newly constructed (for them) Congress Street Grounds, located downtown near Boston Harbor. Nash scored the winning run in the ninth inning of the Opening game on Patriots’ Day, April 19, nipping Brooklyn 3-2. He also set the tone for the first 18 home games, getting at least one hit in each, 31-for-85 (.365) and scoring 20 runs. His first home run there was May 17, off Cleveland Infant John “Cinders” O’Brien, the 13-5 victor.

Financial chaos and other organizational problems eliminated the PL and put the AA on its last leg (1891). Meanwhile Soden’s depleted NL Bostons had obtained a new manager, Frank Selee, and his eye for talent spied five solid players to fill his 1891 roster; Herman Long, Robert Lowe, Charlie Nichols, Steven Brodie, and Tom Tucker. Getting the popular, stable veteran Nash back to the South End Grounds II was a Soden-Selee priority and in the spring Nash signed with his old team and was made captain in the deal. Quinn also came back and they brought veteran slugger Stovey with them. Nash got $5,000 for each of the next three seasons and a bonus for signing. It was a grand start for Billy and his new bride, Rose Currier of San Francisco, whom he married on March 19, 1891.

Long (.281, 129 R) had the highest Beaneater average in 1891, and was nicely backed by Stovey and Nash. Despite both hitting just under .280 they each had 95 RBIs, placing second to Chicago icon Cap Anson’s 120. Anson’s White Stockings topped the NL into September but Boston’s 18-0-1 spurt was too difficult for them to match. When the Beaneaters swept New York in consecutive South End doubleheaders on September 29-30, they clinched the pennant. Nash was 5-for-16 with no miscues. The Beaneaters led the NL in runs and ERA as John Clarkson won 33 and “Kid” Nichols, 30. The Beaneaters’ only competition for city glory was King Kelly’s AA Reds down at the harbor, winners of the final flag (93-42) of that League’s 10-year existence.

With the AA’s demise came changes in the 1892 NL. It gained four teams, absorbed from the AA and a longer, split-season schedule so that no one team could dominate the standings all year and curb general attendance in September. Hugh Duffy, Tommy McCarthy, and Jack Stivetts joined Boston, thus creating a powerhouse lineup with virtually no holes. They started the season with a 10-1 record and ended with a 14-2 flourish. Though captain Nash hit only .260, he led the club once again in RBIs (95) as Boston won 102 games. The 100th victory (a first in NL history) was the 13th consecutive over Baltimore. In the 9-5 comeback, Nash had two hits, and scored. In the “World’s Championship Series” against Cleveland (second-half winner) Boston swept five games after an opening scoreless tie versus Cy Young. Billy was 4-for-24, scored three runs, had 14 assists, no errors, while Duffy’s 12-for-26 took Boston’s batting honors. In the second game, the first win in Cleveland, Nash’s RBI (of Duffy) proved to be the game-winning tally, 4-3.

Few changes were made to the 1893 Beaneater roster. Quinn was gone, Lowe moved from the outfield to second base and his space was filled by Cliff Carroll (.224). The 12-team NL campaign was cut to 132 games and there was no split-season. Boston looked to equal the 1880-1882 Chicago White Stockings who won three consecutive NL pennants. Starting at 10-10 they looked to be off their expected game. The defending champs improved, especially from mid-July to mid-August, when they reeled off a 24-2-1 mark, erasing most competition. Even finishing poorly at 5-11-1, they still cruised to a five-game edge over Pittsburgh. The team was tops in no major category, but was very solid in every aspect. Boston was second to Philadelphia in runs scored, 1,011 to 1,008. Nash had his best season hitting .291 with 123 RBIs (fourth) while scoring 115. At season’s end he had the best fielding percentage of any third baseman (.923). The (Helen) Dauvray Cup resided in Boston for the third straight year, and was retired to the Beaneaters trophy case for that accomplishment.

Soden, Selee, and the Bostons appeared destined for a fourth consecutive title in 1894. No club had accomplished that except the National Association’s Red Stockings (1872-75) and they did it in the same ballpark. But tragedy struck on January 9, when both of catcher Charlie Bennett’s legs were mangled when he slipped under the wheels of his train after speaking to a friend at the Wellsville, Kansas (35 miles southwest of Kansas City) depot. Ganzel took over and the backup spot was given to Jack Ryan, a Massachusetts native. Otherwise standing nearly pat again, the Beaneaters only replaced failure Carroll with Jimmy Bannon (.336) in the left pasture. The pitcher’s box had been moved from 50 to 60’6 in 1893 and most fans thought hitters would benefit immediately. But it took a year as the NL average was .280 then but spiked to .309 in 1894. Boston topped the field in runs (1,200) and home runs (103) and was in first place in late August. But a 10-10 finish while Baltimore won 18 straight and finished 20-3 in the month allowed Baltimore to dethrone the Hub’s three-time champs.

The delayed pitcher’s disadvantage enjoyed by most batters didn’t affect Nash, he hit basically the same as always, .289, 87 RBIs, with a career-best 132 runs scored. In the field he took third-base honors again, leading in putouts, assists, DPs, and percentage (.933) while missing only one game. Each position scored 100-plus times for Boston. They beat Baltimore eight games to four in the season series but the Orioles crushed lesser opponents more often. Other than Bennett, the biggest loss of the year was the massive fire on May 15 that destroyed what, since 1888, was considered the most beautiful ballpark in the League, along with 200 other Roxbury buildings. Two other fires claimed the ballparks in Philadelphia and Chicago during the season. Proof of his popularity around the baseball world, Street and Smith’s New York Five Cent Library did a character sketch on Billy in June 1894.4 Despite being a piece of pure fiction about Nash’s life, it did put him in special company. The only two other baseball names on a list of 88 people profiled to that date were “King” Kelly and Yale Murphy.

Boston maintained its core lineup for 1895. But Tucker’s bat was fading and much touted Fred Tenney had proven ready in late 1894. Pitchers Tom Lovett retired and Harry Staley went to St. Louis, leaving Jim Sullivan to back Nichols and Stivetts. When not much meshed, Boston finished fifth. The league average fell to .290 as did several Bean bat marks proportionately. By midseason when it was evident they were not real contenders to the rampaging, defending champ Baltimores (10-2 over Boston), there were rumors of a rift between some players. A Duffy-McCarthy clique and an “Unhappy Jack” were blamed and Nash was included. Mediocre team play didn’t help, but in the midst of it all clutch Billy had a fine season. Playing every game he again paced the Beaneaters in RBIs (110) and home runs (10) while hitting .290. In the field he led third basemen in putouts and DPs (.881). With only 71 wins it was Boston’s worst season of the 1890s.

Manager Selee knew changes were needed and on November 14, 1895, a blockbuster trade was announced, possibly the biggest of the nineteenth century, and arguably the worst. Captain Nash was shipped to Philadelphia for on-base wizard “Sliding Billy” Hamilton. Reasons stated: ineffective Arthur Irwin was let go as Phillies manager and it was thought Hamilton’s bat was faltering. Nash was a solid baseball man, clever, level-headed, and widely respected. Philadelphia led the NL in hitting several times but never approached first place but now with Nash as manager they hoped to turn the tide.

Some thought it was a good deal for both teams, while other scribes questioned the basics. Hindsight proved Boston got the goods while Philly suffered. Things looked fine for the Phils for a few weeks, Nash got his team off to a 14-5 start but a few days later Billy was hit above the left eye by a (Boston-born) Tom Smith pitch in Louisville. He was out for a week but still managed the team. When he returned Philly won six straight. Meanwhile, Jimmy Collins (.279, .926 third base) was coming back to Boston from Louisville and he would soon launch his own (future) Hall of Fame career. Selee could afford to deal Nash and take a chance on Hamilton getting back his batting eye from 1894 when he hit .403 (fifth), while being tops in the NL in walks (128) and steals (100).

Nash broke his finger on August 10 against his old Boston mates and was out for the season, playing only 65 games (.247, .911 fielding). Philly finished 62-68 despite being second in scoring. Meanwhile, Hamilton hit .366 and scored 153 runs (second) for his new club. It was a personal disaster for the easy-going Nash as critics claimed he was soft on the players, but what hurt most was not contributing personally. For 10 years with Boston he had played in 97 percent of the games, hitting .281. On July 22 both the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Times stated that Nash was being removed as captain in favor of catcher-coach Jack Boyle. In that era that decision also meant Billy also had been relieved of managerial duties. Following debacle losses in Pittsburgh, Nash was dispatched to follow the New England League’s Fall River club to scout sluggers Phil Geier and Napoleon Lajoie. Nash was in search of young talent for Philadelphia, but when he returned in late July both papers again referred to him as manager.

George Stallings was brought in to manage the Phils in 1897. Nash was back at third and his fielding was a solid.919 but his hitting did not recover (.258, 39 RBIs in 104 games). Delahanty was good again (.377, 96 RBIs, 109 runs) and was aided well by near-rookie Nap Lajoie (.361, 127 RBIs, 107 runs) but Stallings had no pitching and ended at 55-77 in 10th place. Up in Beantown Hamilton regained form (.343; 152 runs, 105 walks, both tops), making the “Billy” trade look even worse. With Collins at third (.346, 132 RBIs, 103 runs) and Tenney at first (.318), the Beaneaters now had the best infield and outfield, after adding Chick Stahl (.354). They did to Baltimore what the Orioles did to them in 1894: broke the string of three straight pennants by edging the defending champs by two wins. Collins also swept honors for third-sack fielding while playing every game. The torch had been passed, Nash had been great, but Collins eventually would prove to be better.

Nash played only 20 games in 1898, finishing up on May 28 in Chicago. The Phils were 11-17 but ended 78-71 behind Lajoie and Delahanty. Nash concluded at .243, and .958 fielding, better than the other four third basemen the Phils employed. On May 27 Nash scored his last run (final hit) in an 8-2 loss to Clark Griffith and on May 28 he went hitless (but walked) in a 10-4 win. Nash committed the only Philly error that day behind Al Orth. The Sporting News front page of June 11 printed a June 2 letter from Philadelphia saying Nash was given the required 10-day notice of release soon after that game, but it was held in secret so that he could arrange a favorable deal for himselfOn July .5 In the New York Daily Tribune of June 8, New York captain Bill Joyce remarked that he, “was after Nash of Philadelphia,” and would sign him if Nash could secure his release.6 But nothing materialized and that was it. Three weeks later Stallings was out as manager in favor of Bill Shettsline.

Because of two NL pals from the 1880s, Nash was beckoned to Buffalo, New York,  during the offseason. Jack Rowe lived there and was selling cigars and managing the Buffalo Bisons Eastern League club. Shortstop Rowe (.286 career hitter) had played for 12 years, mostly with Buffalo and Detroit, and with Bison team owner, Alderman James Franklin, found himself in the baseball and meat businesses. He quit managing in 1898 and so the call went out. Nash answered it and applied to be player-manager. Knowing Billy well from the NL, Rowe likely recommended the move. The Bisons, also called the Pam-Ams by the local press because of the city’s upcoming 1901 Pan-American Exhibition/World’s Fair, were 6-6 when there was a very sudden falling out between Nash and English-born, wheeler-dealer Franklin. Nash handed in his resignation saying, “If I am going to manage a baseball team, I will do it my own way or not at all. Mr. Franklin could not see the matter in the same light as I did and so we decided to part company.” Nash’s contract gave him, “absolute control of the men and authority to hire and release such players as he sees fit.”7 In the four games he played at second base and shortstop, Billy was 4-for-12, had nine putouts, 12 assists and four errors

Both the Buffalo Courier and the Buffalo Enquirer thought Nash got a raw deal. The Enquirer noted, “…he is a hustling manager and a good judge of players, besides being popular with the boys. The news of Billy’s release will be a great disappointment to the Buffalo baseball public, for he has ever been a popular favorite both on the diamond in private life and has a host of friends in this city. He has been a consistent and vigorous player and has always handled his men in a manner satisfactory to the public.”8 The players called a meeting with Franklin and begged him to recall Nash and outside baseball people thought the adversaries would mend their differences and reconcile. They didn’t.

Within a week Nash was called by the newly-formed Hartford, Connecticut, Indians to play with the Eastern League club managed by Billy Barnie. On May 18 Hartford beat host Toronto, 11-4, and Nash scored and had four assists. Then, despite the addition of Maine’s Penobscot tribe hero Louis Sockalexis, the cellar dwellers lost four straight, with Nash committing two bad errors in one 8-7 loss. He was 2-for-19 (.105) and released on May 25. Hartford and Buffalo critics now thought Alderman Franklin was right after all.

Former Boston shortstop Sam Washington Wise was Nash’s next Buffalo connection. Sam was a teammate from 1885 to 1888. An Akron, Ohio, native, Wise had moved to Buffalo to operate the Mansion House’s (hotel) saloon. He and Billy were partners for more than a year at the turn of the century. Nash left in 1901 to become an NL umpire for one season, working 101 games. On May 17, he was involved in a dangerous melee at the Polo Grounds when he ejected three New York Giants. The Giants blew a chance to nail an Orphan-Cub baserunner at home. Both furious at the call, third baseman George Davis and catcher Jack Warner were thumbed, Warner kicking Nash bloody. Billy called for police action but 50 Tammany cops stood around laughing, according to the Chicago Tribune. Pitcher Luther Haden “Dummy” Taylor then adamantly complained about balls and strikes in sign language and was tossed as well.9 Giants owner Arthur Friedman denounced Nash’s actions and tried to get him fired but Billy held on to finish the year. Ump Nash never ejected any other ballplayers.

Following his umpiring stint, Nash’s exact whereabouts are uncertain. There was a William M. Nash traveling salesman in Boston in the 1910 census, and he was the proper age. The 1920 census does nail him down in Norfolk, Massachusetts, being an attendant and watchman at the State Public Health (Pondville) Hospital there. Town directories show that he lived with his wife Rose in Wrentham, about 20 miles south of Boston, during the 1920s. After settling there, Nash coached high school baseball at nearby Foxborough for a year or two in the ’Teens.

Few ballplayers have had their simple deaths more fouled up than Nash. He and Rose were on a short vacation with her sister Carrie and husband Dr. William Charles Hassler to New York City on November 15, 1929. Dr. Hassler was a famous physician in San Francisco, a leader in combating the infamous flu epidemic of 1918-19 and then was top public health officer of that city. Leaving the wives in New York, he took Billy with him to East Orange, New Jersey, to check out a health facility and that’s when Nash dropped dead of a heart attack. In the shock, sadness and confusion, several newspapers mixed up the two Williamses and published that “Dr. William” Nash had died suddenly. Even the Boston Globe and Richmond Dispatch believed the account and reported that the subject had received a medical degree after his baseball career. In its lengthy and detailed obituary, the Globe had him as a “former health officer in Wrentham.”10 In the Richmond Quarterly of Spring 1981, author Hiram T. Askew (“Billy Nash – First Richmond Baseball Great”) did a fine writeup of Nash’s career but he too had him with a medical degree at his death.11 Rose kept his cremated ashes in Wrentham until she died in August 1937. Then a friend dutifully sent both urns to Rose’s oldest sister, Ada, in San Francisco and they were placed in the Hassler Mausoleum at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Colma, California, where the entire Currier family is interred. Because of time lapse and distance, for about 60 years, Billy Nash’s final resting place was unknown. An explanatory telegram from the J. T. Waterman Funeral Home files in Boston’s Kenmore Square solved the mystery when unearthed as the twenty-first century began.12

Billy Nash was not a superstar like several teammates and many adversaries. His 10-season Beaneater average was a solid, but modest, .281. In fact, as nineteenth century expert Dave Nemec points out, he has the highest average for anyone that century who never hit .300.13 Nash’s yearly total of hits fits snuggly between 132 and 149, and despite those seemingly light numbers he averaged 93 RBIs and 100 runs a season. During Nash’s Boston span of 10 seasons, the NL-PL hit .268 while his own teams averaged .279. On defense he was tops in putouts, DPs and had the highest fielding percentage four times each and assists twice. He hit about one home run per month, two of his 60 were grand slams. On August 9, 1894, his ninth-inning blast off Philly Jack Taylor iced an 11-2 victory for debuting rookie George Hodson. On June 4, 1895, Nash’s big clout off Cincy’s Bill Phillips, helped Boston win 12-5. Last home runs: for the Beaneaters, off New York Giant rookie Ed Doheny, a 13-5 loser, in his second start served up an South End Grounds solo on September 19, 1895; for Billy’s career, St. Louis lefty Ted Breitenstein gave one up on May 29, 1896, at the Baker Bowl in a 10-6 Phillies’ win.

Nash has three interesting accomplishments due to longevity and precise timing. He was the only player on the field in both Boston and Chicago to see Lowe (1894) and Delahanty (1896) each hit a record four home runs and a single in one game. Because of his span of seasons in Boston (1886-1895) he is the only player to have been in the last game at South End Grounds I, the opening game of South End Grounds II, the opening PL game at Congress Street, the last game at South End Grounds II, the last game at Congress Street (rented for a month in 1894), and the first game at rebuilt South End Grounds III. Nash played the most games at third base (1,127 NL plus 132 more for the PL Reds) for Boston in the 19th century. In Braves franchise annuals Billy still ranks ninth in runs and 10th in RBIs.

When Nash was on that 1896 scouting mission, he tracked the Fall River Indians and stars Geier (.381) and Lajoie (.429). Manager Charlie Marston at first declined to sell either player, hoping for higher bids, but low finances dictated a time limit. Nash outbid his old Boston boss Selee and took the prize players to Philadelphia. This was only a half season after Selee had traded Billy. The same monetary circumstances that had prevailed when Boston obtained Nash and Johnston from Richmond in 1885 had come full circle in Billy Nash’s baseball life.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Noted, the author also consulted Ancestry.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, Nash’s player file at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, and the book

Mayer, Scott P. and W. Harrison Daniel, Baseball and Richmond, 1884-2000 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland 2003).

Notes

1 “The Ball Will Roll,” Richmond Dispatch, March 27, 1883: 1.

2 The New York Clipper, December 4, 1886: 610.

3 The Sporting News, August 10, 1889: 1.

4 Billy Boxer, the Referee; Street & Smith’s “New York Five Cent Library,” #86 Captain Billy Nash, June 23, 1894, New York, 2-15.

5 “Anson May Succeed Stallings,” The Sporting News, June 11, 1898: 1.

6 “New York Shut Out,” New York Daily Tribune, June 8, 1898: 10.

7 “Nash’s Release,” Buffalo Evening News, May 13, 1899: 6.

8 Hotspur’s Daily Column of Sporting Gossip, “Release of Billy Nash a Surprise to Buffalo Fans,” Buffalo Enquirer, May 13, 1899: 4.

9 “Rowdyism in New York Again,” Chicago Tribune, May 18, 1901: 6.

10 “Old Time Ballplayer, Dr. Billy Nash Dies,” Boston Globe, November 16, 1929: 8.

11 Hiram T. Askew, “Billy Nash: First Richmond Baseball Great,” Richmond Quarterly 3, Richmond, Virginia, 1981, 34-36.

12 Joseph S. Waterman and Sons, Inc. Funeral Home, 497 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Western Union telegram of August 1937.

13 David Nemec, Major League Baseball Profiles, 1871-1900, Volume 1 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2011), 426.