Jerry Nops

At age 22, crafty left-hander Jerry Nops was a budding star, a 20-game winner for the 1897 Temple Cup champion Baltimore Orioles. By age 26, his major league career was behind him, a sterling .637 winning percentage notwithstanding. Undone by alcohol abuse and behavioral issues, Nops – whom Cooperstown-bound manager Ned Hanlon once described as “the hardest man to handle he ever encountered”1 – punctuated the years immediately following his release in 1901 with chronic intoxication, physical altercations with his feisty first wife, and running a seedy Baltimore saloon. Thereafter he attempted a comeback, spending the better part of a decade touring minor league, outlaw baseball, and independent club outposts. After baseball, Nops kept a low profile, supporting himself by operating neighborhood tap rooms and/or tending bar until his passing in 1937. The story of this talented but erratic turn-of-the-20th-century figure follows.

Fredrich Henry Nops was born on June 23, 1875, in Toledo, Ohio. He was the third of five children2 born to factory worker Nicholas Nops (1841-1931) and his wife Mary Magdalena (née Yeakle or Yachley, 1842-1910), Swiss Catholic immigrants. When Jerry (as our subject was always known) was still a boy, the family relocated to Norwalk, a small Ohio city located about 50 miles southwest of Cleveland. Little is known of Nops’ formative years, but by the time that he proved worthy of newsprint, he had adopted a new first name: Jeremiah.3

Given that older brothers Bill and Emil were ballplayers, it is likely that Jerry followed them into the game. But the precise origins of his professional career are uncertain. According to Sporting Life, a teenage Jerry Nops was among the future major leaguers who played for the Anderson club of the unrecognized Indiana State League in the early 1890s.4 Whether true or not, by 1894 Nops was indisputably pitching for various clubs in his native Ohio. The earliest discovered press mention of his name has him pitching for the nine fielded by the Peters Clothing Company of Bellevue and striking out eight Clyde team batters during a 32-5 rout in late June.5 Later that summer, Nops pitched for semipro clubs in Sandusky,6 Delaware,7 Lima,8 and Cygnet,9 Ohio. Among those observing the young hurler in action was Danny Long, manager of the Toledo White Sox of the minor Western League. That winter, a suitably impressed Long signed Nops for the upcoming season.10

Standing a shade over 5-feet-8 and weighing 168 pounds, Nops was not an imposing physical specimen. But he had good stuff: a lively fastball, a variety of effective breaking pitches that included a wicked overhand drop, and excellent control. Nops was also a decent lefty batter who could be deployed in the outfield if needed, a valuable asset in an era of limited player rosters.

After a strong preseason showing, Sporting Life reported that “Manager Long, of Toledo, is inclined to fancy that he has a phenom in Jerry Nops, the young Norwalk south paw.”11 When the regular season commenced, the rookie hurler got off to a fast start. With late-inning relief help, he posted a 12-8 victory over the Detroit Tigers in his Western League debut.12 Nops then reeled off several more wins, prompting the National League’s New York Giants “to offer one of its outfielders and a cash bonus for pitcher Jerry Nops.”13 But club boss Long declined to part with him.

The success, however, was short-lived. Toledo descended into mediocrity on the field and was such a poor draw at the gate that in late June, the franchise was transferred to Terre Haute, Indiana. By season end, the Toledo-Terre Haute team had faded to a (52-72) seventh-place finish in final WL standings. Nops’ work also tailed off. He concluded the 1895 campaign with a 12-21 record, having allowed a whopping 431 base hits in 296 innings pitched. Nevertheless, the youngster remained a prospect – Long again rejected late-season offers for his contract.14

The franchise relocation spawned an internal squabble over who held the contract rights to its players, with club boss Long and the club directors from Terre Haute being at odds. With the major league draft of minor league players looming, it was widely reported that Long had sold Nops and four others to the Pittsburgh Pirates.15 But the Terre Haute directors promptly protested the sale, and for reasons now unclear the transfer was never consummated. Instead, Nops ended up with the Wilmington (Delaware) Peaches, a club of the newly formed minor Atlantic League that Long took over.

In Wilmington Nops was joined on the pitching staff by his older brother Bill.16 Jerry started the campaign with a six-hit, eight-strikeout victory over the Paterson (New Jersey) Silk Weavers, 7-2, and once again stimulated major league interest. In early May, it was reported that the New York Giants had offered $2,500 for the pitcher’s contract but were turned down; Long wanted $5,000.17 In striking contrast to his subsequent history, the youthful Nops was portrayed in the local press as a paragon of virtue, the Wilmington Evening Journal calling him “one of the most gentlemanly boys in the baseball business.”18 Another Wilmington daily added, Nops “does not drink, smoke or swear and no one ever heard him say a word on the ball field at which any one would take offense.”19 And yet another testimonial declared “Nops has exemplary habits and [a] fine disposition which are valuable attributes in a ball-player.”20 He was also deemed the club heartthrob, “the handsomest member of the Wilmington team”21 and “a favorite among the young women” who followed the Peaches.22

Pitching for an otherwise talentless club headed for a 58-79 season, Nops blossomed, posting a fine 23-16 record with a 2.08 ERA in 349 2/3 innings pitched. He also led the circuit in strikeouts (199).23 And just prior to the Atlantic League’s season close, he was auditioned by the National League’s Philadelphia Phillies.24 But Long retained the rights to Nops – at least for the time being.

Jerry Nops made a successful major league debut on September 7, 1896, setting down the Chicago Colts in a seven-inning contest, 10-5. He was touched for 11 base hits but walked none and was the beneficiary of a late-game Philadelphia rally. Press reviews of Nops’ performance were generally favorable,25 but the Phillies’ brass was underwhelmed and wanted to see the prospect in action again before committing to his purchase. While Philadelphia dithered, Nops returned to Wilmington, where he turned in a losing effort against the Atlantic League’s Philadelphia Athletics.26 Immediately thereafter, Long sold Nops’ contract to the National League’s Baltimore Orioles.27

With a roster that boasted five future Hall of Fame members (Willie Keeler, John McGraw, Hughie Jennings, Joe Kelley, and Wilbert Robinson), the Orioles were an offensive powerhouse. But the club’s pitching staff was unstable and a constant worry for manager Ned Hanlon. On September 14, Hanlon tried out his new acquisition and was pleased with Nops’ route-going 9-5 victory over Brooklyn. The Orioles skipper liked Nops’ “speed and almost perfect control. ‘He will make them all hit the ball,’” said Hanlon, “and when a pitcher compels the batter to hit he has him.’”28 Orioles catcher and team captain Robinson was also favorably impressed by Nops. “He has a great curve ball and great speed and such splendid control, he can put them over every time,” said Robbie. “When he gets a good slow ball he will be a wonder.”29

Nops doubtless derived personal satisfaction from his next outing, a shortened (to five innings) 7-2 trimming of Philadelphia.30 But he finished his Baltimore tryout on a down note, losing an 8-3 verdict to New York, which Hanlon blamed on the umpiring of Tom Lynch.31 Despite that setback, Hanlon was satisfied with the young hurler’s performance and kept Nops on the NL pennant-winning Baltimore player roster for the upcoming Temple Cup match against the second-place Cleveland Spiders. Nops saw no postseason action as the Orioles swept Cleveland in four games behind the pitching of Joe Corbett and Bill Hoffer, but received a $100 stipend plus expenses just for sitting on the Baltimore bench.32

In his maiden big-league season, Nops posted a combined 3-1 record, albeit with a high 5.90 ERA in 29 innings pitched. Over that span, he surrendered 40 base hits but walked only three batters while striking out nine. That was good enough for manager Hanlon; over the winter Nops was signed for the 1897 Orioles’ season.33

Nops started his campaign with a 6-3 win over New York in late April and then settled in as the junior member of a Baltimore rotation led by right-handers Corbett, Hoffer, and Arlie Pond. In mid-May, Nops recorded his first major league shutout, a 5-0 whitewash of the Louisville Colonels.34 By early July, he had 12 wins to his credit – but was then stricken with a mysterious malady that left him “weak, and his blood is not in good condition.”35 It took nearly a month for Nops to recuperate and return to the box. Thereafter, he won two of three starts before a recurrence of the illness, by then diagnosed as malaria, sidelined him for another three weeks.36 Used sparingly in September, Nops captured his final five decisions (with one tie) but the Orioles’ splendid 90-40-6 record was good for only second place in final National League standings, two games inferior to the pennant-winning (93-39-3) Boston Beaneaters.

Despite the time lost, Nops put up excellent numbers. In 30 games, he went 20-6 with a team-best 2.81 ERA in 220 2/3 innings pitched. As a result, Hanlon bypassed Corbett (24-8, 3.11), Hoffer (22-11, 4.30), and Pond (18-9, 3.52) and handed Nops the ball for Game One of the Temple Cup showdown against Boston. Unhappily, he proved unequal to the task, surrendering 12 base hits and nine walks in losing a 13-12 slugfest. Given another start in Game Four, Nops was staked to an early 11-0 lead but required relief help from Corbett to register a 12-11 victory. The win was Baltimore’s third in the series, and the Orioles retained the Cup with a 9-3 triumph secured by Hoffer in Game Five.

The following season, the Baltimore staff underwent a major overhaul. Joe Corbett refused to return East and spent the year in his native San Francisco. Bill Hoffer went 0-4 in five early season starts and was released. Arlie Pond, a medical school graduate, left the Orioles to serve as a US Navy physician during the Spanish-American War. Although Nops was the staff’s lone returnee, he remained the club’s number four starter, superseded in the rotation by Doc McJames (obtained in a trade with Washington), Jay Hughes (a Pacific Coast League graduate), and Al Maul (who had been signed but little used during the 1897 season). By then, Nops had added some idiosyncracies to his pitching repertoire, including a peculiar back-to-the-batter pitching delivery.37 And he had become a notorious dawdler on the slab, driving fans and the sporting press, if not opposition batsmen, to distraction by inspecting the baseball, fussing with his uniform, and counting the house between pitches.38

The 96-53-5 Orioles finished second to Boston again in 1898, but the work of McJames (27-15, 2.36), Hughes (23-12, 3.20), and Maul (20-7, 2.10) vindicated their preferential rotation status. Nops’ performance, however, regressed somewhat. He went 16-9, with a 3.56 ERA in 235 innings pitched. And for the first time questions about Nops’ character were raised, with Sporting Life’s local correspondent making insinuations about the bona fides of the illness that had sidelined the young lefty the previous summer.39 But the shortcomings that so vexed his managers had not yet been exhibited (or at least publicly reported), and Nops was promptly reserved by the Orioles at season’s end.40

Over the winter of 1898-1899, the owners of the Baltimore Orioles (Harry Von der Horst and Ned Hanlon) and Brooklyn Bridegrooms (Gus Abell and Charles Ebbets) agreed to consolidate their holdings and to operate the Baltimore and Brooklyn franchises as a syndicate. In return for their half-share in the Brooklyn club, Von der Horst and Hanlon assigned the creme of the Baltimore playing roster – outfielders Willie Keeler and Joe Kelley, shortstop Hughie Jennings, and first baseman Dan McGann, plus pitchers McJames, Hughes, and Maul – to the Brooklyn club, which Hanlon would manage. Only John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson (who refused to be separated from their popular Baltimore café business) remained with the Orioles.

Initially, it was reported that Jerry Nops would be on the player caravan headed to Brooklyn.41 But he was not, suggesting that — the absence of public disclosure of any conflict between the new Brooklyn manager and Nops notwithstanding — Hanlon had already had enough of “the hardest man to handle he ever encountered.”42 Instead, Nops was left behind in Baltimore, where he would be incoming Orioles skipper McGraw’s problem. And McGraw did not have to wait long for the pitcher to give him headaches.

In the beginning, however, Nops pitched excellently. In the second game of the 1899 season, he set down New York, 8-1, and soon thereafter registered a pair of shutout victories over Boston (1-0 on May 1, and 5-0 nine days later). By July 1, Nops’ record stood at a handsome 10-4, but he had raised concern by failing to accompany the team on a road trip 10 days earlier and briefly disappearing.43 Upon rejoining the Orioles, he lost four consecutive decisions, including a 7-2 setback wherein “Nops was hammered out of the box in the sixth inning” by a hapless (then 12-62) Cleveland Spiders club now generally considered the worst team in major league baseball history. Immediately after the game, McGraw suspended Nops without salary for a month.44 In news reports of the suspension, it was revealed that “for some time Nops has been out of form”45 and that the suspended hurler had previously had “several convivial episodes. It was not Jerry’s first offense.”46 The phrasing was likely era sports page jargon for bouts of heavy drinking.

While Nops was under suspension, an intra-syndicate deal that would have transferred him and Baltimore infielder Gene DeMontreville to Brooklyn in exchange for Hughie Jennings was vetoed by Hanlon.47 Once back in uniform, Nops posted an 11-inning complete-game victory over Philadelphia, 8-5, prompting the Baltimore Sun to remark that the effort “showed that, when he keeps in condition, [Nops] can still pitch winning ball.”48 Two months thereafter, the Sun repeated the sentiment after Nops turned in a strong late-season performance against the Phillies: “It was one of Jerry Nops’ good days, and he showed what a wonderful pitcher he would be if he would keep himself in condition.”49

Although his final season numbers did not compare with those of Baltimore staff leaders Joe McGinnity (28-16, 2.68 ERA in 366 1/3 innings) and Frank Kitson (22-16, 2.78 ERA in 326 2/3 innings), Nops provided useful service: a 17-11 record, with a 4.03 ERA in 259 innings pitched. He also helped the club with the bat, posting a solid.276 BA (29-for-105), with 12 RBIs. Under first-year manager McGraw, the Orioles had gone a respectable 86-62-4 and finished fourth in the bloated 12-club National League. But the 1899 season was the last for the NL Baltimore franchise.

Before a new season began, the life of Jerry Nops was transformed by three events, none of them salutary. In October 1899, he became the owner/proprietor of a Baltimore saloon,50 a fraught venture for an immature young man with a weakness for alcohol. Then during the winter meeting of club owners, Nops’ employment as a major league ballplayer was jeopardized by the contraction of the National League to an eight-club circuit, with the Baltimore Orioles being liquidated in the downsizing. Thereafter in March 1900, Nops took Cecilia Bangerdt Horrlein, a combative 24-year-old divorcée with two young children, as his first wife. Their union quickly turned tempestuous and periodically violent, necessitating intervention by the Baltimore police and criminal courts.

Problems at home and in the saloon lay in Nops’ future. His more immediate concern was his standing in baseball. Although Nops was among the Orioles transferred to Brooklyn, manager Hanlon did not particularly want him back and shopped Nops’ contract. He found no takers,51 and thus Jerry made Brooklyn’s Opening Day roster. An early-season injury suffered by left-hander Jack Dunn then afforded Nops an unexpected opportunity to show his stuff. He got off slowly, losing his first two starts before posting consecutive victories in mid-June. Nops then authored his major league masterwork: a one-hit, six-strikeout, 2-0 blanking of Cincinnati on July 5.52 After that, however, Nops’ work declined. “Hanlon asked him the reason for his slump and as Jerry could give no satisfactory answer, and seemed to have no desire to improve, he was let go” by the club in early August.53 In nine outings, Nops had gone 4-4 with a 3.84 ERA in 68 innings pitched for Brooklyn. Although no specific incidents of misbehavior were reported by the press, the comment that “now that Nops is gone, Hanlon says he has no worries whatever about his players”54 seemed to suggest that Nops’ release was not entirely performance-related.

Following his release, Nops was signed by the Connecticut State League-leading Norwich Witches. But the two late-season victories that he posted for the club were later vacated by league officials, with a $50 fine imposed on Norwich manager Fred Doe for using ineligible players.55 Unconcerned, Nops returned to Baltimore to attend to his saloon.

The placement of a franchise in Baltimore by the newly declared major American (née Western) League afforded Nops a convenient chance to revive his pitching career. Along with former NL Baltimore Orioles Joe McGinnity and Harry Howell, Nops was among the pitchers signed by playing manager John McGraw.56 Nops reported to Orioles’ spring camp in only “fair shape”57 and did not receive a starting assignment until June 20, when he threw a four-hitter in a 7-2 win over the last-place Milwaukee Brewers.58 He pitched regularly after that and in mid-August, Nops’ record stood at an excellent 11-3. By then, however, he had found a drinking partner in veteran right-hander Frank Foreman59and his performance plummeted. Nops lost seven-straight decisions before a late season 5-4 win over Milwaukee finalized his season’s record at 12-10 (with a 4.08 ERA) in 27 games.

During the ensuing winter, McGraw offered the no-longer-wanted Nops to Boston “gratis,” but was turned down.60 Although Nops remained on the Baltimore Orioles’ playing roster for a time, the club did not offer him a contract for the 1902 season. And despite fierce inter-league competition for playing talent, no contract overtures were extended to the unreliable left-hander by any other American or National League club. At age 26, Jerry Nops’ major league career was over. In 136 games, he had posted an eye-catching 72-41 record, albeit with a somewhat high 3.70 ERA in 988 1/3 innings pitched. Over that span, he allowed 1,083 base hits (good for a .277 opponents’ batting average), striking out 294 enemy batters while walking 281. Nops supplied some offense with his bat, going 85-for-385 (.221) respectable for a pitcher. However, he had not fielded his position particularly well, with 36 errors in 246 chances yielding a lackluster .854 FA.

Out of Organized Baseball, Nops’ life soon descended into chaos. In June 1902, Cecilia Nops had a local tavern owner arrested for allowing Jerry to drink on a Sunday.61 Six weeks later, an intoxicated Nops was extracted from his own saloon by police and charged with assaulting his wife. In court, Cecilia testified that Nops had choked and beaten her, causing spasms and leaving body bruises that an attending court matron verified. Jerry had also threatened to shoot her. “Beyond declaring that Mrs. Nops’ spasms were hereditary, Nops made no defense” to the allegations.62 At the conclusion of proceedings, the accused was released on $500 bail and ordered “to keep the peace for six months.”63

That November, Nops’ attempt to transfer his liquor license to another bar owner was temporarily stayed because “the place has been frequented by disorderly persons and drunken women.”64 In January 1903, the Nopses were both arrested for “disturbing the quiet of the neighborhood” after Cecilia caught Jerry on the doorstep of another woman and started a public ruckus. The two were fined $25 each by a police court judge.65 The couple finally separated in August and shortly thereafter, Jerry initiated what would become drawn-out divorce proceedings, charging his wife (who was no saint herself)66 with unfaithfulness and abandonment.67

In December 1903, it was widely reported that Jerry Nops was attempting a comeback and had been signed by John McGraw, by then manager of the National League’s New York Giants.68 Nops was cut when he failed to report for the Giants’ spring camp,69 but soon thereafter he embarked on a six-season minor league odyssey. The Nops tour began in May 1904 with the Wilmington Peaches, at that time a member of the independent Tri-State League. By July, Jerry was working for another Tri-State League club in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He finished the year with the Providence Grays of the Class A Eastern League, going 1-4 in five late-season appearances.

Nops returned to Providence the following season and helped the club (now called the Clamdiggers) to an Eastern League pennant by going 17-12 in 35 games. But things went sour in 1906. Nops was frequently absent without leave from the club and ineffective (0-4) on the occasions that he was available. In mid-June, Providence club boss Pat Powers suspended Nops for the remainder of the 1906 season.70 Meanwhile back in Baltimore, a paramour named Alice Barbell filed a lawsuit against Nops for return of a diamond ring that he had obtained from her.71 In July, Jerry was signed by the Rutland, Vermont, club of the independent Northern League72 but appears not to have reported. At the end of the season, he remained on the Clamdiggers reserve list.73 He spent the winter as a salesman in a Providence clothing store.74

Released by Providence, Nops labored on, bouncing from the Trenton (New Jersey) Tigers of the now Class B Tri-State League to the Lynn (Massachusetts) Shoemakers of the Class B New England League to the Steubenville (Ohio) Stubs of the Class D Pennsylvania-Ohio-Maryland League in 1907. His 1908 record shows moves from the Bridgeport Orators of the Class B Connecticut State League to the Elizabeth, New Jersey, and Brooklyn clubs of the outlaw Union Association. He retired after pitching a single game for the Reading, Pennsylvania, entry in the independent Atlantic League in May 1909.75

Once home in Baltimore, Nops was obliged to respond when estranged wife Cecilia restarted long-deferred divorce proceedings by filing her own petition in a Washington, DC, court.76 Finally, a divorce decree was entered in Jerry’s favor by a Baltimore circuit court in October 1910.77

Divorce left Nops free to enter a second, far more tragic marriage. Jerry wedded 34-year-old Helen Emma Miller in 1913 and began cheating on her soon thereafter. By 1918, the couple had separated and Jerry was court-ordered to pay $10 weekly support to his wife.78 After a reconciliation, Emma caught “another woman hanging on Jerry’s arm near their home” and punched her in the eye.79 After helping his companion make her getaway, Nops returned to the family residence and throttled his wife, saying that he “only came back to croak her.”80 Arrested for breach of the peace, Nops was released on $300 bond and instructed by the court to “stay away from his wife.”81

During these years, Nops worked as a hotel clerk and bartender in Baltimore, Wilmington, and elsewhere.82 In 1925, he and Emma, back together again, relocated to Camden, New Jersey, where Jerry eventually opened a neighborhood bar.83 On the evening of October 5, 1927, Emma hosted a small dinner party for family at the Nops residence. She then retired to an upstairs bedroom and slashed her throat. She had expired by the time that her body was discovered.84

Almost 10 years later, death came for Jerry Nops. He suffered a stroke and died at West Jersey Hospital in Camden on March 26, 1937. His remains were subsequently transported to hometown Norwalk, Ohio, where a Requiem Mass was said at St. Paul Roman Catholic Church. Interment next to his parents in the parish cemetery followed. Survivors included his brother Emil and sisters Lena Nops and Martha Stulba.

Glowing accounts of his achievements with the Temple Cup-winning Baltimore Orioles of four decades earlier highlighted sports page remembrance of the late Jerry Nops.85 He had lived to be 61 and, happily for his memory, the darker episodes of his life drew no newsprint mention.

Acknowledgments

This article was reviewed by Gregory H. Wolf and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Terry Bohn.

Sources

Sources for the biographical info imparted above include the Jerry Nops file maintained at the Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York; the Nops profiles published in Major League Baseball Profiles, 1871-1900, Vol. 1, David Nemec, ed. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2011), and the New York Clipper, June 30, 1900; US Census and other government records accessed via Ancestry.com; and certain of the newspaper articles cited in the endnotes. Stats have been taken from Baseball-Reference.

Notes

1 “News and Comment,” Sporting Life, September 22, 1900: 4.

2 The other Nops children were William (born 1871), Emil (1873), Magdalena (1882), and Martha (1885).

3 Although modern baseball reference works list him as Jeremiah H. Nops, no record of an official first name change was discovered by the writer. And today our subject’s remains lay beneath a cemetery headstone inscribed Fredrich H. Nops. his name at christening. See “Nops Rites at Norwalk Today,” Sandusky (Ohio) Register, March 30, 1937: 10.

4 “Their Birthplace Sold,” Sporting Life, September 4, 1897: 1.

5 See “Five Innings Was Enough,” Cleveland Leader, June 24, 1894: 3.

6 Per “Lots of Fun,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 9, 1894: 3: Although beaten 17-7 by the National League Cleveland Naps in an exhibition game, “Siegriest and Nops, who did the twirling for Sandusky, pitched very fair ball, and at times, were quite effective.”

7 “Other Games: Delaware 5 – Piqua 1,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 2, 1894: 3: “Nops, Delaware’s pitcher, pitched a fine game.”

8 “Other Games: Exciting and Interesting,” Cleveland Leader, September 6, 1894: 3: “Pitcher Nops, formerly of the Delaware Club, pitched his first game and won it” in a 7-4 Lima victory over Delphos.

9 Per “Jerry H. Nops,” New York Clipper, June 30, 1900: 399. See also, “Nops Won His Game,” Wilmington (Delaware) Evening Journal, September 8, 1896: 6.

10 As reported in “Now Can All Survive,” Toledo Blade, December 1, 1894: 3. See also, “Jerry H. Nops,” above.

11 “Personal,” Sporting Life, April 6, 1895: 13.

12 See “Two Out of Three,” Detroit Free Press, May 4, 1895: 2; “Rather Easy for Toledo,” Toledo Blade, May 4, 1895: 3. Nops held Detroit batsmen to two hits over the first seven innings but faltered in the eighth. He was then relieved by a shaky Jot Goar who pitched poorly but held onto the Toledo victory.

13 “Condensed Dispatches,” Sporting Life, June 1, 1895: 2.

14 See “Sporting Notes,” Indianapolis Journal, September 26, 1895: 5.

15 As reported in “A Wholesale Purchase,” Pittsburg Press, November 27, 1895: 9. See also, “Notes of the National Game,” New York Herald, November 29, 1895: 13; “A Bunch of Five,” (Covington) Kentucky Post, November 28, 1895: 1; “Big Pittsburg Team,” Washington (DC) Evening Star, November 28, 1895: 4.

16 Bill Nops was released after making two early season appearances for Wilmington.

17 See “New York Wants ‘His Nobs,’” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 28, 1896: 5: “Giants Want a Wilmington Twirler,” Washington Evening Star, April 28, 1896: 4.

18 “Sports Kinetoscoped,” Wilmington Evening Journal, April 21, 1896: 6.

19 “Nops Is a Favorite,” Wilmington (Delaware) Morning News, September 8, 1896: 3.

20  Nops Idolized,” Wilmington (Delaware) Every Evening, September 14, 1896: 4.

21 “Sports Kinetoscoped,” above.

22 “Sporting Notes,” Wilmington Morning News, April 3, 1896: 5.

23 Per The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, eds. (Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, Inc., 3d ed. 2007), 170.

24 As reported in “Nops to Join the Phillies,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 7, 1896: 5; “Lost Three Games,” Wilmington Evening Journal, September 7, 1896: 6.

25 Favorable reviews in the Philadelphia press were republished in “What They Say of Nops,” Wilmington Evening Journal, September 8, 1896: 6.

26 Nops gave up eight unearned runs before being relieved in a 13-12 loss, per the Philadelphia Times, September 11, 1896: 8.

27 See “Baltimore Buys Nops,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 14, 1896: 5; “Mr. Hanlon to Try Jerry Nops,” Baltimore Sun, September 12, 1896: 6. Disaffected Phillies co-owner John I. Rogers promptly threatened Long with a lawsuit (but ultimately dropped the matter). See “Rogers to Sue about Jerry Nops,” Baltimore Sun, September 15, 1896: 6. Long’s side of the Nops controversy was subsequently recounted by sportswriter Jacob Morse in “Hub Happenings,” Sporting Life, November 7, 1896: 2.

28 “Nops Idolized,” above.

29 Same as above.

30 “Phillies Downed Again,” Baltimore Sun, September 21, 1896: 6: “Nops pitched an excellent game … and was strongest at the close.”

31 “New York Beats Baltimore,” Baltimore Sun, September 25, 1896: 6: Hanlon called Lynch’s work “the worst we have had this season,” while “Captain Robinson exclaimed, indignantly: ‘It was awful, and I told Lynch so. He missed not fewer than twenty strikes on Nops. Nops would cut the plate again and again, breast high, and Lynch would call them balls.’”

32 “The Champions’ Extra Money,” Baltimore Sun, October 13, 1896: 6.

33 Per “News and Comment,” Sporting Life, December 19, 1896: 2.

34 See “Nops Did It,” Baltimore Sun, May 18, 1897: 6.

35 “Diamond Dust,” Washington (DC) Evening Times, July 8, 1897: 7. A physician consulted by Nops diagnosed the young pitcher’s condition as rheumatism. See “Orioles Who Are at Home,” Baltimore Sun, July 20, 1897: 6.

36 See “Baseball Notes,” Wilmington Evening Journal, August 30, 1897: 7.

37 “Nops faces the batter, when, with a jump, he lands himself in the box facing second base. Pausing a moment, his next move is an awe-inspiring jerk of the ball as he twists around, and another kangaroo jump completes the movement,” per “Baseball Club Deals Make Talk,” New York Evening Journal, April 5, 1898: 9. See also, “Diamond Dust,” Washington Evening Times, May 10, 1898: 6; “Startling Style of Pitching,” (Trenton, New Jersey) Daily State Gazette, April 29, 1898: 7.

38 See Rex Mulford, Jr., “Up a Peg,” Cincinnati Post, August 29, 1899: 2: “[Nops] can kill more time putting on frills that seem useless than any other twirler in fast company, George Cuppy alone excepted.” See also, “Reason for It: Slow Pitching Merely for Effect on Batsmen,” Sporting Life, July 21, 1900: 1.

39 Albert Mott, “Mott’s Missive,” Sporting Life, March 26, 1898: 3: “Nops … was a weakling last season, owing to a half-tone illness that kept him in such a state that he didn’t know whether he was sick or well.” Nops indignantly denied that “my inability to play on the diamond more last season was due to any carelessness of mine. It was on account of the malarial fever contracted during the spring practice last year.” “Nops Goes to Baltimore,” Cleveland Leader, March 11, 1898: 3.

40 Per “The League List,” Sporting Life, October 8, 1898: 1. Note: There was no post-season championship as the Temple Cup was discontinued after 1897.

41 See “Baltimore Bulletin,” Sporting Life, January 7, 1899: 5.

42 See again, “News and Comment,” Sporting Life, September 22, 1900: 4.

43 See “Base Ball Notes,” Washington (DC) Evening Star, June 20, 1899, 7, republishing news from the Baltimore Herald. See also, “New England League,” Waterbury (Connecticut) Evening Democrat, June 21, 1899: 7. Nops was later discovered at his residence in Baltimore complaining of a sore arm and maintained that McGraw had excused his absence from the road trip.

44 Per “Cleveland Took One,” Baltimore Sun, July 18, 1899: 6. See also, “Wonders Will Never Cease,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 18, 1899: 6.

45 “Puffs from the Pipe,” Kansas City Journal, July 24, 1899: 5.

46 “Sporting,” Denver Post, July 28, 1899: 14.

47 See “Big Deal Declared Off on Hanlon’s Demand,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 5, 1899: 14. Hanlon explained that “he never wanted Nops and DeMontreville and did not consider them as the equals of the men he now has” in Brooklyn. “Hanlon Had Little to Add,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 6, 1899: 10.

48 “The Orioles’ Good Trip,” Baltimore Sun, August 9, 1899: 6.

49 “Tied the Phillies,” Baltimore Sun, October 6, 1899: 6. Nops allowed Philadelphia only two unearned runs in a 2-2 tie called after nine innings due to darkness.

50 Per “Base Ball Notes,” Reading (Pennsylvania) Eagle, October 29, 1899: 2.

51 The Eastern League Worcester Farmers were among the clubs declining to purchase Nops’ services. See “Worcester Way,” Sporting Life, April 14, 1900: 3.

52 See “Nops Held Reds Down to a Single Hit,” Brooklyn Times, July 6, 1900: 4.

53 “Champions Had a Longed-For Day Off” Brooklyn Times, August 9, 1900: 6. Sore-armed Jack Dunn was released at the same time.

54 “Baseball Notes,” Brooklyn Times, August 29, 1900: 6.

55 As reported in “For Borrowing Pitchers,” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, November 2, 1900: 15; “Connecticut League Acts,” Boston Globe, November 1, 1900: 8; and elsewhere. The sanction also covered Norwich’s employment of pitcher Ted Lewis, a late-season release of the NL Boston Beaneaters.

56 See “American League,” Sporting Life, February 2, 1901: 4; “American Leaguers Home,” Baltimore Sun, January 31, 1901: 6.

57 “At the Post,” Sporting Life, April 27, 1901: 5.

58 See “Well, Well, Jerry: Nops Returns to Life with His Shoots and Benders,” Baltimore Sun, June 21, 1901: 6.

59 When he released them the following winter, manager McGraw revealed that he could keep Nops and Foreman in training. See “Sporting Notes,” Grand Rapids (Michigan) Evening Press, December 4, 1901: 5.

60 Per “Hates Contract Jumpers,” Baltimore Sun, December 5, 1901: 6.

61 See “Jerry Nops as a Witness,” Baltimore Sun, June 25, 1902: 12.

62 “Nops Couldn’t Give Bail,” Baltimore Sun, August 9, 1902: 12.

63 Per “Jerry Nops Gives Bail,” Baltimore Sun, August 10, 1902: 14. See also, “How Hath Jerry Nops Fallen,” Wilmington Evening Journal, August 11, 1902: 6; “Base-Ball Notes,” Richmond Dispatch, August 10, 1902: 22.

64 See “Withdraws Application,” Baltimore Sun, November 12, 1902: 12.

65 “Jerry Nops and Wife Fined,” Baltimore Sun, January 18, 1903: 7; “Herr und Frau Nops,” (Baltimore) Der Deutsche Correspondent, January 18, 1903: 4.

66 In addition to her altercations with Jerry, Cecilia Nops was suspected of dealing in fake jewelry and stolen goods and ran Cecilia’s Cascade, her own disreputable Baltimore saloon. Later, her third husband accused Cecilia of lifting $945 from his pants pocket while he was asleep in 1915 divorce proceedings. See “Says His Wife Stole $945,” Baltimore Sun, August 20, 1915: 12.

67 Per “She Was a Bride at 10,” Baltimore Sun, January 19, 1906: 9.

68 See e.g., “Dust from the Diamond,” Trenton (New Jersey) Evening Times, December 23, 1903: 11; “New York Gets Jerry Nops,” Baltimore Sun, December 20, 1903: 9; “McGraw Signs Jerry Nops,” New York Sun, December 19, 1903: 14.

69 As reported in “Baseball Notes,” New Orleans Item, April 6, 1904: 6; “Sporting Small Talk,” (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot, March 31, 1904: 12. McGraw also suspended Nops indefinitely and fined him $100, all to no effect.

70  “Powers Suspends Nops,” Providence Evening Bulletin, June 18, 1906: 19; “Jere Nops Suspended,” Providence News-Democrat, June 18, 1906: 3. Note: Jere is another spelling of the nickname for Jeremiah.

71 “Sinmerthboller Ring,” Der Deutsche Correspondent, June 17, 1906: 8. The disposition of the lawsuit is unknown.

72 Nops signing by Rutland was reported in the (Jersey City) Evening Journal, July 24, 1906: 11. See also, “News Notes,” Sporting Life, August 11, 1906: 15.

73 Per “Reserves Providence Players,” Providence Evening Bulletin, September 14, 1906: 10; Powers Sends List of Players,” Providence News-Democrat, September 14, 1906: 3.

74 See “Jerry Nops, Baseball Pitcher, Becomes Salesman,” Providence Evening Bulletin, November 23, 1906: 8. The store, called The Outlet, also used Nops’ name in its newspaper advertisements.

75 Nops’ retirement from the game was reported in “Diamond Dust,” Lebanon (Pennsylvania) Daily News, May 21, 1909: 6; and “Waves of the Atlantic,” Reading (Pennsylvania) Times, May 21, 1909: 7.

76 See “Nops Sued for Divorce,” Baltimore Sun, September 25, 1909: 10; “Jerry Nops’ Wife Asks Divorce,” Washington (DC) Post, September 25, 1909: 16. Cecilia’s complaint cited Nops with desertion.

77 “Jerry Nops Gets Divorce,” Baltimore American, October 28, 1910: 13; “‘Jerry’ Gets Divorce,” Baltimore Evening Sun, October 27, 1910: 12.

78 “Jerry Nops in Court,” Wilmington Every Evening, November 6, 1918: 6; “Must Support Wife,” Wilmington Evening Journal, November 6, 1918: 7.

79 “Landed One on Other Woman’s Eye,” Wilmington Evening Journal, January 20, 1920: 13; “Wife Accuses Husband,” Wilmington Every Evening, January 20, 1920: 18.

80 “Landed One,” above.

81 Same as above.

82 As reflected in US Census reports and various city directories.

83 According to Bill Reedy, “Passing of One Player Developed in Reading for Famous Baseball Club,” Reading Eagle, March 31, 1937: 14.

84 Per “Wife of Old ‘Oriole’ Victim of Own Knife,” (Camden) Evening Courier, October 6, 1927: 2. Emma Nops had been under psychiatric care and her suicide was attributed to “mental derangement as a result of worry over ill health.”

85 See e.g., “Death Takes Jeremiah Nops, Old-Time Member of Orioles,” The Sporting News, April 1, 1937: 7; Dave Wilson, “Nops Ex-Oriole, Dies,” Philadelphia Inquirer, March 28, 1937: 67.