Career
A right-handed pitcher who batted left-handed, Nolan broke into baseball with the Indianapolis Blues of the National League in 1878. On May 21, Nolan set down the Milwaukee Grays with just 2 hits‚ but the Blues barely won the 6–5 game because of 11 errors and passed balls. He was expelled by the team on August 14 when he told the team he was going to a funeral, but instead went drinking. During the league meetings in December, Nolan's appeal for reinstatement was denied.
In 1881 Nolan was allowed to return to the league, this time with the Cleveland Blues. On July 23, Nolan not only pitched Cleveland to a 7–3 win over the Buffalo Bisons, but went 4-for-4 at the plate. Nolan and teammates John Clapp and Jim McCormick missed the team's September 20 game in Worcester because their return from a side trip to New York City was delayed by a train wreck. They were each fined $100 each.
At a National League meeting in Saratoga Springs, New York later that month, the league adopted a blacklist of players who were barred from playing for or against any NL teams until they were removed by unanimous vote of the league clubs. Nolan was one of the ten blacklisted for "confirmed dissipation and general insubordination". The other nine were Sadie Houck‚ Lip Pike‚ Buttercup Dickerson‚ Mike Dorgan‚ Bill Crowley‚ John Fox‚ Lew Brown‚ Emil Gross‚ and Ed Caskin.
He pitched in 7 games, all losses, for the Pittsburg Alleghenys in 1883 before being released for disciplinary reasons. He played two more professional seasons for the Wilmington Quicksteps and the Philadelphia Quakers before retiring.
Bill James and Rob Neyer report Nolan has having thrown an unusually fast (for his day) underhand fastball and a combination of curveballs.
Read more about this topic: The Only Nolan
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“In time your relatives will come to accept the idea that a career is as important to you as your family. Of course, in time the polar ice cap will melt.”
—Barbara Dale (b. 1940)
“I doubt that I would have taken so many leaps in my own writing or been as clear about my feminist and political commitments if I had not been anointed as early as I was. Some major form of recognition seems to have to mark a woman’s career for her to be able to go out on a limb without having her credentials questioned.”
—Ruth Behar (b. 1956)
“A black boxer’s career is the perfect metaphor for the career of a black male. Every day is like being in the gym, sparring with impersonal opponents as one faces the rudeness and hostility that a black male must confront in the United States, where he is the object of both fear and fascination.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)