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Bill Nicholson played 16 major-league seasons (1936-1953) as a OF (1,471). Career totals and every year-by-year line below come from the SABR/Lahman database (CC BY-SA), covering 1871-2025.
Showing 16 season lines
| Year | Age | Team | G | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1936 | 22 | PHA | 11 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .000 | .000 | -100 |
| 1939 | 25 | CHN | 58 | 220 | 37 | 65 | 5 | 38 | 0 | 20 | 29 | .295 | .818 | 126 |
| 1940 | 26 | CHN | 135 | 491 | 78 | 146 | 25 | 98 | 2 | 50 | 67 | .297 | .899 | 154 |
| 1941 | 27 | CHN | 147 | 532 | 74 | 135 | 26 | 98 | 1 | 82 | 91 | .254 | .810 | 135 |
| 1942 | 28 | CHN | 152 | 588 | 83 | 173 | 21 | 78 | 8 | 76 | 80 | .294 | .859 | 159 |
| 1943 | 29 | CHN | 154 | 608 | 95 | 188 | 29 | 128 | 4 | 71 | 86 | .309 | .917 | 172 |
| 1944 | 30 | CHN | 156 | 582 | 116 | 167 | 33 | 122 | 3 | 93 | 71 | .287 | .935 | 170 |
| 1945 | 31 | CHN | 151 | 559 | 82 | 136 | 13 | 88 | 4 | 92 | 73 | .243 | .734 | 111 |
| 1946 | 32 | CHN | 105 | 296 | 36 | 65 | 8 | 41 | 1 | 44 | 44 | .220 | .683 | 100 |
| 1947 | 33 | CHN | 148 | 487 | 69 | 119 | 26 | 75 | 1 | 87 | 83 | .244 | .831 | 127 |
| 1948 | 34 | CHN | 143 | 494 | 68 | 129 | 19 | 67 | 2 | 81 | 60 | .261 | .816 | 128 |
| 1949 | 35 | PHI | 98 | 299 | 42 | 70 | 11 | 40 | 1 | 45 | 53 | .234 | .735 | 103 |
| 1950 | 36 | PHI | 41 | 58 | 3 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 16 | .224 | .766 | 107 |
| 1951 | 37 | PHI | 85 | 170 | 23 | 41 | 8 | 30 | 0 | 25 | 24 | .241 | .801 | 121 |
| 1952 | 38 | PHI | 55 | 88 | 17 | 24 | 6 | 19 | 0 | 14 | 26 | .273 | .902 | 158 |
| 1953 | 39 | PHI | 38 | 62 | 12 | 13 | 2 | 16 | 0 | 12 | 20 | .210 | .757 | 103 |
| Year | Pos | G | GS | PO | A | E | DP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1936 | OF | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1939 | OF | 58 | 0 | 123 | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| 1940 | OF | 123 | 0 | 235 | 10 | 13 | 2 |
| 1941 | OF | 143 | 0 | 293 | 10 | 9 | 2 |
| 1942 | OF | 151 | 0 | 327 | 18 | 5 | 2 |
| 1943 | OF | 154 | 0 | 340 | 16 | 8 | 2 |
| 1944 | OF | 156 | 0 | 305 | 18 | 7 | 4 |
| 1945 | OF | 151 | 0 | 300 | 12 | 3 | 4 |
| 1946 | OF | 80 | 0 | 179 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
| 1947 | OF | 140 | 0 | 281 | 7 | 3 | 1 |
| 1948 | OF | 136 | 0 | 244 | 7 | 5 | 1 |
| 1949 | OF | 91 | 0 | 185 | 10 | 1 | 1 |
| 1950 | OF | 15 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1951 | OF | 41 | 0 | 75 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1952 | OF | 19 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1953 | OF | 12 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Team codes are the source codes (e.g. NYN for the New York Mets, BS1 for the 1875 Boston club). OPS+ is league-season normalized, not park-adjusted; unrecorded source values (such as RBI in the earliest recorded seasons) are absent, never zero-filled.
Bill Nicholson won: Baseball Magazine All-Star 1940 (ML), Baseball Magazine All-Star 1940 (NL), Baseball Magazine All-Star 1943 (ML), Baseball Magazine All-Star 1943 (NL), TSN All-Star 1943 (ML), Baseball Magazine All-Star 1944 (ML), Baseball Magazine All-Star 1944 (NL).
MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year voting history (5 ballot finishes, 0 wins). Full year pages: 1944, 1943, 1942, 1941, 1940.
| Year | Award | Lg | Rank | Points | First-place votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940 | Most Valuable Player | NL | 20 | 12 / 336 | 0 |
| 1941 | Most Valuable Player | NL | 16 | 16 / 336 | 0 |
| 1942 | Most Valuable Player | NL | 19 | 14 / 336 | 0 |
| 1943 | Most Valuable Player | NL | 3 | 181 / 336 | 5 |
| 1944 | Most Valuable Player | NL | 2 | 189 / 336 | 4 |
Bill Nicholson ranks on 3 all-time single-season position leaderboards (1871-2025, league-season-normalized OPS+ / ERA+).
| Rank | Board | Year | Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| #100 | right fielders | 1943 | 172 OPS+ |
| #116 | right fielders | 1944 | 170 OPS+ |
| #156 | right fielders | 1942 | 159 OPS+ |
Every career total and season line is computed from the SABR / Sean Lahman baseball database (2025 edition, CC BY-SA 3.0), the same source behind our historical position leaderboards. Rate stats use league-season normalization only (OPS+ and ERA+ as marked, never park-adjusted); unrecorded early-era values stay absent rather than being invented. Career totals sum only what the source records.
Award winners and MVP / Cy Young / Rookie of the Year voting history come from the same database; the year pages live under MLB award voting history. Official transactions (2011 to the current season) come from the MLB StatsAPI feed on our transactions archive.