Nixey Callahan

James Joseph Callahan (March 18, 1874 – October 4, 1934) was an American pitcher and left fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Colts/Orphans, and Chicago White Sox. He also managed the White Sox, as well as the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1902, he pitched the first no-hitter in American League history.

Jimmy Callahan
Pitcher / Left fielder
Born: (1874-03-18)March 18, 1874 Fitchburg, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died: October 4, 1934(1934-10-04) (aged 60) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
May 12, 1894, for the Philadelphia Phillies
Last MLB appearance
July 29, 1913, for the Chicago White Sox
MLB statistics
Batting average	.273
Home runs	11
Runs batted in	394
Win–loss record	99–73
Earned run average	3.39
Strikeouts	445
Teams
As player Philadelphia Phillies (1894) Chicago Colts / Orphans (1897–1900) Chicago White Sox (1901–1905, 1911–1913) As manager Chicago White Sox (1903–1904, 1911–1913) Pittsburgh Pirates (1916–1917)
Career highlights and awards
Pitched a no-hitter on September 20, 1902

Though best known today by his childhood nickname "Nixey", in reality, he was seldom ever referred to by that name in contemporary sources during his playing days, as he instead preferred to go by Jimmy (or James) Callahan.^[1]

Early life

Callahan was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts on March 18, 1874. He played amateur baseball throughout Massachusetts.^[2]

Professional baseball

As a player

Callahan made his debut for the 1894 Philadelphia Phillies, the National League team run by Arthur Irwin. Callahan pitched in nine games that year, giving up more than an earned run per inning, so he was sent to the minor leagues for the 1895 season. He came back up to the major leagues in 1897 with the Chicago Cubs, where he stayed for four seasons.^[2]

On September 20, 1902, Callahan pitched the first no-hitter in American League history.^[3] Remarkably, only two years earlier, in the other extreme of his career, he had given up 48 hits in two consecutive starts in 1900, yielding 23 on September 11 and 25 in the game before.^[4]

Callahan is also the only pitcher to have collected five hits in a game three times: June 29, 1897; May 18, 1902; and May 18, 1903.^[5]

Callahan finished his major league career with 901 hits and 99 wins. Since then, no player has matched both these numbers, although Babe Ruth came close. Three nineteenth-century pitcher/infielders beat these numbers: John Montgomery Ward, Kid Gleason and Dave Foutz.

• 
  1912 American Tobacco Company baseball card
• 
  Coca-Cola ad from 1914 with J.J. Callahan

As a manager

Callahan managed the Chicago White Sox on two separate occasions and also managed the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Team	Year	Regular season					Postseason
		Games	Won	Lost	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
CWS	1903	137	60	77	.438	7th in AL	–	–	–	–
CWS	1904	41	23	18	.561	fired*	–	–	–	–
CWS	1912	154	78	76	.506	4th in AL	–	–	–	–
CWS	1913	152	78	74	.513	5th in AL	–	–	–	–
CWS	1914	154	70	84	.455	7th in AL	–	–	–	–
CWS total		638	309	329	.484		0	0	–
PIT	1916	154	65	89	.422	6th in NL	–	–	–	–
PIT	1917	60	20	40	.333	fired	–	–	–	–
PIT total		214	85	129	.397		0	0	–
Total		852	394	458	.462		0	0	–

* Callahan was "asked" to step down as manager, he remained as a player only.

As an owner

Callahan took a five-year break from playing in the American League to run his own semi-pro team, "Callahan's Logan Squares". He said that he did this for financial reasons, but he returned when his team's attendances fell.

Later life

Callahan died at age 60 in Boston on October 4, 1934.^[6][7][8]

See also

• List of Major League Baseball no-hitters
• List of Major League Baseball player-managers

References

1. "Nixey Callahan". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
2. Armstrong, Richard C.; Healy, Martin (March 10, 2020). George "Mooney" Gibson: Canadian Catcher for the Deadball Era Pirates. McFarland. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-4766-7969-3.
3. "American League No Hitters" Archived 2008-08-04 at the Wayback Machine, Baseball-Almanac.com
4. Baseball Digest (February 1998), p34
5. "Charlton's Baseball Chronology" Archived 2007-05-31 at the Wayback Machine
6. John McCollister -The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly: Pittsburgh Pirates 2008 - 1572439823 Jimmy “Nixey” Callahan. Years Managed: 1916–1917 Record: 85–129 League Titles: 0 World Championships: 0 Of Interest: Following their poor record in Jimmy Callahan's first season as manager in 1916, the Pirates were even worse the next year. Eventually, the situation became too much for this strict disciplinarian to bear, and he mysteriously disappeared from the team 185
7. John Thorn Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game, Vol. 7: - Volume 7 2014 -- Page 45 0786479019 "His name was Jimmy Callahan. James Joseph Callahan was born at Fitchburg, Massachusetts, on March 18, 1874, to Irish immigrants James and Margaret (Glynn) Callahan.1 In boyhood, his mother nicknamed him “Nixey” for reasons long since lost to history. He received his primary education at the local public school, where he presumably practiced baseball in the playground during recess and after class. But at age 14, Jimmy lost his father and had to abandon further schooling to support his mother. He first worked at a cotton mill and was later trained as a plumber's apprentice, neither of which he especially enjoyed.2 It was while employed at the cotton mill that Jimmy emerged as a talented pitcher for the company team. His next stop was the semi-professional team of Pepperell, one of the best in Massachusetts. Reportedly, he won 28 games for Pepperell in 1891.
8. Brian McKenna - Clark Griffith: Baseball's Statesman 2010- Page 68 0557472954 "A forever-disputed milestone occurred on June 18 when Cap Anson notched his 3,000th hit.136 Chicago set the still-standing record for runs scored in a game in support of pitcher Jimmy Callahan, nicknamed Nixey, on June 29. On thirty hits, the Colts tallied 36 runs against only seven for Louisville. Callahan first drew interest as a pitcher on a Massachusetts textile team and, later, in semi-pro ball. In 1895, he led the Eastern League with a 30-9 record for Springfield."

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
• Nixey Callahan managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
• Nixie Callahan at SABR (Baseball BioProject)

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Christy Mathewson	No-hitter pitcher September 20, 1902	Succeeded by Chick Fraser