Al Nixon

Albert Richard Nixon
(Humpty Dumpty)

• Bats Right, Throws Left
• Height 5' 7½", Weight 164 lb.

• Debut September 4, 1915
• Final Game June 6, 1928
• Born April 11, 1886 in Atlantic City, NJ USA
• Died November 9, 1960 in Opelousas, LA USA

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Biographical Information

Albert Richard Nixon ("Al") played 422 games in the majors leagues, but up to the age of 35 had only appeared in 21 of them. Almost all of his games were thereafter, and a good portion were after he turned 40.

Al was born in Atlantic City, NJ, the first of three major leaguers (through 2019) born there. The minor league record shows him starting in the minors at age 26, and he first came to the majors ar age 29. He spent six seasons with the Beaumont Oilers, and was also with other Southern teams between 1912 and 1920.

In 1921, he finally hit the bigtime for good, joining the 1921 Boston Braves and playing 55 games. He was the oldest player on the team, and while he didn't hit particularly well, he stayed on the team in 1922 and 1923, getting ever more plate appearances.

He came back in 1926-28 with the Philadelphia Phillies, this time past the age of 40, and hit .312 in 1927 (his teammate and regular outfielder Cy Williams, a mere 39 years old, hit .274, albeit with 30 home runs).

Al has gotten attention for being one of the few individuals who batted right and threw left. He has also garnered a lot of attention for his name, sometimes being put on "Watergate" teams, along with other players such as Sam Agnew.

One site [1] states he was banned from baseball for two seasons.