Robert Donell Nixon (born December 31, 1961) is an American former professional baseball
outfielder
An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...
. He played all or part of four seasons in the
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB), from until , playing all three outfield positions, most often in
center field
A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the Baseball positions, baseball and softball fielding position between Left fielder, left field and Right fielder, right field. In the numberi ...
.
Playing career
Mariners organization
Minor leagues
Nixon was drafted by the
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...
in the 10th round of the
1980 MLB draft
First round selections
The following are the first round picks in the 1980 Major League Baseball draft.
Compensation Picks
Other notable players
*Tim Teufel, 2nd round, 38th overall Minnesota Twins
*Dan Plesac, 2nd round, 41st overall S ...
out of West Columbus High School in Cerro Gordo, North Carolina. He began his professional career the following season with the
Wausau Timbers
The Wausau Timbers were a minor league baseball team, located in Wausau, Wisconsin. The Timbers were members of the Class A Midwest League from 1975 to 1990. The franchise was sold in 1991 and moved to Geneva, Illinois, where it became the Kane Co ...
of the Single-A
Midwest League
The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...
. He spent most of the next two seasons at Single-A as well. In , while with the
Bakersfield Mariners
Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley (California), Central Valley r ...
Nixon stole 144 bases in just 135 games, one short of the minor league record of 145 by
Vince Coleman set the same year.
In , Nixon was promoted to the Double-A
Chattanooga Lookouts
The Chattanooga Lookouts are a Minor League Baseball team of the Southern League and the Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and are named for nearby Lookout Mountain. The team plays its home g ...
, where he continued to impress on the basepaths, stealing 102 bases. Unfortunately, he suffered a compound fracture in his left leg in , which stalled his promising career. The injury cost him almost 2 years of his career but did not take away much of his speed. He ran a 6.25 sixty-yard dash prior to the injury and a 6.3 after.
Major league debut
Despite not playing at all in 1985 and appearing in only 12 games in , Nixon made the Mariners' Opening Day roster. He started the season's first game as Seattle's center fielder and leadoff hitter, coming to the plate four times with two
walks and one stolen base. Although he continued to start for the Mariners, Nixon did not get his first
hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...
until the season's fifth game, a run-scoring
double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* Th ...
off
Les Straker.
Box score for April 11, 1987 from Baseball-Reference
/ref> On May 1, with Nixon batting just .130, he was sent back to the minors, where he played for the Triple-A Calgary Cannons
The Calgary Cannons were a minor league baseball team located in Calgary, Alberta, for 18 seasons, from 1985 until 2002. They were a member of the AAA Pacific Coast League (PCL) and played at Foothills Stadium. The Cannons displaced the Calgary ...
, the Mariners' top farm team. He returned to the team in July, and finished with a much more respectable .250 average.
Nixon opened the 1988 season with Calgary, where he batted .281 through 40 games. He was then traded to the San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...
on June 23.
Giants organization
The Giants immediately added Nixon to the major league roster. He played in 59 games over the remainder of the season, batting .348. He spent the entire 1989 season with the Giants, the only season in which he did not play in the minor leagues. He made his only postseason appearances in 1989 as well, playing in two games of the 1989 World Series
The 1989 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1989 season. The 86th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Oakland Athletics and the Nat ...
against the Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...
, recording one hit in five at bats. The following year, the Giants released Nixon at the end of spring training
Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...
.
Orioles organization
Eight days after his release by the Giants, Nixon signed with the Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...
. He spent most of the season with the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings
The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Field ...
, although he did appear in eight games for the Orioles in late June and early July. After the season, Nixon became a free agent.
Indians organization
Nixon spent the last three years of his playing career in the Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...
organization, but Nixon never returned to the major leagues.
Personal
Nixon is the younger brother of Otis Nixon
Otis Junior Nixon (born January 9, 1959) is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1983), Cleveland Indians (1984–87), Montreal Expos (1988–90), Atlanta Brav ...
, who is also a former MLB outfielder.
Notes
External links
Baseball Gauge
Venezuela Winter League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nixon, Donell
1961 births
Living people
African-American baseball players
American expatriate baseball players in Canada
Bakersfield Mariners players
Baltimore Orioles players
Baseball players from North Carolina
Calgary Cannons players
Canton-Akron Indians players
Charlotte Knights players
Chattanooga Lookouts players
Colorado Springs Sky Sox players
Leones del Caracas players
American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela
Louisburg Hurricanes baseball players
Lynn Sailors players
Major League Baseball center fielders
Rochester Red Wings players
San Francisco Giants players
Seattle Mariners players
Wausau Timbers players
21st-century African-American people
20th-century African-American sportspeople
People from Columbus County, North Carolina