James Lorin Nelson (July 4, 1947 – August 22, 2004) was an American right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

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), ...

for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in 1970 and 1971. Nelson was born in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. The Pirates selected him in the 31st round of the 1965 amateur draft. Jim Nelson statistics, baseball-reference.com
/ref> His debut for the Pirates on May 30, 1970 was memorable. He relieved Gene Garber in the fifth inning of a game at Forbes Field against 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 ...

struck out In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denot ...

Willie Mays Willie Howard Mays Jr. (born May 6, 1931), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid" and "Buck", is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-tim ...

, and got Willie McCovey to hit into a

double play In baseball and softball, a double play (denoted as DP in baseball statistics) is the act of making two outs during the same continuous play. Double plays can occur any time there is at least one baserunner and fewer than two outs. In Major Leag ...

; he finished that appearance with three perfect innings pitched and four strikeouts, and hit a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in his only plate appearance. Nelson started his career with a 4-0 record for the Pirates in 1970, a feat not equaled by a Pirates starting pitcher until

Zach Duke Zachary Thomas Duke (born April 19, 1983) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Arizona Diamondbacks, Washington Nationals, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago White Sox, St. Lo ...

in 2005. Nelson also was the last Pirate pitcher to win his first 3 career starts until Gerrit Cole matched the feat in 2013. Nelson also was the starting and winning pitcher in the final game played at Forbes Field on June 28, 1970. He commented on the fans' frenzy at the end of that game: "After the game, the fans stormed the field and took everything, grass, bases, numbers off the scoreboard. I even saw some old ladies with parts of chairs. It was a real scene." Nelson appeared in 15 games for the Pirates in 1970 and 17 games in 1971, both as a starter and a reliever. He struggled with control in 1971,

walking Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults o ...

26 batters in 34 innings.Jim Nelson statistics, baseball-reference.com
/ref> In July, he was demoted to the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

, but refused to report to his minor-league team. Although his teammates voted him a half-share of their

1971 World Series The 1971 World Series was the championship round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1971 season and featured the first night game in its history. The 68th edition of the Fall Classic was a best-of-seven playoff between the defending World Series ...

money, Pirates management did not award him a

World Series ring A World Series ring is an award given to Major League Baseball players who win the World Series. Since only one Commissioner's Trophy is awarded to the team, a World Series ring is an individual award that players and staff of each World Series ...

.Jim Jenkins, "Ex-Pirates right-hander Jim Nelson," Sacramento Bee, August 24, 2004 He underwent rotator cuff surgery and never returned to the majors. Nelson was a good-hitting pitcher, with 7

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

in 26 career

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s for a batting average of .269. After retiring from baseball, Nelson became a produce salesman. He died unexpectedly at his

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

home at age 57 in 2004.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Jim 1947 births 2004 deaths Major League Baseball pitchers Pittsburgh Pirates players Baseball players from Birmingham, Alabama