Nathaniel Woodhull "Nat" Hicks (April 19, 1845 – April 21, 1907) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player. He played as a

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

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 six seasons, two in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

. Hicks was one of the first catchers to stand directly behind the batter, which allowed future

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

pitcher,

Candy Cummings William Arthur "Candy" Cummings (October 18, 1848 – May 17, 1924) was an American professional baseball player. He played as a pitcher in the National Association and National League. Cummings is widely credited with inventing the curveball. H ...

to develop the first

curveball In baseball and softball, the curveball is a type of pitch thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball, causing it to dive as it approaches the plate. Varieties of curveball include the 12–6 curve ...

used in baseball. Hicks was a popular and highly regarded player during his time in baseball, but injuries sustained over the course of his career cut his playing time short.

Early life

Nat Hicks was born in

Hempstead, New York The Town of Hempstead (also known historically as South Hempstead) is the largest of the three Administrative divisions of New York#Town, towns in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County (alongside North Hempstead, New York, North Hempstead and Oys ...

into the famous Hicks family. His father was Jackson Hicks (1811- ), and his mother, Sarah Sweet (1817- ). The family moved to Newtown Queens circa 1850 where his siblings were born: brother Barnett (1852-) and a sister Delia (1855-). His paternal grandparents were Jeffery Hicks (1778-1829) and Mary Polly Hicks (1784-1854). His patrilineal great-grandparents were Jeffrey Hicks (1739 - 1790) who had been born in Flushing, and Mary Cornell (1745 - 1792). Hick's relatives included famous Quaker and abolitionist

Elias Hicks Elias Hicks (March 19, 1748 – February 27, 1830) was a traveling Quaker minister from Long Island, New York. In his ministry he promoted unorthodox doctrines that led to controversy, which caused the second major schism within the Religious Soc ...

also of Hempstead, and Elias' son Valentine Hicks, who first settled the community of Hicksville, Long Island, and was later president of the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...

. He was also a distant cousin of Quaker and painter

Edward Hicks Edward Hicks (April 4, 1780 – August 23, 1849) was an American folk painter and distinguished religious minister of the Society of Friends (aka "Quakers"). He became a Quaker icon because of his paintings. Biography Early life Edward ...

. He is related

Isaac Hicks Isaac Hicks (1767 – January 10, 1820) was a Quaker merchant, active in the mercantile and shipping business from 1790-1807, both by himself and in partnerships. Hicks Nursery in Westbury, New York is still in business to this day, and its site is ...

, who founded Hicks Nursery in 1852. Hicks served briefly in the 15th New York Infantry Regiment near the end of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

Career

He began playing

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

in the

National Association of Base Ball Players The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) was the first organization governing American baseball. (The sport was spelled with two words in the 19th century.) The first convention of sixteen New York City area clubs in 1857 effecti ...

through , most notably for the

Eckford of Brooklyn Eckford of Brooklyn, or simply Eckford, was an American baseball club from 1855 to 1872. When the Union Grounds opened on May 15, 1862 for baseball in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, it became the first enclosed baseball grounds in America. Three clubs cal ...

. Hicks' pivotal role in the development of the curveball is seldom mentioned. Most catchers of his era stood twenty to twenty-five feet behind the batter, which made it impossible to field a curveball. It was Hicks' catching technique of standing directly behind the batter, that allowed Cummings to introduce his curveball. The introduction of the curveball not only caused a revolutionary change in the way catchers fielded their position, but also radically changed pitching as well. He later moved on and spent most of his career playing in the National Association. He joined the New York Mutuals in where he was reunited with Cummings, and became their everyday catcher. He batted .306 that season as the Mutuals finished third. Hicks returned with the Mutuals in , but that season saw his skills decline significantly both in the field and at the bat. He played in only 28

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

and shared the catching duties that season with

Dick Higham Richard Higham (July 24, 1851 – March 18, 1905) was an English born professional baseball player born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England and currently the only umpire to be banned from baseball. Biography He was born on July 24, 1851, in Ipswich, ...

and

Doug Allison Douglas L. Allison (July 12, 1846 – December 19, 1916) was an American Major League Baseball player. He began his career as a catcher for the original Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional baseball team. Allison was one of ...

. On July 24, 1873, Bob Ferguson of the

Brooklyn Atlantics The Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn ("Atlantic" or the "Brooklyn Atlantics") was baseball's first champion and its first dynasty. The team was also the first baseball club to visit the White House in 1865 at the invitation of President And ...

was the

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

in a game between the

New York Mutuals The Mutual Base Ball Club of New York was a leading American baseball club almost throughout its 20-year history. It was established during 1857, the year of the first baseball convention, just too late to be a founding member of the National Asso ...

and the

Baltimore Canaries The Baltimore Canaries were a professional baseball club in the National Association from 1872 to 1874. History The team was usually listed as Lord Baltimore in the box scores of the day, and were also referred to as the Yellow Stockings. The can ...

which ended with the Mutuals scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...

for an 11-10 victory. Ferguson and the Mutuals' Hicks got into a verbal altercation which ended with Ferguson breaking Hicks' arm by hitting him with a bat. Ferguson required a police escort to leave the field and Hicks was out of action for 2 months. Hicks changed teams in , joining the

Philadelphia White Stockings The Philadelphia White Stockings were an early professional baseball team. They were a member of the National Association from 1873 to 1875. Their home games were played at the Jefferson Street Grounds. They were managed by Fergy Malone, Jimmy ...

where he was once again reunited with Cummings, and enjoyed a bounce back season, batting .274, and caught every game the team played. He returned to the Mutuals in when he was named the

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

, the only stint as a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

in his career. There is some dispute with this notion, as other baseball references have him as player-manager for the White Stockings the previous year as well, instead of

Bill Craver William H. Craver (June 1844 – June 17, 1901) was an American Major League Baseball player from Troy, New York who played mainly as a middle infielder, but did play many games at catcher as well during his seven-year career. He played for seven ...

. When the Association folded, the Mutuals and Hicks moved over to the newly formed National League in , and then finished his career with the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

Personal life

In 1873, Hicks married Margaret Mehan, the daughter of Irish immigrants, with whom he had ten children. They married in Hoboken, New Jersey, and they are interred together at St. Peter's Catholic Cemetery.

Post-career

After his baseball days were over, he became a professional singer and proprietor of a billiard academy. While Cummings went on to become enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Hicks' role in the development of the curveball is rarely mentioned. Hicks died in

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

at the age of 62 of accidental gas

asphyxia Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...

tion in a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

room, and was interred in St. Peter's Cemetery in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hicks, Nat Major League Baseball catchers Baseball player-managers Brooklyn Stars players Washington Nationals (NABBP) players New York Mutuals players New York Mutuals managers Philadelphia White Stockings players Cincinnati Reds (1876–1879) players People from Hempstead (village), New York Baseball players from New York (state) Accidental deaths in New Jersey Deaths from asphyxiation 19th-century baseball players People of New York (state) in the American Civil War 1845 births 1907 deaths