Professional Baseball Player. Also known as "Doc", he played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball during three seasons. He was a member of the Louisville Colonels of the National League in 1897 and 1898, and then the Detroit Tigers of the American League in 1901. He began his professional baseball career at the age of 18 when he played for two different clubs in the Class-B minor league baseball Texas-Southern League during the 1895 season. First, he joined the Fort Worth Panthers but he left the team shortly thereafter to join the Sherman Orphans, a team that began play that season. The Texas-Southern League became the Class-C Texas Association in 1896, and Nance re-joined for the Panthers, however, by August the team folded, and he completed the season with the Galveston Sandcrabs. Though the Panthers had restarted their operations for the 1897 season, Nance stayed with the Sandcrabs, only to be signed by the Louisville Colonels of the National League later that year, making his Major League Baseball debut on August 19 of that season. He has the distinction of being the first person from Fort Worth to play in the major leagues. He appeared in 35 games for the Colonels, mainly as a right fielder, although he occasionally played in center field. He had a .242 batting average in 120 at bats, hit three home runs, and scored 25 runs. He began the 1898 season with the Colonels, but after 22 games played and a .316 batting average, he was released from the club; he completed the season with the Paterson Weavers of the Atlantic League, joining them on May 31. In 1899 and 1900, he moved north to play with the Minneapolis Millers of the Western League, a league that was renamed the American League in 1900. Nance played as a third baseman for the Millers, and had a .268 batting average in 129 games played for the 1900 team. He began the 1901 season with the Grand Rapids Furniture Makers of the Western Association, but was quickly signed by the Detroit Tigers of the American League. Nance appeared in 132 games for the Tigers that season, nearly all as their starting left fielder. In 466 at bats, he collected 129 hits for a .280 batting average, hit three home runs, and led the American League in sacrifice hits with 24. That season, on July 13, 1901, Nance had a six-hit game at Bennett Park, in which the Tigers defeated the Cleveland Blues 19-12 in nine innings.