Pete Nice


Peter J. Nash, previously known by his stage name Pete Nice, is an American baseball historian, a member of the Society for American Baseball Research and a former rapper/record producer, who was most noted as the one-third of the hip hop group 3rd Bass.

Music career

Peter Nash was born on February 5, 1967 in Floral Park, Long Island, New York to Carole and Raymond Nash. After graduating from Bishop Ford High School in 1985, he majored in English at Columbia University, where he hosted a hip hop radio show. This led to the creation of the hip hop group 3 the Hard Way with Richard Lawson and Michael Berrin, which later changed its name to 3rd Bass, where he adopted the stage name Prime Minister Pete Nice. The group released two gold-selling albums before disbanding in 1992. Nice teamed up with his former bandmate Daddy Rich, and the pair released their only collaboration, Dust to Dust, in 1993.
Pete Nice and author-radio jock Bobbito Garcia started their own label, Hoppoh Records, under the aegis of Columbia Records. The first release was Kurious's 1994 album A Constipated Monkey; Nice co-produced the album and the single "I'm Kurious". Nashville artist Count Bass D's debut Pre-Life Crisis followed in 1995, distributed by Columbia sister label Chaos Recordings, but those would be the only records released before the label folded because of creative differences with Columbia.

Business ventures

Nash quit the music business and devoted his time to baseball history. He owned a memorabilia shop in Cooperstown, New York. In 2003, he published his first book, Baseball Legends of Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, under his real name. He has also been working to secure some property for an official grave site of Negro League players. His younger brother Brian was the Head Men's Basketball Coach at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights.
In early 2008, Nash opened McGreevy's 3rd Base Bar, a sports bar in Boston with Dropkick Murphys' band member Ken Casey. The bar was named Best Sports Bar In Boston by Citysearch in 2009.

Legal troubles

Commencing in 2007 and concluding in 2009, Nash was involved in litigation with an auction house relating to the authenticity of baseball memorabilia he consigned for sale. When deposed under oath, Nash invoked the Fifth Amendment dozens of times in response to questions about the origins of specific pieces of memorabilia. The court found in favor of the auction house owner, and Nash signed a court order in which he admitted to having committed fraud.
On July 1, 2014, after having plead guilty to misdemeanor tax fraud, Nash was sentenced in Albany County court for not paying taxes from 2009 through 2011. As a result, Nash paid $13,101 to the state in back taxes, penalties and interest.

Discography