Born in San Diego, Nipper grew up in Missouri, where he graduated from Hazelwood West High School and Truman State University in Kirkville (formerly Northeast Missouri State University). He was the Red Sox\' eighth selection in the 1980 Major League Baseball draft.\n', '

Nipper pitched for the Red Sox from 1983 to 1987. He was included with the league\'s top players in the ballot for Rookie of the Year in 1984. But then a succession of injuries limited his success. He started 26 games for the 1986 Red Sox, posting a mediocre 10–12 win–loss record and 5.38 earned run average as Boston won the American League East Division title. He did not appear in the ALCS against the California Angels, but made two appearances on the mound for the Red Sox in the 1986 World Series against the New York Mets. Nipper started Game 3 on October 22 at Fenway Park and held the Mets scoreless through three innings, but in the fourth, he surrendered three runs, two on a home run by Gary Carter. Nipper righted himself after that inning and pitched through the sixth, but the three runs he allowed held up as the winning margin in a 6–2 New York victory. Then, in the winner-take-all Game 7 at Shea Stadium October 27, Nipper was called upon in relief as Boston\'s fifth pitcher of the contest. Entering in the eighth inning with the Mets leading 6–5, Nipper was ineffective. He retired only one batter and allowed three hits, including a lead-off home run to Darryl Strawberry and a run-scoring single to opposing pitcher Jesse Orosco, enabling the Mets to pad their lead to an insurmountable 8–5; they won the world championship one inning later.\n', '

Nipper was traded for the Cubs in a deal for closer Lee Smith after the 1987 season. He pitched in 22 games, 12 as a starter, for the Cubs in 1988, then missed the entire 1989 season recovering from elbow and knee miseries. He signed as a free agent with Cleveland in 1990; in a season spent mostly with the Triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox, Nipper won his final two MLB games in mid-season. He then signed a minor league contract with his hometown St. Louis Cardinals in 1991, but was not called up from Triple-A. It was his final season as a pitcher.\n', '

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