Remembering Nellie Fox

The first thing that jumps out at me when I think of Hall of Fame second baseman Nellie Fox is the ever present chewing tobacco that always seemed to be in his left cheek. I don’t recall ever seeing him without it, yet I’m certain there were at least some occasions when he was without it. 

One of them, no doubt, was when he tried out for the Philadelphia Athletics in the spring of 1944. The slightly built, sixteen year old made a strong impression on A’s Manager Connie Mack, and Fox was signed to a contract and quickly sent to the minor leagues to begin polishing his skills. What followed were several years in minor league ball where Fox had a degree of success as a hitter and settled in at second base, which would be his permanent position in the field. Brought up to the Athletics in 1949, Fox had difficulty hitting at the major league level, posting a so so .255 batting average in part-time duty that year. That was enough for the Athletics to consider him expendable, and they traded him to the Chicago White Sox shortly after the season ended. I’m sure the White Sox are still grateful they acquired Nellie Fox, even though its been sixty-three years since they made the trade, for it was during his stay in Chicago that he reached Hall of Fame excellence.

Fox worked hard to earn his success. His swing was practiced repeatedly until he reached a degree of bat control that was legendary. His ability to foul off pitches to get to the pitch that he wanted to hit was uncanny. I know; I saw it time and time again whenever I saw the White Sox play. The American League’s “Least Strikeouts per At Bat” category was Nellie Fox territory. From 1951 to 1963, he ranked first eleven times and came in second the other two seasons. For his career, he struck out a total of, get this, only 216 times in over 9,200 at bats. That swing, calculated, and perhaps even calibrated, enabled him to top the AL in singles seven straight times (1954-1960), as well as to place among the top ten players in doubles and triples for many seasons during his career.

Fox was at his best when the lights were at their brightest. A twelve-time all star, he hit for a combined .368 batting average in the mid-summer classics in which he appeared. The year he won the American League’s Most Valuable Player Award, 1959, also marked his only appearance in the World Series. Not surprisingly, he hit .375 in it. In game four he went three for four, and in game five he went three for five. Unfortunately for Fox and the White Sox, the Los Angeles Dodgers won the series in six-games. He appears above on his 1961 Topps card, and below on a 1954 Red Heart and a 1959 Topps Keystone Combo.

A three-time (’57, ’59, ’60) Gold Glove Award Winner, Fox was very dependable with the glove. He played with two shortstops during his days with the pale hose, Chico Carrasquel and Luis Aparicio. While conducting my research for this post, I found this United Press International photograph that caught my eye. It appears just below. In the play we see Fox holding his ground despite Billy Martin’s efforts to take him out.  The play occurred when Phil Rizzuto’s grounder was fielded by White Sox pitcher Billy Pierce. Pierce threw to Fox at second, and after securing the out, our man made the pivot and threw the ball to first baseman Bob Boyd to complete the double play. Perhaps an instant after the photograph was taken, Fox lost his footing and hit the dirt. If so, I’m sure that wouldn’t have bothered him one bit. He would have picked himself up, dusted himself off and got ready for the next play. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the key to this Hall of Fame second baseman; Nellie Fox was always ready.