by David Gough and Jim Bard

Reviewed by Max Silberman

David Gough and Jim Bard have produced a book about Nellie Fox that goes well beyond his baseball career and introduces the reader to a very fine human being who happened to play baseball.

The Nellie Fox journey began in St. Thomas, Pa. on Christmas Day, 1927 and his path to Cooperstown, NY, where he was a 1997 inductee took him through Shibe Park and the Athletics farm system before his glory days with the Chicago White Sox and final years with the Houston Astros, (nee Colt .45s)

Philadelphia Athletics Society members (including Nellie Fox’s devoted fan and collector, Howard Singer) will remember the trade that sent the future Hall of Famer to the White Sox in October 1949 for catcher Joe Tipton. Tipton played for four American League teams as a back-up catcher, while Fox went on to greatness. A’s fans also bemoan the swap of George Kell to the Detroit Tigers earlier in 1946. Barney McCoskey, obtained for Kell gave the A’s several very productive years but did not achieve Kell’s Hall of Fame status.

Although Nellie Fox played only three seasons for the A’s (1947-49) readers will recognize many familiar names in the stories about his minor league days in Lancaster, PA and Lincoln, NE, with many future Philadelphia A’s.

“Little Nel” is not so much of a statistical treatise as it is a personal look at the baseball and non-baseball life of a wonderful guy who unfortunately lost his life to cancer in 1975. His widow, Joanne, provides a touching forward and claims Nellie “was the best friend anyone could have had”. All those interviewed for the book seemed to share that sentiment.

Gough and Bard did a marvelous job of making me feel as if I had knew Nellie Fox personally. I wish I had.

Editors Note: Max Silberman, A’s Society Vice President of Research, is also well known in the Sports memorabilia hobby world. His credits include published articles in the Phillies Report and in Baseball Hobby News, and the official web-site of the A’s Society. He is an authority on baseball’s history, especially that of the Philadelphia Athletics.

His recent review of Jeffrey Stuarts’ “Twilight Teams”, the history of teams that left their home cities, 1952-1958, was credited as being the most accurate and sincerest review of that publication. “Twilight Teams” is also available through the A’s Society Gift Shoppe @$15.95. CLICK HERE to read Max’s review of “Twilight Teams” by Jeffrey Stuart.