by Dale Smith

During his 50-year reign as manager of the Philadelphia Athletics, Connie Mack was known for having an uncanny ability to spot potential. Whether on a college diamond, an independent minor league team or through the A’s own farm system, Connie just seemed to know which players were going to have Hall of Fame or near Hall of Fame careers.

Connie’s strategy was to develop and keep the great ones until he could no longer afford them, typically through at least the first half of their career. In 1949, however, at the end of his career, Connie’s judgement failed him. As he watched his little second baseman, Nellie Fox, during the 1949 season, he saw nothing special. But very special he turned out to be.

Jacob Nelson Fox was born on Christmas Day, 1927 in St. Thomas, Pennsylvania. His father, Jake Fox, was a second baseman and manager of a semipro team. Nellie learned the game almost as soon as he could walk. At 17 years of age in 1945, Nellie was playing pro ball with Lancaster of the Inter-State League. In the military service in 1946, Nellie played again for Lancaster in 1947 and the 19-year-old was up to the Athletics for a cup of coffee at the end of the season.

It was at Lincoln in the Western League in 1948 that Nellie gave notice that he deserved to be in the major leagues. He hit .311 while collecting 179 hits and scoring 97 runs. His Lincoln teammate, Bobby Shantz, had a pretty good year himself, winning 18 games while losing only 7 with 212 strikeouts in 214 innings. Both players would make the 1949 Philadelphia Athletics roster.

While Bobby Shantz fit right in with a pitching staff that averaged 24 years of age, 21 year old Nellie might have felt sadly out of place amongst the non-pitchers who averaged 31 years of age and were easily the oldest in the major leagues. The next youngest player with over 100 at bats in 1949 was 26 year old Joe Astroth. The 1948 team, with an 81-73 record, had brought Connie the kind of success he had not known in years. He was not inclined to make any big changes. Steady Pete Suder had been the A’s second baseman since 1947 and, at 33, seemed to have a few good seasons left. Still, Nellie was given his chances to play. In fact, Nellie played 77 games at second while Suder played 89 with an additional 36 at third. For the 1949 season, Nellie had 247 at bats with 63 hits and a .255 batting average. At 5’10” and weighing 160 pounds, Nellie did not have much power, hit no home runs and had only eight extra base hits. His fielding average was a very respectable .982 and he took part in 68 double plays.

It was not a bad beginning for a 21- year-old rookie. At 86 years old, however, Connie Mack was not particularly impressed with the youngster. Perhaps, having a mature team to begin with, he failed to realize just how young Nellie was.

On October 19, 1949 Jacob Nelson Fox was traded to the Chicago White Sox for 27 year old Joe Tipton, one of several second string catchers they carried in 1949. Joe was coming off a year where he hit .204 and gathered 39 hits. A few days earlier, the A’s had traded aging catcher Buddy Rosar to the Red Sox for 33 year old utility infielder Billy Hitchcock. When they traded for Tipton, the A’s had needed another catcher and Connie apparently felt Hitchcock could do as well as Nellie in the infield.

During the 1950 season, the trade appeared justified. Billy Hitchcock took over as the regular second baseman for most of the season, having a career year while hitting .273. Joe Tipton hit .266 and, along with Joe Astroth, supplied good backup to catcher Mike Guerra.

Meanwhile, the White Sox traded their regular second baseman Cass Michaels after the start of the season and the stage was set for Nellie. The 22-yearold, however, had a mediocre year in 1950. He hit .247 with 113 hits, 19 for extra bases. Clearly he was on the bubble.

At the start of spring training in 1951, rookie manager Paul Richards, a tough disciplinarian who liked working with younger players, took an interest in Nellie. He noticed the little left-handed batter was trying to pull the ball to right field. Not good for a non-power hitter. Richards handed Nellie an old style, bottle neck bat and urged him to try to spray the ball to all fields. It worked. As a result, Nellie became one of the best contact hitters in baseball history. He seldom struck out and became an expert bunter. By mid-season, he had made the American League All Star team, the first of 11 consecutive appearances. He finished the season with 189 base hits including 32 doubles, 12 triples and scored 94 runs while hitting .313.

That spring, Richards also had Nellie constantly working on his fielding, especially on the double play. His confidence soared and Fox was on his way to become the aggressive, take-charge leader he would be known as for the rest of his career.

With one cheek full of chewing tobacco, his heavy, big surface bat and his aggressive play, Nellie looked like a throwback to the dead ball era of baseball. He became a fan favorite, not only in Chicago but also throughout the United States. He and shortstop Chico Carrasquel became known for their double play combination.

The White Sox, who had been a perennial second division team, charged to 3rd place in 1952, a position they would hold for five consecutive years behind the mighty New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians.

Nellie had one of his best seasons in 1954, getting career highs in base hits (201), runs (111) and batting average (.319). He led all major league second basemen in fielding with a .989 average.

Meanwhile, back in Philadelphia, the 1954 Athletics were mired in last place. While Spook Jacobs had a decent year at second base for the Athletics, hitting .258 and fielding a respectable .974, the rest of the A’s were hitting .236 while the pitching staff had a 5.18 ERA. There was no real spark to entice the fans to come to the games, despite the fact that the Phillies also played under .500 baseball. By 1955, the Athletics were sold and playing in Kansas City. Could Nellie Fox have kept the franchise in Philadelphia? Perhaps, but it was undeniable that the White Sox had brought out the best in Nellie.

Twenty-two year old Luis Aparicio joined the White Sox at shortstop in 1956 and, together with Fox, became one of the most famous double play combinations in history. The Keystone Combo and the rest of the Go-Go Sox broke the Yankee barrier in 1959. Having the third lowest team batting average and the fewest home runs in the American League, the team relied on speed, defense and the pitching of Bob Shaw and the veteran Early Wynn. This strategy took the White Sox to the World Series for the first time since the Black Sox team of 1919. Despite losing to the Dodgers, Nellie (hitting number 2 in the order and wearing number 2 on his back) had a very good series, hitting .375 with nine hits. In 1959 Nellie Fox was voted Most Valuable Player in the American League.

Between 1951 and 1960, Nellie had led the American League in hits four times, games played five times and fewest strikeouts eleven times. He received Golden Glove Awards in 1957, 1959 and 1960. He set a major league record for consecutive games played at second base with 798.

By 1961, his numbers started to tail off. In 1963 the 35 year old Fox now seemed out of place on a White Sox team that averaged 26 years of age. On December 10, 1963 Nellie was traded to Houston in the National League for two players and cash. The White Sox fans had lost a valued friend. In 1964 Nellie was Houston’s regular second baseman playing over 130 games and hitting .265.

In 1965 the 37 year old Fox looked over his shoulder and saw a 21-year-old rookie second baseman from whom the Astros expected big things. With future Hall of Fame player Joe Morgan on the team, Nellie knew it was the end of the line. Nellie Fox finished his career with 2,663 base hits. In his 19-year career he had struck out only 216 times in 9,232 at bats. Hitting under .270 during his last four seasons brought his lifetime average down to .288.

Only 10 years later, on December 1, 1975, the baseball world was shocked to hear that, at only 47 years of age, Nellie Fox had lost a battle with cancer. It became a wakeup call for all major and minor leaguers who were still chewing tobacco as part of a baseball tradition.

Perhaps it was his 35 career home runs that kept him out of the Hall of Fame for so many years. Perhaps it was that Nellie was no longer living. It was not until the Veterans Committee considered the case for Nellie Fox that he was finally elected to the Hall in 1997, thirty-two years after he had hung up his spikes.

On August 3, 2001, the state of Pennsylvania placed a historical marker next to Nellie’s boyhood home in St. Thomas, Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia A’s Historical Society helped host the event. During the ceremony, memories were cast back to 1949 for the Philadelphia A’s faithful. Perhaps if it had been Connie Mack who had handed Nellie the old style bat, the A’s fortunes might have been different. As it was, Nellie got away.