Most who know me, follow my Facebook page, or read my columns, quickly realize that I have a love affair with three things: Lincoln, Gettysburg and baseball. Whenever I travel from Indiana to Gettysburg, I do so via the Lincoln Highway. And while traveling through the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania I pass through St. Thomas Township, a little borough of little more than 2,000 households and fewer than 6,000 people. Legend states the Saint Thomas name comes from founder Thomas Campbell— and his tendency to swear.
The first thing you notice while driving into St. Thomas are the many signs and markers honoring their favorite son, Nellie Fox. Any baseball fan worth his salt knows that name. Jacob Nelson “Nellie” Fox was born on Christmas Day 1927 in St. Thomas Township, a rural area of south-central Pennsylvania just west of Chambersburg and less than 50 miles from Gettysburg.
Nellie, the youngest of three sons born to a carpenter, grew up on a farm. Despite his short stature (5’9”) he distinguished himself as a baseball player at a young age. In 1944, at age 16, Nellie jumped at the chance to sign on with a professional baseball team. The Major Leagues were short-handed due to player shortages from World War II. Nellie’s mother wrote a letter to Connie Mack, the owner/manager of the Philadelphia Athletics. Mack, the longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, holds the records for wins (3,731), losses (3,948), and games managed (7,755). He was also the last manager to wear a suit and tie in the dugout.
Nellie attended an open tryout that spring for the Athletics in Frederick, Maryland an hour away. Mack quickly signed him to a professional contract. While Nellie was too young to serve in World War II, he could not avoid Korea. He was drafted into service and would not start his major league career until 1947. Fox appeared in a total of ten MLB games in 1947 and 1948. In 1949, the Philadelphia Athletics set a major league team record of 217 double plays, a record that stood for almost 60 years. Fox played in 88 games that season and was part of 68 of those double plays. The Athletics, teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, traded Fox to the Chicago White Sox for Joe Tipton on October 29, 1949, in one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history.
Nellie spent the next 14 seasons with the Sox, making 12 AL All-Star teams (11 of them in a row) and batting .313 as an All-Star. Fox’s best season came in 1959 when he received the AL Most Valuable Player award for a White Sox team that won its first AL pennant in 40 years. He batted .306, had an on-base percentage of .380 and led the league in singles. As a starter, Nellie had four hits in two All-Star games that season and won his second Gold Glove. Nellie led the White Sox to the best record in baseball, 94 wins against 60 losses, five games ahead of the Cleveland Indians, and 15 ahead of the mighty New York Yankees (one of just two seasons the Yankees did not win the pennant between 1949–1964).
In that year’s World Series, Fox batted a team-high .375 with three doubles, but the Sox lost to the Koufax/Drysdale led Los Angeles Dodgers in six games. It was Fox’s only World Series experience. Fox played his last two seasons (1964–65) with the Houston Colt .45s/Astros. Rookie Joe Morgan later said that he looked up to Fox (Morgan grew up using a Nellie Fox model bat with a large barrel and a fat handle) as both men were diminutive second basemen. Teammate Fox convinced Morgan to switch to a bat with a thin handle to leverage his power. It was Fox who suggested to Morgan that while at the plate he should flap his back arm like a chicken to keep his elbow up. It became the Big Red Machine’s trademark.
Although modest in size with minimal power (he hit only 35 home runs in his career; never more than six in a single season), Nellie made up for it with his good batting eye, excellent fielding, and base running speed. Fox was always one of the toughest batters to strike out, fanning just 216 times in his career, placing him third on the all-time list. He led the league in most at-bats per strikeouts an astonishing 13 times in his 15 full-season career. In 1951, Fox hit more triples (12) than he had strikeouts (11). Fox batted over .300 six times, with 2,663 hits, 355 doubles, and 112 triples, finishing with a lifetime .288 batting average. He also led the league in singles for seven straight years, in triples once, and in hits four times.
Nellie’s hitting was good but his fielding was better. Fox began his career alongside fleet-footed White Sox shortstop Chico Carrasquel (1950–55) but he is best remembered for pairing up with another Venezuelan, Luis Aparicio (1956–62). Together they formed the heart of the “Go-Go Sox.” Nellie was the first major league Gold Glove Award winner for a second baseman in 1957. He received two more Gold Glove awards in 1959 and 1960. The Aparicio-Fox middle infield duo each won Gold Gloves those seasons, becoming the first shortstop-second baseman combos to win tandem Gold Gloves in a single season.
Between August 1956 and September 1960, Fox played a major-league record 798 consecutive games at second base. Fox led the league’s second basemen in defensive games played each season between 1952 and 1959. He also led second basemen in putouts between 1952 and 1961 and in assists several times during his career. Fox finished among the top five second basemen in fielding percentage every year between 1950 and 1964 and currently ranks second in career double plays as a second baseman.
After retiring as a player, Fox became a coach for the Astros (1965–67) and the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers (1968–72). After 25 years in the Big Leagues, Nellie returned to St. Thomas Township where he opened Nellie Fox Bowl in Chambersburg. In 1973, Fox was diagnosed with skin cancer. Ironically, during his playing career, Nellie was known for his habit of chewing tobacco. If slick-fielding and clutch hitting was his trademark, chewing tobacco was his monogram. Take a look at any picture of Nellie Fox during his playing days and you will see why. His cheek was always puffed out like Dizzy Gillespie blowing his trumpet.
Only thing was, that’s not air, it is tobacco. For many years, Nellie was the spokesman for Favorite chewing tobacco, appearing in his White Sox uniform on wrapped pouches of chewing tobacco, posters, signs, memo book covers, and other advertising material. Back in Nellie’s day, the dangers of tobacco, particularly smokeless tobacco, remained hidden and relatively unknown. Though banned in college baseball since 1990 and in the minor leagues since 1993, the elimination of chewing and dipping from the majors didn’t really take root until the death of San Diego Padres Hall of famer (and former Fishers, Indiana resident) Tony Gwynn in 2014.
So, in October 1975, when Nellie was admitted to the Baltimore Cancer Research Center to undergo treatment for lymphatic cancer, it came as no surprise to those in the know about oral cancer. Nellie Fox died on December 1, 1975, at the age of 47. He was buried at the St. Thomas Cemetery in his hometown. Nellie’s death was a shock to baseball fans all over the world. Like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Christy Mathewson, and his neighbor from Gettysburg Eddie Plank, he was gone too soon.
So when I learned of an upcoming auction of Nellie Fox’s personal memorabilia happening in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania this weekend, I had to go. By the time you are reading this, I hope to be in the room as Nellie’s treasures are sold off to the highest bidder. Read all about the details next week in Part 2 of Nellie Fox, Sparkplug of the Go-Go White Sox.
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest books are “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View,” “Irvington Haunts. The Tour Guide,” and “The Mystery of the H.H. Holmes Collection.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
