It was Saturday, January 22, the big day had arrived. It was time for the Joanne & Nellie Fox Estate Auction at Kenny’s Auction House in Chambersburg, Penn. At 11 degrees with a wind chill below zero, baseball was likely the furthest thing from anyone’s mind. After passing three snowmobiles skidding down the Appalachian Trail on my way in, I arrived early to take another look at the lots for sale, fully realizing that an event like this is unlikely to happen again in my lifetime. Here was the lifetime assemblage of a Baseball Hall of Famer gathered together in one room, all for sale to the highest bidder.
Bryan McGann, the baseball agent, historian, and collector who assisted auctioneer Carl Ocker in preparing the sale, informed me that although he personally reached out to local newspapers, radio, and television stations to come out and cover the sale, no one showed an interest. Turns out the Weekly View in Irvington (over 500 miles away) was the only media outlet that showed up.
The sale featured 155 cataloged lots with no reserve, with an equal number of uncataloged lots selling in between. Before the crowd shuffled in, I managed to pull auctioneer Ocker and historian McGann aside for some pre-auction predictions. Both men said the items to watch in the sale were numbers 50, 100, and 150. “Those are the highlighted lots,” said McGann, “We chose round placement numbers so we could keep an eye on them. But there will be other lots in the sale we expect to go well. You never know with an auction.” Channeling his inner-numerologist, McGann informed me that the stars seemed to coalesce for this sale, “This sale is taking place on January 22 of 2022, Joanne and Nellie had 2 daughters, Nellie’s uniform number was #2 and the family phone number when Nellie was alive was 262-2222. How about that?”
I also managed to speak with Nellie’s nephew on Joanne’s side, Perry Mentzer. “I was in the 5th grade when Nellie died,” said Perry. “I remember seeing all of this memorabilia in the basement TV room we all called Nellie’s Den. I remember these pictures on the wall, trophies on the shelves, and albums full of pictures down there.” I asked if he was looking for any mementos at the sale. “Nellie collected matchbooks. He brought them back from all the places he visited and kept them in a jar. I wouldn’t mind having those. I might buy a couple of the foxes that were all over the place in that house too.”
The auction of the Nellie and Joanne Fox estate started at 9 a.m. sharp with Carl Ocker introducing the couple’s youngest daughter Bonnie to the crowd. There were several other family members in the crowd, many of which I met and talked with. Every item in the sale was connected to Nellie, either as a player or a coach. The gavel prices of the auction lots do not reflect the 13% buyer’s premium.
The sale started out with a bang. Lot #1, a 1968 Washington Senators team signed baseball for $120, Lot #2 a 1964 Houston Colt .45s team signed ball for $130, a 1951 A.L. All-Star ball signed by the whole team including Nellie, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Ted Williams sold for $700. Lot #7, a 1956 telegram to Nellie from Vice-President Richard Nixon sold for $70. Lot #20, Nellie Fox’s December 30th, 1927 “Cradle Roll Certificate” from the United Brethren Church in St. Thomas sold for $75, a historical bargain to be sure.
Scrapbooks and photos were flying past at a furious pace. Lot #6, an album of sympathy cards: $35. Lot #14, the Nellie Fox Cancer Fund album: $225. Lot #17, a White Sox album: $200. Lot #22,a photo of 16-year-old Nellie as a Philadelphia A’s Rookie: $390. Lot #23, original photos of Nellie with Mickey Mantle in 1975 posed in his Chambersburg den: $225. Lot # 24, a photo of Nellie with Ty Cobb & Hank Bauer: $220. Lot #37, Nellie Fox personal record collection with Johnny Cash albums: $25. Lot #40, a Chicago Motor Club Honor Member license plate attachment emblem from the car (a Buick) that the White Sox gave him on “Nellie Fox Day” — the car is long gone but the emblem hammered down for $75.
Lot #46 in the sale was a love letter written by Nellie to his wife Joanne from Korea on November 27th, 1946. Nellie was serving in the army at the time. If you are interested, the full contents of the letter can be found on my Bumps in the Night site at https://alanehunter.com/. It sold for $265. The first highlight lot (#50) was a “set of Sterling Silver flatware presented to Nellie Fox by the Chicago White Sox on 8-21-59 Nellie Fox Night in the original wooden presentation box saw spirited bidding in house and by phone. It ended up selling for a whopping $3,800 before the buyer’s premium.
One of the sleeper items in the sale was lot #69, a bright orange-colored baseball used in the first year of the Astrodome designed to prevent players from losing fly balls in the ceiling. Hoosier Charles Finley, the owner of the Kansas City Athletics, informed the Astros that he was sending them six dozen orange baseballs for game use with his compliments. The ball sold for $1,200. Lot #71, Nellie Fox’s personal set of poker chips sold for $170 (to a relative). Lot #78, a 1957 N.L. All-Star team signed baseball sold for $625. Lot #80, Nellie’s 1934-1937 St. Thomas school’s perfect attendance certificate sold for $160.
Lot #85, a 1966 Houston Astros team signed baseball with Nellie and his protege Joe Morgan: $200. Lot #88 was another sleeper: a 1950′s Adirondack on deck circle weighted baseball bat owned by Nellie sold for $1,200. The bat, which appeared to be one of Nellie’s personal bats, had an archaic-looking weighted iron cylinder attached to the barrel’s end and may have been used by Nellie in games. Lot #90, a 1964 Houston Colt .45′s team signed baseball with Nellie & Joe Morgan went for $300. Lot numbers 93, 96 & 98 were all sheets containing many of Nellie’s Topps & Bowman baseball cards — they sold for $300, $260, and $140 respectively. Lot #99, a 1968 Washington Senators signed team ball sold for $100.
Then came Lot #100, the one to watch according to Ocker & McGann. Described as a Nellie Fox collection in an album including a run of baseball cards starting in 1951 (his Bowman rookie card), a 1965 signed personal check, and several rare test and special issue cards and coins of Nellie’s. The lot started out at $500 and after 10 minutes of bidding, ended up selling for $10,000 to a family member (seated right behind me as it happened). As the gavel fell, the entire room erupted in applause for the winner.
Lot #101 was an interesting circa 1930 photo of Nellie holding his very first baseball bat. His daughter Bonnie informed me that her Granddad (Nellie’s father) made it by hand for his 3-year-old grandson. It sold for $200. Lot #102, Nellie Fox’s personal army shirt and pants sold for $160 to a family member. Lot #126 was a 1953 Japanese team signed baseball from a barnstorming tour game against a team of major league all-stars including Nellie, Yogi Berra, Eddie Mathews, Enos Slaughter, and Robin Roberts sold for the bargain price of $110.
Although the cataloged lots were winding down to a precious few, there were still some gems left to sell. Lot #140, an album of original photographs of Nellie on the Philadelphia Athletics and other minor league teams sold for $650. Lot #150, a highlighted item, was an original wooden seat from old Comiskey Park in Chicago. Used from 1950 to 1962, the seat had a presentation plaque to Nellie from the pale hose. His daughter Bonnie notes, “that chair sat outside for a year and then it sat on the back porch.” It sold for $1,500 to a family member seated behind me.
Lot #153 was described as a “Lot of baseballs, baseball pens, ceramic glove, keychains, etc.” that contained within it what looked like a “Nelson Fox” autographed miniature baseball. The experts in the house were split as to the authenticity of the signature, but that did not deter the spirited floor bidding that brought the gavel down at $650. Again, it sold to a family member. An uncataloged complete set of Lenox China dinnerware, given to Nellie for making the 1961 A.L. All-Star team with each piece featuring the official logo of the game, sold for $700. By the end of the day, 381 bidder numbers were issued, a figure not reflecting the many telephone and e-mail bidders also participating in the auction.
Another uncataloged lot may have been the cutest item in the sale, especially if you are a fan of whimsy like me. It consisted of a handwritten note from Nellie’s wife Joanne and a golfball-sized rubber ball. The note read: “This what Joanne Fox had in her jaw to make it compare to Nellie’s in the pictures in 1959. Joanne Fox.” The ball & note came with an 8×10 picture of Joanne with the fake tobacco chaw in place and a wry grin on her face for a magazine ad featured during Nellie’s A.L. MVP year. It sold for $60.
What do I think were the bargains at the sale not already mentioned above? Lot #110 consisted of Nellie’s personal red & black checkered flannel hunting cap and hunting boots. These items showed the wear that could only be caused by many seasons of use — the type of artifacts that would make a beautiful still life painting, The lot sold for $80. Lot #117 was Nellie’s personal tackle box. The green metal box showed the heavy wear consistent with years of heavy use and was still full of Nellie’s spinning reels, lures, and tackle. It sold for $22. Lot #128 consisted of two pairs of Nellie’s personal sunglasses. They sold for $30. Although I don’t know who purchased these lots, I certainly hope they went to members of Nellie’s family.
And just in case you were wondering, a few of those lots went home with me. I bought Lot #12, a brick salvaged from Comiskey Park in Chicago after it was torn down in 1991 and presented to the Fox family in memory of Nellie, sold for $75. I also purchased the cobbler’s bench mentioned in Part 2 of this article and a wooden saddle seat with a chair weave top that Mickey Mantle placed his drink on while visiting Nellie’s house in 1973. (I also got the photo of The Mick doing just that to prove it.) I also purchased Nellie’s brass spittoon and his last cigar, coffee cup and ashtray.
The last lot I bought was Lot #142, those five wedding photos of Nellie walking Bonnie down the aisle on her wedding day in October of 1974. As I mentioned in Part 2 of this series, these photos were the last images of Nellie before he was diagnosed with the cancer that would end his life barely a year later. As soon as I won them, I handed them to Bonnie seated next to me and asked her if she would autograph them. As she carefully signed each photo, she touched her father’s face with her finger and lovingly whispered “daddy.”
Next Week: Part 4 of the Nellie Fox Auction.
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.
