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Jacob Nelson Fox
Chicago White Sox
Second Base
Bats: Left Throws: Right Height: 5'10" Weight: 160Born: December 25, 1927, St. Thomas, PA
Signed: Signed by the Philadelphia Athletics as an amateur free agent before the 1944 season
Major League Teams: Philadelphia Athletics 1947-1949; Chicago White Sox 1950-1963; Houston Colt .45s 1964; Houston Astros 1965
Hall of Fame Induction: 1997
Died: December 1, 1975, Baltimore, MD (age 47)
Hall of Famer Nellie Fox was a perennial All-Star for the White Sox throughout the 1950s, leading the American League in hits in four different seasons. He never struck out more than 18 times a season and his 42.7 at bats per strikeout is tops all-time in the modern era. Fox was named to the All-Star team 11 years in a row between 1951 and 1961 and went back in 1963 too. A fantastic fielder, Fox won three Gold Gloves for his work at second base in 1957, 1959 and 1960. He was the A.L. MVP in 1959 when he hit .306 with 70 RBIs, helping the Go-Go White Sox reach the World Series for the first time since 1919.
Fox played 19 seasons in the majors, hitting .288 with 2,663 hits, which is currently 75th on the all-time list. He's also high on the all-time list for singles (2,161 for 28th place), runs scored (1,279 for 138th place) and triples (112 for 121st place). Fox served as a player-coach for the Astros in 1965 and then a full-time coach with the team in 1966 and 1967. He also coached with the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers between 1968 and 1972. Sadly, skin cancer claimed Fox in 1975 at the way too young age of 47. One of the greatest second baseman of his era, Fox had his #2 retired by the White Sox in 1976 and he was elected by the Veterans Committee into the Hall of Fame in 1997.
Building the Set
December 7, 2001 from Lockport, NY - Card #229
This Fox card came from an eBay auction won in December 2001 for $12. Like the Red Sox team card (#111) before it, this purchase is an anomaly, and I wish I had more information in my notes about how and why I decided to head to eBay in late 2001 to purchase this particular card. The post-9/11 time period is one that was filled with fear and anxiety and as best I can guess, I felt the need back then to randomly buy an old baseball card or two from eBay. eBay was still a relatively new thing back in 2001, and I had established my account in January 1999 for the sole purpose of buying baseball cards and Beatles bootlegs. Not surprisingly, I don't have any pictures from this time period to share here as some context for the purchase.
The Card / White Sox Team Set
That's a phenomenal action shot on the front of this card, and I'm going to assume Fox either snared a line drive or threw the runner out at first on the play. The cartoon panels on the back highlight Fox's strengths - getting hits and making outs at second.
Presumably because he had an exclusive contract with Bowman, this is Fox's first Topps card. The card was reprinted in the 2001 Topps Archives and Topps Archives Reserve sets.
1956 Season
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First Mainstream Card: 1951 Bowman #232
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (11): 1956-1965, 1975
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2018 Panini Diamond Kings #17
379 - Fox non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 9/16/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
SABR
The Trading Card Database
In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year. Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.
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