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shining smiling on on "Nellie." iNenie. Fox Surprises All Including Richards Sox Hustling Second-Sacker Has Been Going Great Guns After Fair Pre-Season Play By MILTON RICHMAN United Press Sports Writer NEW YORK, N. Y., May 30.— It»took a little wait, but today the sun finally was shining smiling on on "Nellie." iNenie. The basker in question is Jacob Nelson "Nellie" Fox, currently the most wondrous White Sox walloper of em all with a glistening .362 stick mark. Manager Paul Richards admits he is amazed by the showing of his 23-year-old second baseman, who invariably variably sports sports a a crew crew variably sports sports a a crew crew Nelson Fax haircut and either a long stogie or a huge hunk of tobacco in his mouth. "Frankly," admitted the White Sox pilot, "Fox didnt impress me too much during spring training. I was disappointed with both his hitting and fielding during the first two weeks. "But, man, he certainly has come a long way since then and he has been one of the outstanding players on our ball club." Richards wasnt the only baseball man who Fox disappointed previously. Connie Mack was first in line in the disappointing department. Fox put in the 1949 season with the Philadelphia Athletics and failed to impress anyone. Mack, who had high, hopes for him when he first reported to the As at 19, then traded Nellie to the White Sox for catcher Joe Tipton on October 19, 1949. Hit Only 247 Last Season Some experts regarded that deal as "notlmig-for-nothing" and it looked they were right when Fox managed to hit only .247 for Chicago last season. Even when the present season started, White Sox officials were worried about what they termed "the weak situation at second base." During the spring, they even tried rookie Joe Demaestri at the keystone in an effort to give star shortstop Chico Carrasqual a smoother working partner. Suddenly, however, Fox began to blossom and although no one took his booming base hits seriously at first, he refused to slip into the expected slump. - Included among his hits were three home runs — his-first in the majors — in rapid succession. Around the league they began to say: "I notice where this kid Fox is beginning to go way down on the handle of his bat. What is he trying to do, become a slugger? We always thought he kept his job on hustle alone." Hustle has always been a by-word with the slender, boyish-looking Fox and baseball has always been his life. Back in 1944, his worried mother sent a letter to Mack in which she wrote: "My boy eats, sleeps and breathes baseball ... He neglects his schoolwork and has all of us worried to death ... All he ever speaks of is you and the Athletics . . . Wont you please give him a chance so we can get some peace around the house." The letter helped young Fox win a tryout with the As and a subsequent contract with, their Lancaster farm club in the Interstate League, the same club which once gave Kell to Philadelphia. Mack admits he made a mistake in letting go of Kell. He may have made the same mistake with Chicagos new hard-to-fool Fox.
