Nellie's Needle

The big bottle-shaped bat in his hands and the big chaw bulging his cheek seemed too much of a load for the Chicago White Sox's little second baseman, Jacob Nelson Fox. Four times he walked to the plate in a game with the Red Sox last week; four times he walked back hitless. Finally Nellie decided that the nonsense had lasted long enough. In the tenth inning he sent a bases-loaded single into left center and beat Boston 1-0.

The White Sox went along with the idea. To the accompaniment of noisy Nellie's chattering at second, they swept the three-game series and raised their residence atop the American League to an imposing five-story height above the World Champion Yankees. Even while they were winning, however, it was hard to see how the White Sox were doing it. Long-suffering Chicago cynics were ready once more for the "June Swoon," the annual summer slump that has kept the Go-Go Sox from going anywhere since the "Black Sox" scandal of 1919. But there were more fans than usual who were saying last week: "This may really be the year."

Offensive Offense. Chicago's pitchers have run up a remarkable record. Southpaw Billy Pierce (10-2) leads the majors; Rookie Bill Fischer (3-2) and Veteran Jim Wilson (6-2) have won more than optimistic Manager Al Lopez could have hoped. But the offensive statistics are so offensive that White Sox fans cannot altogether understand how the games are being won. At week's end the combined batting averages of Outfielders Minnie Minoso, Larry Doby and Jim Landis was a weak .249. Catcher Sherman Lollar was hitting .240. Flashy Shortstop Luis Aparicio was limping along with .205 and eight sparse runs batted in. Only Nellie Fox has been a consistent source of power.

No one is quite sure how Nellie does it. He looks too small (5 ft. 8 in., 150 Ibs.) for a high-school club, and he hasn't the heft for more than three or four home runs a year. But he is poking and placing base hits at a .364 clip, well toward the top of the American League. His arm is weak, and he fields his position with something less than polished grace. Yet he fields so well that one beaten pitcher was driven to despair last week: "Wherever you turn, there he is. He's catching the line drive that should have gone for a hit. He's blooping a single between the second baseman and the rightfielder. Sometimes you get the feeling you're playing against some kind of one-man team. He's always there."

Deep Groove. Nellie is only 29, but he has been there for a long time. At seven he was so hot about baseball that he got picked mascot of the town team in St. Thomas, Pa. At eight he was bat boy. At nine he went in as pinch hitter and blooped a single over second.

In 1944, When Nellie was 16, his parents piled him into the family car and drove to Frederick, Md. where Connie Mack's old Philadelphia Athletics were in spring training. Like every other wartime manager, Mr. Mack was willing to look at any draft-proof prospect. He even saw some hope for the fat-faced farm kid who spun into his double-play pivot like a busher with two left feet. He sent Nellie to Lancaster in the late Class B Interstate League. By the end of 1948 Nellie was a regular on the A's, a season later was traded to Chicago.

White Soxer Fox still gets belted out of the base path now and then when he tries to make a double play, but even a mouthful of loose teeth seldom puts him out of the game. He gets his pesky, game-winning hits with such remarkable regularity that he is a pain in the flannel knickers of every team in the league. One of the big reasons the White Sox are winning, fans have decided, is that the Fox habit is contagious. Humpbacked fly balls and crooked Texas Leaguers are dropping in for hits as if fitted with spectacles. Day after day one of the team's "Hitless Wonders" comes through with a scratch safety that wins the game.

After watching the White Sox scratch out two runs on only two hits to beat the Baltimore Orioles 2-0 last week, one Chicago fan was moved to wistful comment: "I wish they would start hitting better." Said a friend who was perfectly happy with merely winning: "Why?"

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