This is part 16 of an ongoing series. To see the rest of this series, click here.

It takes a lot to make a vintage baseball card unappealing to me. Not even this Nellie Fox, displaying its 58 years of age with rounded corners and evidence of having been pasted to a sheet of paper, and possibly involved in a fire, could keep me away.

This card isn’t your prototypical personal collection card, but that’s OK — Fox wasn’t your prototypical Hall of Fame player. He was not an offensive powerhouse. His career batting average was only .288, and his CAREER home run total was less than the single season average for most of today’s sluggers. Fox was better known as a singles hitter, and a fine defensive player who garnered three Gold Gloves. He also has an MVP to his credit, and a World Series title, both of which he earned in 1959.

Fox was not elected into the Hall by the Baseball Writers of America, having missed in his final year of eligibility by one measly vote. Rather he was elected by the veteran’s committee in 1997, some 22 years after he died.

This entry was posted on December 14, 2009 at 1:08 pm and is filed under Rookie Card Showcase with tags baseball, baseball cards, Bowman, Chicago White Sox, Hall of fame, Nellie Fox, rookie card, Rookie Card Showcase, sports, vintage baseball cards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.