Nellie Fox
This summer were at a Fenway Park for a game against the White Sox -- excellent game, by the way, Pedro won 1-0. Sitting in front of was a couple with their son, who looked 10 or 12. They were from West Virginia. The woman explained that they had offered their son a trip to Disney World but he said no, he'd rather go to Fenway Park and see the Red Sox play. She said it rather proudly, as a sign that her son was growing up with real values. Last year they took him to St. Louis to see Mark McGwire hit his 60th home run. Her son was thrilled to be seeing Pedro pitch today.
We talked awhile about how baseball games were deteriorating into "events". A gentleman a few seats over chimed in, "It's the same at Wrigley Field. It's all yuppies with cell phones, they don't even know who's playing any more."
"I'm a Phillies fan, but my husband's a White Sox fan," said the woman from West Virginia. Her husband looked over at us, verifying emphatically. "We've had some friction,"she said, "like in '83 [when both teams were in the playoffs], but we get through it.
"Do you remember that movie, Diner?" she asked. "Where the girl had to take the test about the Baltimore Colts or she couldn't marry the guy?"
We remembered it well. Great scene.
"Well, he made me take that test about the White Sox. He really did." He nodded emphatically again. Yep.
I began naming off the old White Sox as they came to mind. "Early Wynn, Sherman Lollar, Billy Pierce, Luis Aparicio, Jungle Jim Rivera, Minnie Minoso... Nellie Fox was just about my favorite ballplayer for awhile there," I said.
"Our son is named after him," said the woman from West Virginia. "Jacob Nelson."
© 2000 Buffalo Head Society
Addendum, January 3, 2002
From: "H.N. Geffert" <hgeffert@shepherd.edu>
Subject: Nellie Fox
Date: Thursday, January 03, 2002 8:19 AM
What a surprise to read your piece about the people from West Virginia and their son named after Nellie Fox. What surprised me was not to realize that the people in the story were our family members. What really surprised me was that anyone remembered anything about the day except what an amazing day Pedro had. Here is a piece of the story that you didn't have. When my husband told me how much he paid for the tickets that day I almost had a heart attack. We had been at the game the day before and had gotten tickets for a reasonable price. Our trip budget had been carefully planned and the tickets for the game that Pedro pitched broke the bank. Great seats, but who pays that much to get into the ballpark? What was he thinking? Would we have to cut our trip short?
All that fadded as Pedro started racking up Ks. Around the fifth inning I leaned over to my husband and said, "Well worth the price." Sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind.
Thanks for remembering us. My son made his little league all-stars team again this year. His father made it as a coach. If you really want to have some fun, come down and to West Virginia and spend a day at our little league field. It is a magic place. Perhaps not a magic as Fenway but for a tiny town it has its moments. It will give you faith that true American values are still alive and well.
P.S. Our town is about an hour south of were Nellie's bowling alley was. His golden glove, along with other Fox memorabilia is still there in a "shrine"
Return to