Walt Bond (#109)

When I began this blog last year, it was not my intent to post cards for players I had already posted elsewhere. However, while returning the Gene Stephens card to my 1965 binder after a recent post, I was browsing through it and found several cards of interest that were not the player's final card. The previous post with 4 manager cards were some that fell into that category, as does this card of Walt Bond.

I previously posted Walt Bond's final card on my 1967 blog six years ago, therefore I will not repeat his career exploits again. I am posting this card for several reasons:

1) This is one of the few 1965 "Houston" cards that escaped the Topps Airbrush Treatment. Although the pennant says "Houston", we see a nice shot of the Houston Colt .45s' cap. I can only recall this card and Turk Farrell's card that show the .45s logo

2) Walt is looking very pensive in this photo.  It is all the more somber with the realization that just over 2 years after this card hit collectors' hands, Bond will have passed away from leukemia in September 1967, after having played for the Twins earlier that season.

Final Card - Nellie Fox

Snowed-in today. Good time to catch up on some blogging… 

Here is the final card for Nellie Fox (#485), the long-time White Sox’ 2nd baseman. He was a player-coach in his final season.

Fox was signed by the Philadelphia Athletics in 1944, and worked his way up through the minors (with a detour into military service in 1946), while playing a few games with the A’s in ’47 and ’48.

Nellie made the Athletics for good at the start of the 1949 season, and after riding the bench for 2 months, was their starting 2nd baseman for almost every game after mid-June. After the ’49 season he was traded to the White Sox.

Fox was the White Sox’ every-day 2nd baseman from 1950 through the end of the 1963 season. He was an All-Star every season from 1951-61, and again in 1963. Fox also won the AL MVP award in 1959, the year the Sox made it to the World Series. He led the AL in hits 4 times, and in triples once. He also led the league in at-bats 5 times.

After the 1963 season, he was traded to the Houston Colt .45s for pitcher Jim Golden and outfielder Danny Murphy. (Murphy later converted to pitcher and played for the Sox in ’69 and ’70.) Fox was the Colts’ 2nd baseman in 1964, until losing the job to September call-up Joe Morgan.

Nellie was released after the 1964 season, and joined the coaching staff. In 1965 he was activated from May 12th to July 31st, and played in 21 games, mostly as a pinch-hitter but also at all 3 bases.

He continued coaching for the Astros though the 1967 season, then coached for the Senators/Rangers from 1968-72.

Fox passed away in 1975 (from cancer) at age 47.

He received 74% of the vote in his final year of eligibility on the ballot, but was eventually inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans’ Committee in 1997.