The debut of Nellie Fox

Future Hall of Famer Nellie Fox, the pride of St. Thomas, Pa., makes his major league debut 77 years ago today in the second game of a doubleheader at Cleveland.

Fox, then playing for the Philadelphia Athletics, has the unenviable task of making his debut against another future Hall of Famer, the hard-throwing Bob Feller.

Fox, pinch-hitting for A’s starting pitcher Bob Savage, grounds out to third baseman Ken Keltner to end the fifth inning in a game Feller and the Indians eventually win 2-0 before a Sunday afternoon crowd 39,595 at Municipal Stadium.

Fox plays in only seven games for the Athletics in 1947 and just three more in 1948 before appearing in 88 games for them in 1949.

Connie Mack, the A’s Hall of Fame manager, decides after the ’49 season that the 5-foot-10, 160-pound Fox is not good enough to help his team and trades him to the Chicago White Sox for journeyman backup catcher Joe Tipton.

Oops.

Big-time oops, too, as Fox ends up playing 14 seasons with the White Sox, putting together a brilliant career that leads him to the Hall of Fame in 1997.