The return of Nellie Fox

Joe Morgan and Nellie Fox

Seemingly retired after the 1964 season, Nellie Fox rejoins the Houston Astros 59 years ago today as a player-coach.

The Astros bring back Fox, in part, as a backup infielder, but mostly as a mentor to a rookie second baseman named Joe Morgan (seen here on the left with Fox before a game at Wrigley Field).

Both end up in the Hall of Fame – Morgan in 1990 in his first year on the writers’ ballot with Fox posthumously following in 1997 on the veterans’ committee ballot for players previously overlooked by the writers.

Fox, the pride of St. Thomas, Pa., finally retires as a player after the 1965 season, having put together a 19-year career in the majors that includes a .288 lifetime average, a 1959 American League MVP award while playing for the Chicago White Sox and 11 straight All-Star seasons from 1951-61.

He later becomes a key member of Ted Williams’ coaching staff both with the Washington Senators and Texas Rangers before passing away in 1975 at the all-too-young age of 47.