"All small men, all non-power hitters, must learn to bunt well. It's half your game." (1965)

"(Doc) Cramer told me I was hitting too much off the front foot and that I wasn't using the right kind of bat. I had been using a long, skinny stick and Cramer got me a thicker one." (1955)

"I don't think anyone ever liked to play more than I did." (1965)

"If a ballplayer is satisfied, he's going to slip. You have to keep fighting to improve." (1955)

"(Jim) Landis is such a good player because he plays every day as if he expects to be sent to the minors next week." (1959)

"(Al) Lopez is a great believer in speed and hustle, in the go-go style of baseball. No other manager is so determined a foe of stodgy baseball, lack of hustle and slipshod practices and so powerful an advocate of the unexpected." (1960)

"No one had to tell me I was never going to be a home run hitter. I was hitting the same ball as the rest of the players, but when the big guys cracked one, it went out of the park. Mine went out of the infield." (1965)

"On October 19, 1949, I got a telephone call from the Philadelphia (A's) front office informing me I had been traded to the White Sox for Joe Tipton. I was surprised and hurt." (1960)

"On two legs, Mickey Mantle would have been the greatest ballplayer who ever lived."

"Second base is anything but magic. If it's anything at all, it's speed, sureness with your hands and lots of hard work." (1958)

"We really had baseball in the family. Even that little habit I've got of chewing tobacco  on the ball field sort of comes from my dad." (1955)

"We won (the pennant) because we've got a superior ball club. Not many stars perhaps, but the kind of team that always plays well together." (1959)

"What is the top requirement for a second baseman? A fine shortstop. I am fortunate in having the greatest shortstop in baseball, Luis Aparicio." (1960)

"You don't have to be big to be a big leaguer. Look at Phil Rizzuto. He's really small and he's been one of the greatest that ever was." (1955)

"At the end of his career, Connie (Mack)'s judgment failed him. As he watched his little second baseman, Nellie Fox, during the 1949 season, he saw nothing special, but very special he turned out to be." - Dale Smith of the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society

"Fox is what you'd call a manager's ballplayer. He does his job expertly and he does it every day. He's the type of player you can count on. He's an old pro. A great many times, he is hurting pretty badly from the dumpings he's taken on the field, but he's always ready to play." - Hall of Fame Manager Al Lopez

"He played the game with all his heart, all his passion and with every ounce of his being." - Widow Joanne Fox (During Hall of Fame induction ceremonies for Nellie Fox on August 3, 1997)

"His (Nellie Fox) ability was there for everyone to see but I wish more sportswriters would have realized his other traits. He wasn't outspoken or controversial enough to get the writer's attention. He was just laid back, went out and played the game, never verbally abused anyone. His character was ideal for the ball club." - Jim Landis

"I cannot emphasize enough what Nellie and these other older players gave to me. From them, I learned not only technique but a kind of artistry that only comes with a real love of the game. Catch the ball with two hands, they emphasized. 'Feel the ball,' they'd say, 'Feel the ball.' Nellie would emphasize this over and over again." - Hall of Famer Joe Morgan

"I hate to play a single game without him (Nellie Fox) . It's like trying to drive an auto without spark plugs. He's the heart of the team." - Marty Marion

"I just loved him (Nellie Fox). As a person, as an individual, you couldn't possibly not love him." - Ted Williams

"I've never seen anybody who wanted to play more than Fox did. You had to run him off the field to get him to rest." - Manager Paul Richards in The Man in the Dugout (Donald Honig, March 1, 1995)

"Nellie Fox first made the (A's) team in 1947 when he was nineteen, but it wasn't until 1949 that he got any significant playing time at second base. For some unknown reason, (Connie) Mack wasn't impressed with him." - Eddie Joost

"Nellie Fox so lives to play that every day's a hollerday." - Poet Ogden Nash

"Nellie Fox was a good hitter, great ballplayer and great guy." - Barry Latman

"Nellie Fox was a great little player. I picked him to lead the league in hits and average each year because he just didn't strike out." - Fred Hatfield

"Nellie Fox was toughest guy in the league to face - foul ball, foul ball, foul ball, foul ball, base hit or walk." - Ryne Duren

"Nellie got that old-model bat and made himself a .300 hitter. He'd just stand there and blump, blump, blump. Nellie wasn't a power hitter but he could do everything else with the bat." - Joe DeMaestri

"Nellie was a fantastic competitor on and off the field. Nellie was the aggressive leader on the team. He always gave one-hundred percent and other players were motivated by him." - Billy Pierce

"Nellie was the toughest out for me. In twelve years, I struck him out once and I think the umpire blew the call." - Whitey Ford

"Pound for pound, Nellie Fox may have been as good as anyone who played the game." - George Kell

The Holler Guy by Ogden Nash

This holler guy who we are follering,
What does he holler when he is hollering?
You can hear him clean to hell and gone,
C'mon there baby, c'mon, c'mon!
Or he will change his holler, maybe,
To let's go, baby, baby, baby!
He uses a plug of tobacco per game,
And has never lost or swallowed same.
Nellie Fox so lives to play
That every day's a hollerday.

Source = Life (September 5, 1955)

Quotes From & About Nellie Fox