Sport: Nellie's Needle

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White Soxer Fox still gets belted out of the base path now and then when he tries to make a double play, but even a mouthful of loose teeth seldom puts him out of the game. He gets his pesky, game-winning hits with such remarkable regularity that he is a pain in the flannel knickers of every team in the league. One of the big reasons the White Sox are winning, fans have decided, is that the Fox habit is contagious. Humpbacked fly balls and crooked Texas Leaguers are dropping in for hits as if fitted with spectacles. Day after day one of the team's "Hitless Wonders" comes through with a scratch safety that wins the game.

After watching the White Sox scratch out two runs on only two hits to beat the Baltimore Orioles 2-0 last week, one Chicago fan was moved to wistful comment: "I wish they would start hitting better." Said a friend who was perfectly happy with merely winning: "Why?"