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Ervin Fox
Detroit Tigers
Outfield
Born: March 8, 1909, Evansville, IN
Major League Teams: Detroit Tigers 1933-1940; Boston Red Sox 1941-1945
World Series Appearances: Detroit Tigers 1934-1935, 1940
Died: July 5, 1966, Detroit, MI (57)
Pete Fox reportedly received his "Pete" nickname when fans of his Beaumont Exporters team in the Texas League began calling him "Peter Rabbit" during the 1932 season on account of his speed. Peter Rabbit evolved to Pete and Fox dropped his original first name, Ervin. Fox played for 13 big league seasons with the Tigers and Red Sox, primarily as a right fielder. He clubbed a career high 15 home runs in 1935, hit his career high batting average at .331 in 1937 and drove in a career high 96 runs in 1938. Fox was on pennant-winning Tigers teams in 1934, 1935 and 1940 and in the 1934 World Series he set an American League record with six doubles. Detroit defeated the Cubs in six games in the 1935 World Series with Fox considered to be the unofficial MVP of the Series after he batted .385 (10 for 26). Following his World Series heroics, he enjoyed five more seasons with the Tigers before being sold to the Red Sox on December 12, 1940. He played his final four seasons in Boston, seeing regular playing time with Red Sox outfielders Ted Williams and Dom DiMaggio serving in the military. Fox was named to his sole All-Star Game in 1944.
Fox retired with 1,678 hits over 1,461 games, batting .298 with 65 home runs and 693 RBIs. He briefly managed in the minor leagues in the late 1940s and later served as a scout for the White Sox and Tigers.
December 11, 2020 from San Diego, CA (Kit Young Cards)
On the night I impulsively decided to collect the original Diamond Stars set, and I subsequently purchased the Harvey Hendrick (#41) card from Kit Young Cards, I also added the complete, and first, extended set to my cart for the very reasonable price of $7.50. The 12 cards in this first extended set were originally issued in 1981.
In the early 1980s, a family member of a former National Chicle employee discovered an uncut sheet of 12 unused cards presumably meant as a 1937 continuation of the Diamond Stars set. As originally advertised, and as mentioned on the back of every card issued, the company had intended for the set to contain 240 subjects. They only produced 108 cards before production was halted, and the theory is this newly found sheet represented a "lost" continuation of the set. Fortunately, the images of the cards made their way into the collecting world and a 12-card "what if" set was created. (More on the uncut sheet can be found here from SABR's Baseball Cards Research Committee and from this Ryan Cracknell article for Beckett.)
Another great article was recently published to SABR's Baseball Cards Research Committee website taking a closer look at these extended cards.
The Beckett online database lists the set as "1981 Diamond Stars Continuation Den's" and the set's description notes "This set was created and produced by Denny Eckes. Hobbyist Mike Galella was involved in bringing this sheet to the the public. These cards were originally available from the producer for $3." The back of the cards have a 1981 copyright attributed to Den's Collectors Den, the company belonging to the aforementioned Eckes.
The 12 cards include more ambitious geometric designs than the original Diamond Stars cards, although the overall color template remains the same as their 1934 to 1936 counterparts.
Variations Available
1 - 1981 / blue back / 1936 statistics / 1981 copyright
The Card / Tigers Team Set
As pointed out in the recent article linked above, the photo used for Fox's card seems to be a repurposing of another Fox photo showing the outfielder swinging a bat and used for his 1934 Goudey card. The tip on the back discusses the need to learn the angles and unique caroms to be found from each ballpark's outfield walls.
1937 Season
After a down year in 1936, Fox regained his starting right fielder's job and delivered a solid year at the plate. He batted .331 with 116 runs scored, 12 home runs and 82 RBIs for a Tigers team that finished in second place in the American League behind the Yankees. His most frequent Tigers outfield mates in 1937 included Gee Walker (#152) in left field and Jo-Jo White (#45) in center field.
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Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1934 Goudey #70
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0): N/A
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1991 Conlon Collection TSN #197
43 - Fox non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/23/21.
Sources:
Previous Card: #109 Benny Frey - Cincinnati Reds
Next Card: #111 Phil Cavarretta - Chicago Cubs
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