This Day In Sox History...November 12

[Lip Man 1]

November 12, 1959 - He helped lead the White Sox to their first pennant in 40 years and because of his contributions on the field and in the clubhouse, Nellie Fox became the first member of the franchise to be named American League M.V.P. Fox hit .306 that year with 191 hits, 34 doubles, 70 RBI’s and 71 walks (as compared to only 13 strike outs!) Fox also led the league in put outs, assists, total chances and fielding percentage for all second basemen. He also was named to the All-Star team that season.

Nellie would get 16 first place votes by the Baseball Writers Association of America and beat out teammate, shortstop Luis Aparicio, 295 points to 255. Pitcher Early Wynn, who’d win the Cy Young Award that season, would finish third giving the Sox the top three spots in the final voting.

November 12, 2020 – It was a very strange baseball season but one thing that didn’t change was the excellence of Sox first baseman Jose Abreu. From start to finish of the abbreviated 60 game season the big slugger produced and because of that he was named the American League M.V.P. by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Abreu finished with 374 total points beating out the Indians Jose Ramirez.  He became the fourth White Sox player to win M.V.P. honors, joining Frank Thomas (1993-94), Dick Allen ('72) and Nellie Fox ('59).

Abreu's 60 RBIs over 60 games led the A.L. for a second consecutive season. He finished second with 19 home runs and fourth with a .317 batting average. He also ranked fifth with a .987 OPS and was the only A.L. player to rank in the Top 5 in hits (76, first), RBIs, slugging percentage (.617, first), extra-base hits (34, first), total bases (148, first), home runs, average and OPS.  A highlight of his season was six home runs in a three-game series against the Cubs at Wrigley Field including four straight over two games.