Welcome to the Baseball History Podcast: Featuring This Week in Baseball History, baseball dictionary and a tour of baseball cities. I’m your game announcer Bob Wright.
This is game 53 of the 2007 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 1 week of August.
August 4,
1942 In a military relief game at the Polo Grounds which will be the last war-time twilight game played, Pee Wee Reese’s grand slam in the top of ninth, which puts the Dodgers up 5-1, doesn’t count because of the 9:10 pm government curfew. The game ends up as a 1-1 tie with the Giants.
Harold Henry Reese, nicknamed “Pee Wee,” was born July 23, 1918 in Ekron, KY.
The captain of the dominating Dodgers teams of the 1950s, scrappy Pee Wee Reese was a quiet force both on the field and in the clubhouse. An outstanding defensive player, he led the National League in putouts four times, double plays twice, and fielding percentage and assists once each. For almost a decade he and Jackie Robinson formed one of baseball’s top double-play combinations. He led Brooklyn to seven pennants in his 16 seasons.
Reese was a strong supporter of the first black Major League Baseball player, Jackie Robinson. He refused to sign a petition that threatened a boycott if Robinson joined the team. When Robinson joined the Dodgers in 1947 and traveled with them during their first road trip, he was heckled by fans in Cincinnati, Ohio. Reese, the captain of the team, went over to Robinson and put his arm around his shoulder in a gesture of support which silenced the crowd. The gesture was especially telling because Reese was born and raised near then-segregated Louisville, Kentucky
Pee Wee Reese got his nickname as a young champion marble shooter; a “pee wee” is a type of marble. A Kentucky native, he earned the monicker The Little Colonel as the star shortstop on the Louisville Colonels of the American Association. After his arrival in Brooklyn, he was named captain of the Dodgers, and many called him The Captain. The title was well earned, as he was the leader of Dodger teams that won seven pennants in the 1940s and 1950s.
After being signed by the Red Sox, the 5’10″ 160-lb Reese proved his worth in Louisville. Managing and playing shortstop for Boston at the time was Joe Cronin, who wasn’t ready to make room for the talented youngster by moving himself to third base. Reese was sold to Brooklyn for $75,000, but his rookie 1940 season was marred by a fractured heel. He recovered in 1941 to lead the Dodgers to their first pennant since 1920.
From 1941 through 1956, with a three-year absence in the navy during WWII, he averaged 148 games a year.
A smooth fielder, he became the premier shortstop of his era, an All-Star each year from 1947 to 1954. He was also a great leadoff hitter, leading the National League in walks, with 104, in 1947; in runs scored, with 132 in 1949; and in stolen bases, with 30 in 1952. He was also noted for his clutch hitting and excellent bat control. Reese’s highest average was .309 in 1954.
Reese was one of the most popular players on an idolized team. bFor his birthday in 1955, the Dodgers threw a party at Ebbets Field, showering him with $20,000 worth of gifts, and 35,000 fans lit candles and sang “Happy Birthday” to him as the lights went dark in the fifth inning.
When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, Reese went along. He played 59 games in 1958 and became a coach. But he soon retired and went to work for the Louisville Slugger bat company. He also enjoyed considerable success as a play-by-play announcer on network television.
His leadership on the Dodgers’ pennant-winning teams gained him election by the Veterans Committee to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984.
Pee Wee Reese died August 14, 1999, in Louisville, KY.
At Reese’s funeral, Joe Black, another Major League Baseball black pioneer, said:
“Pee Wee helped make my boyhood dream come true to play in the Majors, the World Series. When Pee Wee reached out to Jackie, all of us in the Negro League smiled and said it was the first time that a White guy had accepted us. When I finally got up to Brooklyn, I went to Pee Wee and said, ‘Black people love you. When you touched Jackie, you touched all of us.’ With Pee Wee, it was No. 1 on his uniform and No. 1 in our hearts.”
The friendship between Reese and Robinson is the subject of a popular 1990 children’s book called Teammates, by Peter Golenbock.
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: A
Abner Doubleday Field A small ballpark with a capacity of 10,000, near the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. It has been used since 1940 as the site for the annual Hall of Fame Game. It is named for Civil War officer Abner Doubleday, who, according to the traditional but erroneous story, invented baseball in Cooperstown in 1839.
If you would like to a part of Baseball History Podcast, submit your written contribution for the tour segment. I will only be doing the tour when one is sent in by a listener. You can do the segment on any stadium or team; past or present; Minor League, Major League, Negro League or any league outside of the US. Write about 1 page in a conversational tone, send it to me, I will record it, and you will get the credit.
You can email me at baseballhistory@gmail.com. You can leave a voice mail at: 206-888-6506. If you need more baseball, I invite you to check out Just Baseball at justbaseballpodcast.com. Well, that’s it for today’s game of Baseball History Podcast. I’ll see you later at the ballpark.
TWIBH- Pee
Wee Reese
Dictionary-
Abner Doubleday Field
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