The Captain

Harold Peter Henry Reese was born on July 23rd 1918 in Ekron, Kentucky. He lived there until he was almost 8 when his family then moved to Louisville. He got his nickname, Pee Wee, playing marbles. A Pee Wee is a small marble.

Reese was so small that he did not play baseball until his senior year in high school.  At that time he only weighed 120 pounds and played 6 games at second base.

After graduating from high school in 1935, he worked as a cable splicer for the Louisville phone company and played amateur baseball for a church league.

When his team reached the league championship, the minor league team in Louisville allowed them to play the championship game at their field.   

The owner of the Colonels as the team was called, Cap Neal, was so impressed with Reese that he signed him to a 200 dollar bonus. A lot of money back then. By 1938 Reese was the Colonels’ starting short stop, and was affectionately called The Little Colonel by his teammates.

Reese was by then one of the top prospects in the minors, and he so impressed Red Sox minor league farm director, Bill Evans, that he recommended that the Sox buy the team.

Both Evans and team owner Tom Yawkey knew that the Sox starting SS Joe Cronin was nearing the end of his career. However, Cronin was also the manager. He went down to scout Reese and realized he was scouting his own replacement, so he deliberately downplayed Pee Wee’s abilities and suggested he be traded.

It took a while to find a trade partner since most teams thought something might be wrong with Reese since the Sox seemed so intent on getting rid of him.

But on July 16th 1939, Reese was traded to Brooklyn for 35,000 dollars and 4 players to be named later. The Dodgers ended up sending only 2, Red Evans, and Art Parks. The trade is now considered one of the most lopsided in baseball.

Pee Wee stayed in Louisville the rest of the 39 season and was called up to Brooklyn in 1940 Ironically, he walked into the same type situation in Brooklyn where the manager was also the team’s starting SS, Leo Durocher, but Durocher willingly stepped aside for the young SS.

Reese had a decent debut, which was cut short by a heel injury limiting him to 84 games. His big moment was a walk off grand slam he hit to beat the Giants.

1941 was a very forgettable year for Reese. He hit .229 and led the league with 47 errors. He also had a very forgettable World Series hitting .200 and making 3 errors in 5 games.

1942 was the year he established himself. Making the first of 10 straight all-star games, and leading all SS in putouts and assists. Pee Wee then did what a great many American’s did, he joined the Navy and served in the Pacific.

He missed 3 years while serving, and returned in time for the 46 season. The Dodgers battled the Cardinals down to the wire that year. Ending in a tie, and having the first playoff series ever. Cardinals won the first two games and that was it.

1947 was the year that Jackie debuted in the majors. The Dodger players were circulating a petition that warned they would not play if Robinson were brought to the team. Of course, the wording was not that nice. They assumed that the Southern born Pee Wee would sign.

But Reese, said he had been made aware of the injustice in the south when his dad had taken him to a tree where a lynching had occurred. Reese had very little contact with blacks, and he said when he shook hands with Jackie, it was the first time he had ever shaken a black man’s hand.

Pee Wee refused to sign and the protest pretty much died right there. Reese had been more concerned about his job as a SS since that was Robinson’s main position, but the Dodgers put Jackie at 1st, and Pee Wee retained his spot.

Some of the more vocal players eventually were traded including Dixie Walker, who was very popular in Brooklyn. Hal Gregg and Vic Lombardi were also traded to the Pirates for Billy Cox, and Preacher Roe in the Walker trade.

On the Dodgers first road trip to Cincinnati, Jackie was getting heckled unmercifully by the Reds fans, Reese, who was the Captain of the team by now, walked over to Jackie and engaged him in a conversation, and then put his arm around his shoulder in a gesture of solidarity with his team mate.

That immediately silenced the crowd. And gradually the fans began to accept Robinson, but it was not easy. He also got death threats in Cincy, and there was a large police presence at the park. Over that tough year Pee Wee kept Jackie’s spirits up and helped ease the burden he was carrying. Sometimes Reese did it with humor. He told Jackie, who was getting thrown at a lot, Jack, some of these guys are throwing at you because you are black…the others are doing it because they just do not like you!

Pee Wee played on pennant winners in 41, 47, 49, 52, 53, 55, and 56. He got his WS win in 1955. Pee Wee was a steady influence on those Dodger teams and he played 140 games or more every year from 1941 to 1956, not counting the war years, and scored at least 75 runs a year from 42 through 56 amassing 1,338 in his career. The most by any Dodger ever. Clayton Kershaw (68.9) just passed Pee Wee (68.2) for the highest bWAR as a Dodger in Dodger history.

He stole 252 bases and, in an era, when SS did not hit many home runs, hitting 126 for his career. He led NL SS four times in putouts, and was consistently in the top 10 in assists and double plays. Reese and Elston Howard have the distinction, although somewhat dubious, of being on the most losing World Series teams…6.

Pee Wee, not the manager, was the one who brought the lineup card out to the umpire at the beginning of the game. Between their last season in Brooklyn, and their first in Los Angeles, Pee Wee only played in 162 games, just 59 games in 1958. After the season he retired and became a Dodger coach. I always felt he would have been a very good manager.

Pee Wee retired with over 2000 games, 8000 at bats, a .269 career average, 2170 hits.  He was part of the coaching staff that won the 1959 World Series, his second ring. After the 1959 season, Pee Wee left the Dodgers and became a broadcaster on television. He first worked with Dizzy Dean, and then with Curt Gowdy. He did that until 1968. He also did some work for the Reds, and finished his TV career as a part time analyst for the Expos in 1972.

He eventually went to work for Hillerich and Bradsby, the makers of Louisville Slugger bats. Pee Wee was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veteran’s committee in 1984 along with Rick Ferrell. There was a statue of Pee Wee erected at Louisville Slugger Field in 2000, and his number was retired by the Louisville Bats.

He also received the SABR Hero of Baseball award at a convention in 1997. Pee Wee battled lung and prostate cancer and on August 14, 1999 he passed away at his home in Louisville. There was a statue erected in Brooklyn at the park of the Mets single A Cyclones depicting Reese and Robinson overcoming the prejudice of the time.

Reese and his wife Dottie were married in 1942, and had 2 children. She outlived Pee Wee by 13 years. Robinson often cited Reese’s support as one of the main reasons he was able to get through the ordeal of being the first. Duke Snider said in his biography that Pee Wee was the Dodgers glue. And he was always called Captain whenever the old players met after their playing years.  A true sign of respect.

Some think being the Captain means little anymore, but just look at some of the players who were captains of their teams, and you can see that they were all highly respected in the clubhouse and on the field, and always by the opposing team.  Lou Gehrig was the Yankee captain for a while, and after he was gone, it was Bill Dickey. The Dodgers last captain was Davey Lopes. There has not been one since.

Pee Wee Reese. Small in stature, but a giant on the field.