| OCR Text |
Show HIS WAS THE noblest Dodger of them all. When you are talking about Hall of Fame shortstop and longtime Brooklyn Dodger captin Harold “Pee Wee”Reese,it seems to me Personal: Bornduly 23, 1919,in Elkton, Ky. Married to Dorothy Walton, 1942-, Twochildren, Barbara and ark. 2 shortstop, Brooklyn Dodgers, 1940-57; LA Dodgers, 1958; keystone combination with Jackie Robinson, lifetimebatting average, .269; 2170 career hits; played in seven World Series, all vs. the New York Yankees, 1941, 1947,1949, 1952, 1953, 1955 (World Champions), 1956;batting averagein WorldSeries, 272; led Natio League with 132 RBis, 1949; inducted into Hall of Fame, uF PEE WEE REESE e Dodg first World Series victory was in 1955, okayto crib from Shakespeare, updating Marc Antony's tribute to Brutus. Pee Wee (the nicknamederives from childhood skill at marbles,nothis size) was lange diamond, off his finger and showingit to me. He played in Seven World Series but this in Manhattan recently, and we metfor morningcoffee. Now77, Reese is very fit, ex- cept for creaky knees. He has a ever wlotory, meantthe most, sald, He he played for a year morein LosAngeles after ieteam moved,ti coached.inter, he was an announcer for NBC and went into business. Today, he lives half a year in Kentucky, half in Venice, Fla. “They'll never holda benefit for me,” he said, His son, Mark, is producer, director and writer of the ESPN series. ‘Whatabout the moneyplayers full head of hair that’s only slightly graying and a crisp memory for detail a working reporter might envy.It’s almost 40 years since the Dodgers abandoned Brooklyn for L.A. and broke a borough's heart, almost 50 years since the team made history by fieldingthe first African-Amer- ican major leaguer, the late Jack- ie Robinson. And, as another baseball season headsfor its World Series climax, the old Dodgers are back in the news. There’s a new book about them by Carl Prince and five-part ESPNprime-timeseries called The Original America’s Team, narrated by Roger Kahn, author of The Boys of Summer. It was the ESPNseries that brought Pee Wee to town. I got him telling me aboutthe early days. “T wasplaying for Louisville in triple A in °38 and °39, mak- ing $150 a month, and they gave mea raise to $200 in mid-season,” he recalled. “My Sunday school teacher/baseball coach was my agent. I wasatthe All- Star gamein Kansas City when theytold meI'd beensold to the Dodgers for $75,000.I got 5 percentofthat. I wasn’t too happy aboutit. I was about19. “J cameup[to the majors] in 1940, Leo Durocher was managerand the shortstop, and I was to succeed him at short, He was a tough guy who watched every move. I lived with Leo in spring training that year, and he dressed really well, and he'd say, ‘Here, kid, you like this sweater? Take it.’”I lived in downtown Brooklyn in different hotels and took the subway to Ebbets Field. In "42 I was married, and the war ‘was on, and I was goingto enlist in the Marine Corps, but a guy Navy, you won't have to go over- TheBrookiyn Dodgers achild, so I wentin the Navy made history. Their says, ‘I gota Spot for you in the seas.’ And we were going to have and ended upgetting sentto the Pacific anyway. My daughter was 2 weeks old when left, 2 captain, Pee Wee By 1946, Pee Wee was back in baseball andthe team’s regular shortstop, making $8000 a year. “Jackie [Robinson]played ’46 in Montreal and came upin ’47. I was captain then, and I knew they were going to bring them, his own role, years whenI got back.” Reese, remembers and Jackie Robinson. him up. [Ed] Stanky was the second baseman,and Jackie played first. Rookie of the Year.” But talent wasn’t enough. Some Dodgers didn’t want anything to do eeSey a teammate, Reese, a itherner, born on a Kentucky ain the words of The New York Times, “paved the i"for the others to accept Jackie, “He handled it all well,” Reese says. “Off the field, I played golf and tennis with Jackie. He was pretty relaxed. And his wife, Rachel, was and is a great lady.” 1 PAGE 14 - SEPTEMBER 15, 1996 - PARADE MAGAZINE |
