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Captain Courageous

Pee Wee Reese, 1918-1999

By Robert W. Creamer
Issue date: August 23, 1999

First things first: Harold Henry (Pee Wee) Reese, who died last Saturday at 81 after a long battle with lung cancer, was a superb player. That fact was sometimes obscured by the acclaim poured on his Brooklyn Dodgers teammates, including Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Carl Furillo, Don Newcombe, Preacher Roe, Carl Erskine and others. But Reese, the Dodgers' shortstop from 1940 through '56 (except for three years he spent in the Navy during World War II), was captain of those stellar Brooklyn teams and very much the leader.

At Ebbets Field his locker stood in the center of the small, crowded clubhouse, along with an old wooden rocking chair someone had put there as a nod to Reese's leadership. The 5'10", 160-pound Reese was an excellent fielder -- so good that in 1948, after the Dodgers acquired shortstop Billy Cox, a brilliant glove man, they made him a third baseman -- and a capable hitter. His offensive statistics are sometimes dismissed as ordinary, but from '46 through '56, a span during which Brooklyn won six pennants, Reese averaged 40 extra-base hits a year, 97 runs and 65 RBIs. Eight times in his career he finished among the top 10 in the National League MVP vote.

Still, Reese is best remembered for the role he played in helping Jackie Robinson break baseball's color barrier during the 1947 season. In spring training, when Robinson was still in Brooklyn's minor league system, Reese was asked to sign a petition drawn up by Dodgers outfielder Dixie Walker stating that the undersigned would not play for Brooklyn if Robinson was brought up. Reese refused to sign, the rebellion was quashed, and Robinson was promoted. During the season Robinson took terrible verbal abuse from rival fans and ballplayers, and was even shunned by some of his teammates. Reese, a white Southerner, played cards with Robinson and before large crowds displayed friendship toward him on the field. On one famous occasion he put an arm around Robinson's shoulders. "There were times when I went over to talk to him on the field," Reese told Roger Kahn, "thinking that people would see this and figure we were friends and this might help Jack." Robinson never forgot the gesture.

In sports, to say someone has class is in many ways the highest compliment. Pee Wee Reese was the epitome of class.

Issue date: August 23, 1999

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