Time to go and add Hall of Famer Pee Wee Reese to my long-running
"Minor League Days-Legends Edition" set, which I hope to actually have
printed up in the near future:
Found a nice
image of him suited up with the Louisville Colonels, his first
professional organization, for whom he played in 1938 and 1939.
Over
those two seasons he hit .278 with 58 stolen bases and 36 triples,
giving everyone a small glimpse into what they'd see over his almost 20
years as a Big Leaguer.
Between 1940 and 1958, playing for
only the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, Reese was a mainstay of a team
that would continuously fight for the National League crown, reaching
the World Series seven times, winning it all in 1955.
Though
he'd miss three years to military service between 1943 and 1945, he
would still finish his career with 2170 hits, 1338 runs scored and a
.269 batting average, with 232 stolen bases and ten All-Star game nods.
Importantly,
he was also a calming figure in the integration of baseball when
teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson made his debut in
1947, showing his unwavering support as a Southern man, helping quench
the racist attitudes thrown and Robinson his first few seasons.
Sadly
it took quite some time for Cooperstown to come knocking, as he would
wait until 1984 to finally get voted in by the Veteran's Committee.
