Pistol Pete Reiser

March 14, 2022 William A. Gralnick

Joe Medwick (far left) poses with fellow Brooklyn Dodgers in June 1942. His teammates (second from left to right) are Billy Herman, Pee Wee Reese, Pete Reiser, Mickey Owen and Whitlow Wyatt. AP photo/Tom Sande

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Of the several choices of “Birthday Boy” from the Boys of Summer and earlier, there is only one choice to pick. When the choice was known for breaking parts of his body crashing into outfield walls, when it was strongly suggested than he be confined to playing the infield, which he was good at, to keep him in one piece, when one carries a nickname into the major leagues given in child because of his love of six shooters, when one is the only player to be given the last rites during a game as a result of fracturing his skull upon hitting an unpadded outfield walls, that’s gotta be your guy.

Pete Reiser had been known as the “perfect” ball player (Lord only knows why he was held together by chewing gum and baling wire), the best player hands down of his era, and one of the best ever to play the game of baseball. He played ten years plus three years playing in the Army for bloated ego officers who expected that Reiser would make them legends in military baseball. One game, he chased a fly ball downhill in the outfield, tripped, rolled down the hill, and separated his shoulder. Just another day in the game for Pistol Pete. He caught the ball.

It is hard to know which list is more staggering, the list of his stats or the list of his injuries. Let’s start with Reiser the ball player. The son of a reputedly very good semi-pro pitcher, Reiser was hitting baseballs whenever he wasn’t shooting his cap pistols. A lefty at the plate, he could hit and run like the wind. He did both with great abandon. He had a right arm like a rifle.

In 861 games he went to the plate 2,662 times scores 473 runs, knocked in 368 runners with 786 hits. We walked about every 3rd time at the plate but struck about the same number of times. He hit 58 dingers and stole 87 bases. He was tops in the league twice with steals and ran with such abandon that he fractured his leg sliding into second base in one game. Remember, this was a man who only played ten years with a three-year military hiatus and was almost never playing at 100% because of injuries.

In 1941, he was always first man off the bench in his debut year. It wasn’t long before he was a sensation in part because of his play. He hit .343. His runs scored, doubles, and triples all were tops in the league. Only three others had done that, and all are Hall of Famers. He hit an inside-the-park grand slam that was the driving force in the Dodgers winning the pennant for the first time since 1920. But the injuries came for him, mostly thanks to outfield walls being concrete, not padded, and some outfields being obstacle courses with flagpoles and signs on the field. Reiser, who crowded the plate, was knocked senseless at the plate two times, resulting in a fractured skull each time. There were two spectacular crashes in the outfield. The first one, with the fans screaming, “Watch Out! Watch Out!,” knocked him stupid. He fell to the turf, blood gushing from his nose. Yet he caught and held the ball and, yes, managed to struggle to his feet to throw it in, attempting to stop the advancing Enos Slaughter. Then he passed out cold.

The second hit, referred to up top, was the one that almost garnered him the dubious distinction of becoming the second major player to die on the field. He was again knocked unconscious. It became one the 11 times he was carried from a field on a stretcher. In the locker room, a priest administered the last rites. Oh yes, he caught that ball too. Each injury and his response was more amazing than the last. Like this one. He chased a fly ball through a hedge that was in front of a 10-foot-deep drainage ditch. He ripped apart his right shoulder, his throwing arm. So, what did he do? He stitched together a new glove or two and taught himself to throw left-handed!

Reiser started in professional baseball at age 15. He was too young to sign a contract but old enough to have displayed the talent that tells an organization, “Don’t lose this kid.” So, for three years, he was the team driver. With ripped shoulder muscles and tendons, mangled legs, fractured skulls, dislocated knees, Reiser didn’t play long enough and later on well enough to make his HOF promise come true.Altogether, he only made it to age 61. Yet one thing that stands out about Pistol Pete Reiser, you couldn’t find anyone, player, fan, officials in management who had a bad word to say about him. He was a Catholic mensch, and that’s enough to earn his spot as March’s Birthday Boy.

Thanks to Wikipedia and crack columnist and researcher Anthony Castrovince for helping me bring Pete Reiser back to life. “Sa-lute” to them, and here’s to you Pistol Pete Reiser.