DATE: 1940-42 ORIGINAL or REPRINT: Type 2 Original - Printed from the original negative, but in a later period TEAM: Brooklyn Dodgers SUBJECT: Pete Reiser PHOTOGRAPHER: George Burke APPROXIMATE SIZE: 3-1/2"x5-1/2" MARKS / STAMPING: Handwritten identification of photo's subject. Has standard postcard back but remains postally unused. NUMBER OF PHOTOS: 1 COMMENTS / CONDITION: Offered is an approximately 3-1/2"x5-1/2" real photo postcard of Pete Reiser, pictured in his Brooklyn Dodgers uniform circa 1940-42. The original photo was taken by George Burke in 1940-42, but this card was produced some time later (no earlier than the 1950's judging by the standard Kodak back). Comes from a large collection of such postcards that we will be listing over the coming months, all having standard postcard backs but being postally unused. Wear on these, if any, is mostly confined to minor corner and edge wear, but see scans for further details including condition. We do not deal in stock images or modern reprints, and all scans shown are of the actual item being sold. If you have any questions about a particular piece, please ask before the auction ends. BIO: Harold Patrick Reiser was born in St. Louis, MO and died in 98 in Palm Springs, CA. He played major league baseball from 940 to 952 as 3rd baseman and outfielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Boston Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Cleveland Indians, appeared in the 94 and 947 World Series, and was selected in 94, 942 and 946 as an All-Star. His splendid career would have lasted longer if not for his all-out, devil-may-care style of play, which caused him to receive several serious injuries. He regularly crashed into outfield walls, then not padded, in pursuit of fly balls. He fractured his skull running into the outfield wall on one occasion (but still made the throw back to the infield), was temporarily paralyzed on another and was taken off the field on a stretcher many times. On one occasion Pete was given his Last Rites in the ballpark. As a rookie in 94, he won the National League batting title while the Dodgers took home the pennant. The following year, he was hitting .380 until he ran into the concrete outfield wall while running at full speed. That incident robbed him of any more effective play that year, and caused Brooklyn's painful drop in the NL standings. When Leo Durocher was named manager of the Chicago Cubs in the 960s, he brought many of his former players to coach on his staff. Reiser was one of them, and in an interview he said, "God gave me the legs, and I took myself to the wall." He also coached for the Dodgers and the California Angels. Pete managed in the minors for several years, winning the 959 Minor League Manager of the Year Award from The Sporting News. But he was forced to step down in 965 as skipper of the AAA Spokane Indians as the result of a heart attack. His replacement was Duke Snider — the man who had replaced Reiser as the center fielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers decades earlier. In 98, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 00 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. They explained what they called "the Smoky Joe Wood Syndrome," where a player of truly exceptional talent but a career curtailed by injury should still, in spite of not having had career statistics that would quantitatively rank him with the all-time greats, should still be included on their list of the 00 greatest players. SKU: GB11219
Item: GB11219
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