Pee Wee Reese

Pro team(s)

Brooklyn Dodgers, Los Angeles Dodgers

Hall of Fame

⭐ National Baseball Hall of Fame

Harold Henry "Pee Wee" Reese was born on July 23, 1918, in Ekron, Kentucky (Meade County), and grew up in Louisville after his family moved there. He was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as a teenager and spent his entire 16-year major league career in Brooklyn and Los Angeles (1940-1958, missing three years to U.S. Navy service during World War II). As the shortstop and captain of the Dodgers — the position he claimed at the expense of Leo Durocher — he was the on-field leader of one of the most storied teams in baseball history, appearing in seven World Series and winning the 1955 championship. He was a 10-time All-Star and was widely regarded as the best shortstop in the National League during his era. His most enduring legacy, however, may be his conduct during the 1947 season, when Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers and faced brutal racial hatred on and off the field. When the taunting grew most intense, Reese famously walked across the infield and put his arm around Robinson's shoulder, an act of public solidarity at a moment when silence was the easier choice. That gesture — at what may have been the most important moment in professional sports history — has made Pee Wee Reese an enduring symbol of moral courage. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984 by the Veterans Committee. Born in Ekron, Kentucky.