This week The Post takes a new look at the “best of” New York’s sporting history – an area that is equally worthy of debate, but it has never been debated endlessly. Today’s edition: best double play combos.
There is greatness, and then there is impact.
To contribute one to convince you of a place in history. To achieve both? Yes, it’s one double game.
Of course, Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson get the nod for the second best short-basestop pair in New York baseball history. Both of them get a placard at the Hall of Fame. While the striped duo Bucky Dent / Willie Randolph and Tony Kubek / Bobby Richardson and Mets’ Edgardo Alfonzo / Rey Ordonez deserve to be honored for their team’s excellence and success, none of the six who joined the twin Dodgers Brooklyn duo killers in Cooperstown, although Kubek received the Ford C. Frick Award from Hall for his broadcast skills.
But the fact that the two men hold a special place in the hearts and minds of people who have never even seen them play, that their bond holds as much resonance as ever, speaks volumes about its effects.
“It’s all about equality,” Sharon Robinson, Jackie’s daughter, said in a telephone interview. “A white man and a black man play an important midfield position, and with the same strength and strength, they play this extraordinary game.”
The Brooklyn Dodgers’ John Jorgensen (b. To r.), Pee Wee Reese, Ed Stanky and Jackie RobinsonThe AP
Jackie Robinson certainly broke the color barrier of Major League Baseball, becoming the first post-1900 African-American player when he joined the Dodgers in 1947; he actually played at first base exclusively that season before turning to the keystone in 1948. He worked as Reese’s main midfield partner until 1952, and the two players joined to get 67.1 wins over replacements, according Baseball-Reference, when the Dodgers won two National League Flags, finished second and third once.
“They are the core of our defense,” said Carl Erskine, who led the Dodgers from 1948 to 1959. “They were intelligent, consistent and extraordinary.”
Erskine, 93, continued, “The unique thing about Jackie playing in second base, he is so fast. I have never seen it backhand ball. He is always in front of him. … Jackie is not an acrobat. He is not like a ballet dancer. He is a strong and well-built individual. He is like a steel worker. He would step on the bag and throw two feet off the ground. “
The right hand praised Reese for his mastery of putting himself in the right place and making a difficult pickoff at second base.
Robinson moved to the left in 1953 and then the third base in 1955; he reached a total of 36 matches in second place from ’53 to ’56, at which point he retired. While he played with other future Hall of Famers such as Roy Campanella, Sandy Koufax and Duke Snider, his relationship with Reese stood out to the point that Brooklyn Cyclones, Mets’ Class-A affiliation, honored the pair in 2005 with a statue in the MCU Park.
The Brooklyn Dodgers statue legendizes Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson outside Keyspan Park.Kevin P. Coughlin
The statue, featuring Reese with his arms around Robinson, has sparked some discussion of his own. It happened, an incident that allegedly occurred early in Robinson’s career in which Reese linked him with racist fans who were hostile in a road game by openly supporting his teammates on the field, might never have happened. The Robinsons lobbied for the statue to portray the two men in action, turn the two men upside down, and not win.
However, the family embraced the statue and its meaning: Not so much understanding as acceptance or tolerance as Sharon Robinson said, “equality.” The term “equalizes strength,” he said.
We found ourselves intensely discussing racial relations once again after the alleged murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. Asked how he thought his father, who died in 1972, would feel about the current situation, Sharon Robinson said, “I think he would, like us, just be devastated. But we strongly believe in protests, and protest marches, and have a voice. He will be very proud of the young people who have mobilized and are out there. “
We want to know what Jackie thinks, that we see him and Pee Wee as role models for diversity and equality and excellence, speaking to the greatness and impact of the two men. More than half a century after they last worked together, they remain the gold standard for their fields in everything.
