pee Wee
Good story by Bob Greene the other day in The Wall Street Journal. Bob went to a minor league game where the Brooklyn Cyclones were playing the Jersey Shore BlueClaws.
It’s been 68 years since the Dodgers left for Los Angeles. The Cyclones’ park is near the Coney Island boardwalk. So anyway, Bob was walking into the ballpark when he spotted a bronze statue of two ballplayers. The shorter guy had a hand resting on the shoulder of the taller one.
In 1947 Jackie Robinson became the first black player in Major League Baseball. He faced hostility wherever he played. Fans cursed him and constantly threatened him. Sportswriter Jimmy Cannon said he was “the loneliest man I have ever seen in sports.”
Once, during an away game in Cincinnati, things got worse. Fans were hurling swears at Robinson, and that’s when Dodger shortstop Pee Wee Reese—a white guy from Kentucky—had enough. So Pee Wee walked over to Robinson, who was playing second base, stood beside him, and put his hand on Jackie’s shoulder. The fans who were screaming at Robinson stopped. Pee Wee didn’t have to say a word. It was obvious: Jackie Robinson is not alone. I am his friend. We’re Brooklyn Dodgers. That gesture sure as hell shut the thugs up.
When Jackie died, Pee Wee was a pallbearer at his funeral. The statue is at the Brooklyn Cyclones park as a lesson, especially for kids: all it takes to overcome cruelty and ugliness is one person standing beside you. As Bob Greene left the ballpark, he saw Pee Wee and Jackie Robinson still standing shoulder to shoulder.
Keep your dukes up.
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