#1PaFan
02-26-00, 02:56 AM
I posted this story in another forum a while back, but it wasn't appreciated there, so I thought I'd post it in a baseball forum..
This was taken from the January issue of Maxim. (My Pop used to talk about this guy)
After winning the National League batting title in his rookie year, Pete Reiser looked to be on the fast track to the Hall of Fame, except for one problem: This Pete played the national pastime with an abandon than makes a certain Rose look like a wallflower. Eleven times Reiser injured himself so badly he had to be carried off the field; nine times he woke up in the hospital.
In 1941, his first full season with the Dodgers, he was hit in the head by an Ike Pearson fastball and rushed, unconscious, to the hospital. He came off the bench the next day with the game tied 7-7, faced Pearson again, and hit a Grand Slam.
The following year, while trying to make a catch, he plowed into the wall and dropped the ball. He got up, threw it to the infield, and promptly passed out. (He fractured his skull)
Ordered by doctors to skip the rest of the season, Reiser came off the bench TWO days later in the 14th inning, knocked in the winning run, and as soon as he stepped on first, collapsed unconscious.
In an era when outfield walls were made of concrete, Reiser ran full speed into them nine times; seven of those times he either dislocated a shoulder or broke a collarbone. After he broke his right elbow, he learned how to throw lefty.
Writer Red Smith summarized Reiser's '46 season like this:
"Pete was knocked out making a diving catch, ripped the muscles in his left leg running out an infield hit, broke a leg sliding, broke a collarbone, dislocated his shoulder, and led the league with 34 stolen bases."
In 1947, he hit the wall so hard that a priest was brought in to administer the last rites. Reiser was paralyzed for three days.
A week later, he was back in the lineup.....
When he broke his ankle in the World Series, he asked the doctors, "Can't you just tape it up?"
Man, for the LOVE of the GAME!!!
"You slow up half a step and it's the beginning of your last game."
Pete Reiser
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This was taken from the January issue of Maxim. (My Pop used to talk about this guy)
After winning the National League batting title in his rookie year, Pete Reiser looked to be on the fast track to the Hall of Fame, except for one problem: This Pete played the national pastime with an abandon than makes a certain Rose look like a wallflower. Eleven times Reiser injured himself so badly he had to be carried off the field; nine times he woke up in the hospital.
In 1941, his first full season with the Dodgers, he was hit in the head by an Ike Pearson fastball and rushed, unconscious, to the hospital. He came off the bench the next day with the game tied 7-7, faced Pearson again, and hit a Grand Slam.
The following year, while trying to make a catch, he plowed into the wall and dropped the ball. He got up, threw it to the infield, and promptly passed out. (He fractured his skull)
Ordered by doctors to skip the rest of the season, Reiser came off the bench TWO days later in the 14th inning, knocked in the winning run, and as soon as he stepped on first, collapsed unconscious.
In an era when outfield walls were made of concrete, Reiser ran full speed into them nine times; seven of those times he either dislocated a shoulder or broke a collarbone. After he broke his right elbow, he learned how to throw lefty.
Writer Red Smith summarized Reiser's '46 season like this:
"Pete was knocked out making a diving catch, ripped the muscles in his left leg running out an infield hit, broke a leg sliding, broke a collarbone, dislocated his shoulder, and led the league with 34 stolen bases."
In 1947, he hit the wall so hard that a priest was brought in to administer the last rites. Reiser was paralyzed for three days.
A week later, he was back in the lineup.....
When he broke his ankle in the World Series, he asked the doctors, "Can't you just tape it up?"
Man, for the LOVE of the GAME!!!
"You slow up half a step and it's the beginning of your last game."
Pete Reiser
------------------