The Greatest Angel
“I didn’t see a lot of him…”
Olde-tyme baseball by C. Philip Francis – 11-15-05
He always wanted to play baseball, and often said that all he needed to enjoy life was a uniform and a fungo bat. Not too many have ever heard of him, but this is about Jimmie Reese who first put on a baseball uniform in 1917 as a batboy for the Los Angeles Angels of the (minor league) Pacific Coast League, and continued to wear a baseball uniform until his death on July 13, 1994.
Reese has only three lines in The Baseball Encyclopedia, 232 games with the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals from 1930 to 1932 as a second baseman. His career batting average is a modest .278 with eight home runs. So what is so special about Jimmie Reese? Lots of things.
James Herman Reese was born on October 1, 1901 in New York, New York, and the family later moved to Los Angeles, California. He wanted only to play baseball saying, “I couldn’t live without the game.” His mother would not let him play with the questionable characters she believed hung around a baseball diamond so he had to sneak out of the house.
Reese became an avid fan of the Los Angeles Angels, and would often find his way into the park without paying. It was in 1917 when the park officials got tired of throwing Jimmie out, so they hired him as a batboy at the age of 15. Reese died wearing California Angels attire, and was in baseball for much of nine decades.
In 1923 the lover of baseball was hired by the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League as a second baseman. Five years later Jimmie and Lyn Lary were sold to the New York Yankees for $125,000, a near record for a cash deal at that time. Rather than taking a train to New York, the two men remained to play ball on the west coast as the Yankees still had Tony Lazzeri at second, and Mark Koenig at shortstop were Lary would be positioned. Better to stay active rather than spend all their time on the bench.
In 1929 Lary did make it to the Yankees where he began his 12-year major league career that included seven teams. Lyn died in 1973 at the age of 65.
Reese joined the Yankee club in 1930, and soon became the roommate of Babe Ruth. Jimmie has said, “The Yankees thought I would be a good influence, and slow down Ruth’s nighttime activities, but to be honest, I wasn’t too much of an influence. Nor was anyone else. I didn’t see a lot of him. He used to come in and change shirts and say, ‘Hi, Kid. How are ya?’ That was it.” As the old joke says, “I didn’t room with the Babe, I just watched his suitcase. He was never in his room.”
Rookie Reese was on now on a legendary baseball team with Hall of Famer Babe Ruth, HOF Lou Gehrig, HOF Lazzari and Lary, HOF Earl Combs, HOF Bill Dickey, George Pipgras, HOF Herb Pennock, Ben Chapman, and HOF Red Ruffing. After two years as the backup second baseman for Lazzari, Reese was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals where he found another HOF infielder in front of him – Frankie Frisch.
Yet again, Jimmie was part of a team with such celebrated ball players as HOF Dizzy Dean, Pepper Martin, HOF Sunny Jim Bottomley, and Paul Derringer. The following year Reese was sent back to the minors, and was in the Pacific Coast League for 13 years including four seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, and has been honored as the second baseman on the all-time Pacific Coast League team.
Jimmie became adept with the fungo, and he himself became a legend in own time becoming, “The Picasso of Fungo Batting.” The fungo bat is longer and narrower with one flat side. Reese could hit a flagpole 100 feet away on the same swing, and once shot an 82 in 18 holes of golf using only his fungo bat and a putter.
The famous fungo batter became fast friends with Nolan Ryan whose son is named Nolan Reese Ryan. When with the California Angels pitcher Ryan urged team owners Gene and Jackie Autry to hire Reese a full-time coach. They did, and in 1981 changed that to life-time coach.
When the Yankees changed managers in 1931 they brought in disciplinarian Joe McCarthy. Reese says of the new skipper, “He dealt with authority and respect.” Jimmie told one story when he and Ruth came late to a team meeting held in the clubhouse. The manager looked past Ruth, and yelled at the second stringer. “Where have you been?” The Babe turned around, and said to Reese, “Tell McCarthy to go to hell!” Jimmie quickly replied, “That’s all right for you, Babe, but I’m keeping my mouth shut.”
In 1930 bench-warmer Reese hit his first home run. Ruth was the next hitter, and near the plate when Jimmie finished his home run trot. Babe put the new slugger on his shoulders, and carried him all the way to the dugout.
Jimmie became good friends with Gehrig, and the two often played bridge against Ruth and outfielder Harry Rice. The Bambino once got mad after losing $2.50, and would not pay up. Years later Jimmie said that Ruth still owned him that $2.50.
Reese was often asked about his famous teammate, and said that Babe was seldom in his hotel room. “He would gamble, drink, carouse all night long, eat five plates of steak and eggs in the morning, go to the ballpark, and hit 500-foot home runs.
On June 20, 1994, The Sporting News, the prestigious baseball publication, reported that, “Jimmie Reese’s day of hobnobbing with the players at Anaheim Stadium appear to be over”. He had entered a fulltime care facility for the elderly, and was dead in less than a month.
Some 400 friends including Yankee pitcher Jim Abbot and Nolan Ryan attended Jimmie’s memorial service. Pitcher Chuck Finley said of Jimmie, “He was so warm and positive.” And Doug Rader, former Angels manager, summed up the beloved Jimmie Reese in this way, “We’re the ones that have died a little bit because he’s not around anymore.”