The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 615 - Pistol Pete Reiser

Episode Date: January 9, 2024

Comedians Gareth Reynolds and Dave Anthony examine baseball player Pistol Pete Reiser No episode next week. Merry Christmas  Tour Dates Redbubble Merch Sources   Fitbod Nutrafol - Code: Dollop Helix Sleep - Code: HELIXPARTNER20

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Listening to the dollar. This is an American history podcast for each week. I, Dave Anthony, a read a story from American history to person with a face? Gareth Reynolds, and what a face it is who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. Boom. First one in 2024, Dave. Is it? Is it? Yep. Is it weird? Let me ask you this. As the mind behind the show, is it weird to now be pining for the times we're talking about versus

reflecting with a hilarious skew on them? I gotta say it's it is it is a little weird to wish that I was living in the times of because when we started when we started we just were yucking it up at these fucking idiots. And now it's sort of like, you know, I guess it was all right to have horse teeth. It's fun to hear people make arguments that are literally out of the 1800s. Yeah. Masks don't work.

Okay, so you don't know what physics is, like ours. Yeah. Mask, don't work. Okay, so you don't know what physics is. Yeah, like ours. Yeah. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be great. And called it quote is jam-past. Chip? I'm the fucking hip-hop guy. Dave, okay.

My name's Gary. My name's Gary. Is it far-fine? And this is not gonna come to tickley-clot, guys. Okay. This is like an- I'm not five-part coefficient. My room's flat! Now hit him with the puppy. I'm not gonna come to Tiggly Club, okay. This is like an- I'm not five-part coefficient. Five-part coefficient!

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That's F-I-T-B-O-D-D-D-M-E slash dollop. FitBod. It's time for sexy time. Right? Nope. Nope. It's not time for sexy. Walking away. Walking away. I think I ruined the ads until the end when you just Uniqued them. Oh, I'm very terrible. I'm a terrible person. Yep. Agreed. Saint Patrick's Day March 17th, 1919, year of our Lord, J Town. Harold Patrick Reiser was born in St. Louis to parents George John and Stella. George was a warehouse foreman. Okay. He loved baseball.

He's a big baseball guy. Sure. He played in the city semi pro league in St. Louis there. It's called the trolley league. Sure. Absolutely. Because you probably take the trolley to different stadiums or whatnot. Right.

He was one of the two best pitchers in the league. So he was a good baseball player. And he actually got tryouts with sort of the lowest ranking pro leagues, but he didn't make it in the tryouts. The bus leak or something. Yeah. The bus or the bus or they called it. Sure. So he goes back to work as a warehouse foreman. It's tough. Still loves baseball. It passes on as love of baseball to his kids. Young Harold also loved Westerns. And he started packing two toy six shooters when he walked from the neighborhood.

Your breadcrumbs, bud. They're tasty. Yeah. Well, he was mimicking his favorite movie star who was named two gun Pete. Sure. Sure. Yeah.

Straight forward. So soon people start calling Harold Pete. Okay. And then they start calling him pistol Pete because of the two. Oh, wait a minute. Okay. And this is a guy. This is a guy. This is a guy.

It's not the same one that you're thinking of. Okay. Pete loves Pete also loves baseball, right? Westerns and baseball. So his dad starts playing with Pete when he's very young and pretty soon that's all he wants to do. And George starts taking them to local fields and for hours practicing fielding and hitting.

Are these like kept fields or these are just sort of corn maze. Okay, so these are baseball fields. Baseball fields. Okay, right. A diamond, a real diamond. So, that's a tough neighborhood they grew up in, a lot of fighting, so they kind of learned

To play aggressively there. What does that mean? That means hit hard throw hard Yeah, go hard. Yeah, everything hard. Right everything hard. There's no no soft no going in easy St. Louis is like a crazy baseball town on the weekends just the whole city, all the fields are packed, everyone's playing. So from a young age, it's pretty obvious it beats very athletic. He's strong, he's very well coordinated, he can run super fast. Now in high school, they were gonna have him be

the number one sprinter on the track team. But then the school found out he had taken $50 to play soccer in an adult league on a team going by the name Murphy. So they barred him from the track team. Wow, that is early, that's an early instinct. That is, yeah, that's like, and that's what we call collegiate sports. Yes. Yeah. It's early collegiate sports. Yeah, I don't know why they, I mean, just, I guess, because it wasn't legal to do lying. I don't know. I, I do love that like they, they're paying at 16 year old, a 15 year old kid to maybe 14 took play and then they'll leave. Yeah, you're good. So Pete's older brother Mike is also very good at baseball.

And he wouldn't when he was like a teenager like 15 or 16, he would bring Pete to his pickup games and Pete was like 10. Okay, but he would hang in there with the teens. Okay. Mike gets signed by the Yankees right out of high school. Wow. So he's a very good player. But before he could play or even go to their organization, both he and Pete came down with Scarlet fever. Hmm. That's tough. That's.

Which is really tough back then. What is it exactly? It is a throat thing. OK. Mine just, like, it's like a really fucking gnarly throat infection kind of. OK. And they had to get their throats lanced.

Sorry. To let the pus drain out. Okay. Throat lancing to me sounds like when you kill someone, so they had to get the pus. So they had like tennis elbow, but of the throat. That's right. That's exactly what they call it.

So you've got to get your throat drained. They were worried about Pete, because he was so young, but it turned out that Mike was the one who woke up in the middle of the night, essentially spewing blood out of his throat. Okay. And then he died. He died. Okay. So he never got to go to the Yankees.

That affected the career a little bit. Yeah, that'll hurt the career when you die for sure. Yeah. No, I think there's a lot of athletes who have not been able to fight through that injury. It is pretty much a career. Yeah, there's a super long list. I mean, I don't even think we need it in memoriam it, but yeah. What's the name, everyone? Yeah, there's a, but there's a lot of men who, women too, who have passed away and been unable to, to keep going in sport, you know. In 1933, Paul entered high school.

Okay. He didn't really care about the whole going to class part of high school. Mostly just to play on the baseball team. Yeah. So I feel very connected to this guy, but I'm worried there's going to be a divide shortly. So at 15, he had another Throne infection. Wait, sorry, this is Pete, not Paul. This is Pete. Right, okay.

I think you said Paul. Yeah, I just think Paul. Oh, did I say Paul? Sorry. I think so, yeah. So he has, he gets another threat infection and it keeps him on a school for three weeks. Then he just doesn't go back because he knows out for three.

So why would you? That was the dream. That really was the dream for me. Yeah. Well, here's not the dream for you. His dad made him get a full time job at the warehouse. I swear to God, I would have liked it better. Yeah. Yeah, I could see that. Yeah. I'd have been smoking cigarettes and listening to, you know, 96 WKLH and, yeah, just great station. Sit in there, just taping boxes and whatever it is, banging heaters. Yes. Really?

Yeah, banging heaters. Yeah, sure. I don't know what that means. So, he's there. It looks like that's going to be his life, but his dad wants more form. And then his dad sees a notice up that's tryouts for the St. Louis carton. I like that his dad was like, I want more from my son. It's not going to be school. He'll just work in this warehouse and then we'll try to get him into baseball. Yeah, I mean, yeah. So he goes and tries out, does well.

They want him. They come the next day to his house, Pete's 15. So George has to sign the contract form. The scout that comes is, Charlie Barrett. And they're gonna pay $50 a month, which is $10 less he makes in the warehouse, but it's baseball. Right, yeah. So, he, Barrett really likes Pete.

And he thinks he's a pretty special ball player. He'd been a scout for like 25 years, driving around the country. He mostly been a scout for like 25 years. Okay. Driving around the country, he mostly drove, but then one day he hit a cow and told his car and so the team were like, we should get you a driver. Mm-hmm. Sure. Okay. Because you do his house.

Of all the animals, a cow is not really the darting type. So I would, I would put that as driver error. Have you never heard the phrase they come out hot? No, I've never, I mean, we've driven back before the crustacean country a number of times. And I don't think we've ever seen signs of, you know, cows being a problem of being that, there's cows, like you try through Nebraska,

there's signs that just say cows coming out hot. No, I don't think there are. I know that to be sure to be honest, I don't think that there are. Well, if someone from Nebraska, if you hear this, can you call in? Let me just be very clear with people as to what Dave's asking because I don't think he's tethered to reality as much as we need. You can't call in. So don't call in and don't have another podcast, right? Yeah, but I don't think he's tethered to reality as much as we need him. You can't call in, so don't call in and don't do another podcast, right?

Yeah, but I don't want them calling. What happens on that podcast? People call in with problems, but it's okay. So we're not going to call in if you are from Nebraska. No, no, no, no, no, we're not going to, we're not, I'm not looking to have that show become, we're not going to be fielding calls on that podcast with about about this stuff and especially about that version of this stuff. One G A R E T H gives a call.

Not enough number. He actually so so Barrett sees a perfect situation here. He needs He needs a driver. Oh, he can't actually technically be signed to a contract because he's too young But his dad signed it. What is Barrett doing? Barrett's like trust me. I'm doing it the wrong way I told them the wrong way. I mean, it's illegal. I'm doing it the wrong way. I told you the wrong way. I mean, it's illegal essentially. So he makes him his driver. So very similar to what happened to you and I. Yes.

So that's a way to kind of work around it all. And also now they're going to drive to see minor league teams and Pete can practice with the guys, the older players. Right. So it's a win-win for everybody kind of. Sure. Not the cow. I mean, not the cow.

So he starts working out with these teams and the managers are like, hey, can this kid stay and play on our team? And they would say like, we'll just use a different name and we'll say he's older, we'll fake his age, like everybody wants Pete the cardinal cardinals have the Way biggest farm system, so So if you know what that is like, you know, there's the baseball team, but underneath the baseball team they have tons of players that are trying to get on the main team and there's a bunch of different teams under there so

farming as in your sort of like cropping them, getting ready to, you're grooming them in the non, I didn't say that. And a lot of the, a lot of the crops die. So he is getting some work in, it's good for him. People are recognizing he's good. And the carnal side, this huge system. So there's a lot of good and the Cardinals have this huge system. So there's a lot of players.

The reason they have a huge system is because it's the depression they can pay everybody really cheap and then they have a sort of monopoly on all the baseball players. Like it's not good for baseball. And it should also fill people in this country with real excitement. That's correct. Real, real, real, real exciting. Real joy and excitement. That's correct.

Real real real real excited real joy and excellent. Optimism. Yes. So, uh, so all these teams, uh, want him, um, now Pete officially gets put on the Cardinals roster in 1937 when he's old enough. Okay. And then he's bouncing around from team to team,

just playing in different areas, but he is moving up. And then in 1938, the Commissioner of Baseball cracks down on the Cardinals for their big scheme of having all these players. And they're basically stockpiling baseball players. Sure. And they use in stockpiling baseball players. Sure. And they use in handshake deals and like phony sales and other like underhanded things like like they did with Pete.

Right. So, the commissioner makes 91 players free agents overnight. Oh, shit. Okay. And Pete is one of them. Okay. Now, the cardinals know Pete is a very good baseball player, so their president makes a deal with the Dodgers president.

And the Dodgers sign Pete the next day, and the deal is they'll keep him in the minors for two years, and then trade him back to the Cardinals. So what feels like the Cardinals have learned a very good lesson. They're like, we got busted being shady. Let's get shady. That's right. That's exactly what they're doing. Exactly what they're not supposed to do. Now the Dodgers want to, the president wants to keep it on the deal. So he doesn't even tell the Dodgers manager, Leo DeRosha,

that this is happening. Okay, so he better hope that, so they're just kind of hoping that he won't call him up. Basically, they're hoping, yeah. Now Leo is known as Leo the lip, because he talks so much. Sure. So he asks, he's like,

hey, can I go to spring training just to get work in with the like upper players, you know? And they're like, yeah, sure, why not? He's good. So Leo starts talking about him all the time. What's the lip? He's the lip. He's the lip.

And the Cardinals president is now pissed because the reporters are not writing about Pete and the Dodgers are supposed to be hiding him in the minors. Did not do a good job. For a team called the Dodgers, they've really hit this problem head on. They did not get out of the way of it at all. So the Cardinals president calls up the Dodgers president problem head on. They did not get out of the way of it at all.

So the Cardinals president calls up the Dodgers president and screams at him. And then the Dodgers president threatens to fire Leo the lip. If he doesn't downplay how good he is, and what did the Cardinals have on the Dodgers? Why did that just because they made a deal? I don't it. We don't know what the other half of the deal is. Right. It must be something to do with, yeah, it's gotta be big. They were gonna get, they were gonna get something out of it. Sure.

We just don't know what it was. Sure, okay. So he, so then now the Dodgers president starts yelling at Leo the lip and Pete just keeps tearing it up. I mean, he's the best player at spring training for the dog. OK. And now reporters are all writing about him, and the fans are reading about him back in New York.

And everyone's getting very excited about this new kid. The New York Daily News quote, the latest headline hero has a rifle arm, the speed and grace of a frightened fawn, keen competitive spirit, and a swing of a pile driver, and even temperament, a born ball player. I don't think what grace does a frightened fawn have. That's how you want every baseball player. It's like this guy knew what writing was, but just not how to do it. Well, he knew what words were.

And he knew that it was like, you want to make, you wanted like, use language to make comparisons to show what it is. He's like a smelly squirrel. He's got, he's, oh, he's a smooth, there's a half-baked noodle. These kids unbelievable. Jimmy, I got the copy. Yeah. I've got more options if you need them.

I have, look, half cooked noodle is the best. But what I'm trying to get across is this guy is the future of the team, okay? When you watch him play, he is smooth, like a reporter with a deadline. He's got moves. He's got moves, like a broom with a ketchup handle. You know what I mean?

Have you thought about having... I had coordination on this kid is unbelievable. You know what I mean? When you watch him, you feel like you're watching a gesture jack off. Seriously. None of these make me want this kid on the channel. So let's just go with Frank Fawn or have cook noodle. Cause right now he sounds like a sort of a floppy, boneless guy who jerks off a lot.

Well, I mean, I know, I guess maybe I, okay, this guy steals from first to second like an aborted ferret. Hey, we're going to have to let you go. I think I need time off for myself anyway, because things have been very difficult. Yeah, no, they're not. I'm off for myself anyway, because things have been very difficult. You know, things at home have been hard. You know, when Marcy, when Marcy left, she, she took off quicker than a shower that I sucked on. And she left right away.

And she's dating my friend, which to me was just basically like, you know, putting 45 cigarettes out on my tongue while my dad watched. And it's, it's been tough. It's been tough for me. That one actually made sense. That's to strike it from the record, obviously. That's not, that is an accident. I guess if you do 30 of these, one of them will hit.

So the Dodgers president sends a telegram now to Leo the lip in capital letters. Quote, do not play riser again. And Leo's like, I don't fucking care. This kid's really good and he keeps playing. So the Dodgers president. I think imagine a president not having the best interest of the people below it. It's it's complete. It just couldn't imagine. So the Dodgers president gets on a plane and flies down to Georgia where they are playing

a series and Leo the lip and the president get into a screaming match in the hotel lobby. They're like kicking carpet at each other. Overpeat. Wow. The president fires him in the lobby, but that hires him again. It's like five minutes. What is the other part of this deal? Look, I bet my penis. I shouldn't have, but I bet my penis So They're They're down and spring training goes on,

and they're down to one spot left on the roster. They haven't filled. And all the reporters are like, what's gotta be peaked? He is leaning the team in hitting and spring trading. He's hitting 417. If you don't know baseball, no one has ever hit 417. Imagine the guy, it's amazing.

You're best hitter. You're like, we're not sure. He could be good. The question is, are we looking for hitting? Because I don't know. The day before the season starts, the Dodgers announced Pete is not on the roster. Wow.

And they're sending him to the minors. Pete is obviously very confused. So he goes down to Florida and it starts playing two weeks into the season. He hurts his elbow. Okay. And they're trying to figure out what it is. Who was Tommy John? Do we know who Tommy John was?

Yeah, he was a player. He was a player. And he hurt his elbow so much that like Tommy, your legacy is not baseball, just this poor it elbow. Well, he was the first guy. This guy tried an experimental surgery where they took a ligament from one part of the body and put it there in the elbow. And he was the first player to come back and play because he got Tommy John surgery. So that's why it's called Tommy John. That surgeon's probably like, hello, hello, hello, guy who actually came up with the whole thing. Hello. So he, he in June. So we're talking months later. So he's playing, he's playing in pain.

And he's also trying to rest it in In June, they realized it's bone chips and he has to have an operation. I love bone chips. So they're really good. The little salsa. The salt vinegar ones. So he actually, is it healthy again till October? Quote, my arm was completely healed.

I've been whipping the ball in the past two weeks and my arm is strong as ever. Okay. So the season's over, but now he's ready to go. And then the next month, he has an emergency appendectomy. Jesus Christ. But he comes to spring training in 1940. He is ready to go. Okay.

And there's a new hot shot kid, however. Oh. Peewee Reese. Jesus Christ. Who is a shortstop? Peewee Reese. They become, they become very good friends. Peewee and Peewee.

But that, that's bringing the Dodgers president make sure Pete does not get much playing time. He doesn't want him on the field, impressing again. And then he ships them to the the double-a team, which is one below the majors. And he goes on a tear. He is eating up the league. He at home runs, he's hitting 500. So the Dodgers to mode him. Oh my god. It really is wild to like, I mean reporters must just be like,

what is what is going on with him? Yeah. Pete must be a bad guy. Yeah, I mean, I can't imagine what they were thinking. Yeah, it's like we are actually changing the status of Pete. Oh, finally, he's going to go to AAA. We've actually added an A for him. He's going to go to 5 A.

So Pete, he's like something's fucking wrong here, right? Yeah. And he gets down to his new team and he talks to the manager, who's like an old ex-ball player. He doesn't care if the Dodgers fire him. And then this is to Pete and he goes, man, we're gonna you play the shit out of it. You tear up this league and they will be fucked. They won't be able to stop it. So that's a Pete's quote, I tore the league up. The Dodgers now can't hold them back anymore. We're demoting them. Cause contracts, contracts now are one of the other stadium. That would be amazing. So contracts are at this point one year,

you sign a one year contract, but you have to stay with the team that you originally signed with. Right. It's like you're owned by them. Right. So it's their choice to let you go. Usually they just go, okay, you're not good anymore because nobody else wants you. And then that's it. But this is not how that whole system works.

Like you don't have an image. If you have a guy who you have no interest in, you let him go but then another team would sign this guy. Yes in a heartbeat. So that's the new manager's plan. He's like man if you play the shit out of it they'll be fine. So they can't hold him back anymore with what he's doing. I mean he's killing it. So on June 12th, the Dodgers and the Cardinals announced a six player trade. Okay. One of them is Pete. And the Cardinals, but unnamed.

The Cardinals gave up a really good, but aging ball player. And the Dodgers sent back some players in a bunch of cash. Okay. Because the Dodgers were breaking the secret deal and keeping Pete. Okay. Oh, of course. So they had to pay off the Cardinals even though they had signed him because of the underhand secret deal. This is really, this is like a rand contra.

It's fine. It really is like a rand contra. Okay. And the Dodgers, because the Dodgers were now looking like idiots, because they have this amazing play, we're not bringing up. And now the fact that they don't want to let them go. Right. They can't just go, they can't just go,

they can't just go, we gave him to the cardinals. He's there to be like, you gave him to the cardinals. So they were keeping him. And now we might play him. The Dodgers, so they have to pay cash for him. Even though he's already playing for them, they paid the equivalent of $2.5 million. Holy shit.

So whatever this deal was, crazy. No idea, crazy deal. Whatever they were getting in return. I was left to know. I wish the Dodgers president would just deep throat it. Just be on his deathbed and be like, that's the way it's so, they gave me two lakes.

So Pete's manager had figured out the whole thing and he told Pete what was going on. Neither team ever admitted it. They never came out with it, but everyone knows that's what happened. So right after Pete is, whatever traded, whatever this was. He pulls a groin. He pulled a groin.

He's injured for a little bit. I've done that. So he doesn't get brought up until July 22nd. He's 21 years old. And Leo the Lipp is now the manager of the Dodgers and Pete does great. And Leo the Lipp is like, he's going to be a starter on the team next year. He's already got a spot. But then eight games in to the next season. Pete is hit in his right cheek by a fastball. And people said it sounded like a gunshot. Talk about the crunch.

Let out it. Crab that out of big. Wow. Oh, oh, silence. Pete, make a speech. Do.

See? God, keep going. It's make everyone feel okay. See? Go on, keep going. It's fun. Make everyone feel okay about it. See? A little bit of time and like he said, like say it again. So.

That's absolutely right. Exactly. Yeah. No, I couldn't have, I couldn't have audibly sort of saying that better myself. And Pete will be healing, and while he heals, Pete is gonna be, well Pete will be healing obviously.

Go ahead, Pete. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. That is a lot of Jesus Christ. I just saw through it. My God. All right. Hey, good work out there. I think that's gonna At least then opposing teams might think you could play Players back then didn't wear batting helmets

Also, three years and players died three years before a player had died in the minors by getting hit. The Dodgers big hitter, the guy that got traded for, he was being in the head the year before really badly, never came back from it really, couldn't, couldn't never hit again. So then the Dodgers also imagine, I mean, players now with helmets have trepidation going back up after getting hit. I mean, I imagine. Imagine then after your brain has been dented and you're like going up there again. Just diving out of the way when the picture winds up. Yeah, it's so close.

He's got me. And this is when they threw it you more, right? They threw it you. Yeah, they give you a little chin music. Yeah, a little chin music. Um, so, so after the big guy had been hit, the Dodgers president had all the players put plastic inserts in their hats. Sure. So he gets taken off on a stretcher and taking to the hospital and the doctor of the hospital is like that insert saved his life. Oh, wow. All he had was a concussion and a quote, very sore face.

He spends three days in the hospital. He's at action for a week and then he comes back. The Dodgers move him to center field and with Pete they are a great team. The sunlight hurts. Come on Pete. Sunlight burns my thoughts. Yeah, there's glasses kid. Oh my god. Ah You'll be out On May 8th they were playing at Abbott's Field which is the Brooklyn field their home field and they're planning against the Cardinals. Okay, and in center field There is an iron gate that the fans leave through. Okay.

After the game's over. Okay. So, uh-oh. Fly ball gets hit and Pete runs for it. No, Pete. Totally focused on the ball. No, Pete. He's wearing sunglasses.

Pete. He leaped. Crap. He catches it. Nope. Iron gate. Coming down, right into the gate. Here's a two-inch gash on his back. He's bleeding a lot. They said baseball trying to kill him.

Catch stitches and a tetanus shot. Again, he's out for a few games. Hey Pete, say something to the people. They're a little worried about, come on, we think speech. That's right. Exactly. See, nothing, nothing, nothing, exactly what Pete said. A little R and R and he'll be right back. Go ahead, Pete.

That's right. There you go. Yep. He is right as rain if you ask me. I think he could play tomorrow, but we right as rain if you'd ask me. I think he could play tomorrow, but we're just gonna play it extra safe. And Pete, tell him what you're dying.

It's gonna be while you're on a little mini hiatus. That's right. There you go. That's exactly it. That's exactly it. All right, well, that should, that should ratchet up any issues. So we're out of here.

Go Christ, he walked into the gate. any issues. So we're out of here. Don't cry. He walked into the gate. So he's out for a few games. Now the Dodgers are going back and forth with the Cardinals and the standings for the top spot. And because of its its a pen race, as it was called. So there's all the attention on it. So that's starting to make Pete famous because he's like the guy, the best guy on the team. Right. Now other managers aren't calling him the real deal. The Reds manager Bill McKenchi said, quote, I'm nuts about that kid in center field. Then in July, Grantland Rice writes an article about Pete. Now he's like a huge writer in country. He could turn like any athlete into a hero with one of his stories. So now Pete is being compared to Ty Cop, who is considered the best baseball player ever

at that time. And the most liberal views. Yes. Very very super lip. Pete is now the youngest player to ever play for the National League in the All-Star Game. Okay. Then in August, he gets a sciatica. Oh, God.

You know, that is like a nerf. Sciatica, yeah. So, sciatica. So it paint shooting game. Lower, nerf, back, nerf. Yeah, right. Um, he only misses three games. Pete, Pete's gonna make his speech.

That's it. That would worry about it. Yeah, yeah, Pete's couple games. No, it's just, by the way, it's just nerve. So, somebody only misses three games. That I don't understand because I know people have had, Oh, only Mrs. Three games, that I don't understand, because I know people have had, oh, it's brutal. Sad again, they're like, I am out for six months, I can't move. It's terrible.

Now the Dodgers win the National League for the first time in 21 years. And Pete has the best batting average in the National League, 343. He leads the league in runs, doubles, triples, total bases. He has the highest slugging percentage. He has the most putouts on defense and the most assists on defense. And most bloodlust. And most bloodlust. He is one of only four players in the history of baseball to lead the league in batting average, run score, double plays and triples. The other three players today are in the Hall of Fame. So the Yankees then just crushed the Dodgers and the World Series. Yankees is just better. Okay. The sporting news names Pete Rookie of the Year. He takes his money and he buys his family a house. He's Saint Louis. Then he meets a young lady. He falls in love. Patricia Hurst. Then on December 7th, the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. And we're also brought to you in part by Airbnb.

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And a lot of players, yeah, it's a thing that happened and a lot of people don't know about. So a lot of players are signing up or getting drafted. And FDR tells the commissioner of baseball, baseball should be played, because people need the distraction. baseball should be played, because people need the distraction. So Pete and Patricia get married at the End of Spring training. That exact same day, they were best man and made of honor for Peewee Reese's wedding.

Jesus Christ. They're buddies, they're best buts. I miss his Peewee Reese. Everything. Right. Hey, let's swap ladies. Pewy, relax. Come on.

I'll show you why they don't call me Pewy. I'm a slugger. So people start to notice how often Pete runs into things, like outfield fences. Right. And other players. He just gets this singular focus on the ball and nothing else sure teammate Dixie Walker these names are just so perfect he was a horrible racist

Dixie Walker if you can imagine shocking with the name he said quote riser and I have collided in the outfield when we both went after the same fly ball a number of times. I don't remember ever hearing him yell and he swears he doesn't hear me. Okay. So he's probably not yelling, I was knowing baseball, he's probably not yelling my ball, my ball, my ball.

And he's just so focused on the ball that he drowns everything else out. Right. Like I talked to Finn about, do you get distracted by people saying stuff when you're hitting and he goes, I don't hear a thing. Right. Some people just tune in all out and they can't. They don't see anything else or hear anything else.

During the last season, he had collided with Outfielder Tommy Tatum in August and then Dixie Walker in September and he barely missed colliding with Pee-Woo Reese. So sure enough that spring he runs into a wall and has to be taken out of the gang. Good Lord. So when the season starts Pete goes on a tear again. So when the season starts, Pete goes on a tear again.

Maybe even better than 1941, in which he had one of the greatest seasons of all time. The outfield, back then, is a very dangerous place. There's no warning track. So, it's all good. So, if you hit a fly ball, the warning track is the grass ends before the fence. Right. And so when you're running, you can feel that you're getting close to the fence by the

chain. It's like footbrain. It's like footbrain. So they don't have that yet. And there's no padding on the wall. And the most steel cement. Most of the walls are cement. Oh my God.

Oh my God. This is where whitey dickles died. You can see some of the brain here on the wall. You like that? Why don't you hose off the fence out there? We're gonna need a new right fielder boy. All right. Well, we've hired a new groundskeeper and we're going to need a new brain scraper. Some ball parks have a flagpole in center field. Uh-huh. Great. And

we're that's sort of thing. Like, see, we think we've solved the problem we put a big flag here that they probably can't see So on July 19th in St. Louis Pete runs out there fly ball Jesus Christ the Brooklyn daily Eagle quote It might have been the greatest catch I've ever seen. Uh-oh The Globe Democrat quote, just as it appeared as if he had made a clean catch, the back of his head struck the concrete in a fearful blow.

Oh, Christ. It was described as making a sickening fuck. Oh, God almighty, Pete. We need you to just a couple comments real quick. Yeah. Ah. Ah. That's right.

We're not worried about, uh, exactly. We feel like, we, like, to, to what Pete is saying, we think he might be even better after we, we get whatever came out back in. That's right. All right Pete, hold on. Hold on Pete, let me talk a little bit right now too. So, yeah, so we feel Pete's family, Pete's wife,

everyone in K.A.P. we feel pretty good about what's going on here. And, all right, yeah, I think he's trying to sing the national anthem, I can't. We're a little, alright, exactly. So, hey, and so if any of you are gonna take this story and start running with it when fear mongering, Pete is good, right Pete? Look at that.

That's right, that's exactly it. That's the ticket indeed. If I've ever heard the ticket, that's it. Christ, my finger's gone at the back. So here's the amazing thing. He hits the wall with his head, back of his head. He led the league in those hits too. Yeah!

But he throws the ball back in and then collapse. Oh man, that is, that is you. Listen, I don't think I've ever loved anything so much. I don't think I do that. You go down, throw it in. He is, and he's completely out. He's like motionless. Yeah, well, how's trickling?

Wow, wow. Wow. Leo the lip goes out and starts to cry. I'm gonna lick him. He is rushed to St. I'm gonna lick him. It's rushed to St. John's Hospital. They take him off in a stretcher. They take him to the hospital. The same doctor took out his appendix examines him. This is not related. He has a mild concussion and separated shoulder. Okay.

The doctor is like you could maybe play in a week? What? This doctor, this doctor's like, let me tell you, my relationship with time ain't great. I'm not sure. I'm gonna write you a prescription for a week. Kid, you can play in a week and also, I don't know what a week is. That man's dead

doctor. Sorry, run guy kid, you can play in a week. That's a dog. Sorry. Pete quote, I don't like hospitals though. I took the bandage off and got up. The room started to spin, but I got dressed and I took off. I snuck out and I took a train to Pittsburgh and I went straight to the park. Pete, you're on a chicken's back. Next stop, Pittsburgh! Six days later, he is playing. Who's the man that the manager's like, all right, cool.

Well, the doctors wanted to play because he is their MVP. Sure. And they are competing for a pennant. Right. But he's not the same player. Oh, God. Pete later said he was dizzy most of the time.

He just took a bite out of the ball. I couldn't see fly balls. I mean, balls I could have put in my pocket, I couldn't get near. So he's a fucking mess. Yeah, he's got like severe brain damage or something. He's got CTS, it's not a mild concussion. He has a really bad concussion and he needs just to rest, but this is a time. But it's that he's just to rest, but this is a time and then like

he got to get out there. You want you want to do right now, Pete, is jostle the brain. So in August, he has to sit out four games due to headaches and dizzy spells, quote, I just feel plain lousy. Without Pete, the team is not the same. Sure. They just not, they just not as good. And without, the team is not the same. Sure. They're just not as good. And without Brains, Pete's not the same.

Yes. As August goes on, he becomes weaker and weaker. He's having trouble with his vision. Oh, God. Then he, so he started swinging from the, he was switch hitting. So he started swinging from the other side of the plate. That's the problem.

Because his shoulder hurt so much. Oh God. And he's swinging from the side and then he strains the muscles on the left side of his body swinging. How old is he? What do we talk? 25?

He's 22. Jesus Christ. Quote, I was in pretty bad shape and I was ordered to stay in active for some time. However, the club needed me and I just wanted to play. So back I went, despite the fact that I was having dizzy spells and was missing fly balls regularly. I mean, yeah, like athletically admirable, but yeah, foolish.

Well, no, athletically admirable, but he's getting pressured by the team. Sure. Yeah, but, but yeah, foolish. Well, no, athletically admirable, he's getting pressured by the team. Sure, yeah, but I mean, yeah. The dodgers are putting pressure. Right. As we've seen recently, was that quarterback that played for, was he the,

oh, to a, yeah, Miami quarterback that had to a tongue go, I love the hand thing that happens when you have a brain injury or a hand. He had, and they can hang out think I'm not sure if it was three concussions in a season, but he shouldn't have been playing and got another concussion and his fingers went into crane mode. Yeah.

Which is like, you know, even today with everything we know, they're going to pressure you to play. Yeah. And if you say I want to play their job, by the way, after that game, the coach was bragging that on the way back on the flight, they were watching the Groober together on the plane. And like every doctor on Twitter was like,

he should not be looking into bright things. I mean, I remember one of my favorite hockey players when the Kings were winning their Stanley Cup stuff was just kind of like a tie. And you claim to hate the monarchy. You really are Dave. I know. Well, there's some.

But he got hit and that was it. He got a bad concussion. And I remember eight months later, he was like, I'm just sitting in dark rooms. There's a, I think it's called the Crash Real, I believe it was what it's called. It's a documentary about the it's called the Crash Real, I believe it was what it's called. It's a documentary about like, the guy who is basically as competitive,

like Sean White and this guy were like the two. And this guy has a horrific fall. And he is trying to make the comeback and it's gutting to watch, because, yeah, I mean, he's just not, it's a gear that no longer exists. And kind of like an athlete

kind of has to come to their own realization of, oh, this is, this is different. Yeah, right. Yes. Especially a guy that's always been able to achieve at this crazy level and all of a sudden his body. And overcome everything. And to, you know, you know, always reset and yeah. Yeah.

Um, so he starts playing again on August 22nd, he dives to make a catch. So now he's getting himself out of position because he can't see the ball and then he's having to raise like a diet to catch it. Right. Which is again, is good for the brain. So he dices his ball, he ends up doing a summer salt and he somehow hurts his thoughts. Jesus Christ. This guy put him in ice.

But he keeps playing. But then six days later, he can't even swing. Is that an issue for a baseball player? 15 cents into the hospital. Put a bat in your mouth, Pete. If I doubt, he has torn ligaments in his back and left thigh. Pete is a torn ligament. What do you think, doctor? Bad a week. Bad a week. So the torn ligaments in his back, maybe from that swing he did, maybe from the, maybe from hitting the fence. Sure, what's great about, what's great about this guy is who knows?

It's a real who's stranded. But now he's hurting himself in other ways, because he's overconfident for the injury. Right. So the team, now the like he needs rest, But now he's hurting himself in other ways because he's overcontenting for the injury right So the team now the like he needs rest they send them to the owners farm in Maryland to recuperate Okay, they're like take time off and they sent him there so he wouldn't People to easily get on a train and come back to the team But then he comes back to the team on September 5th. So that's like two weeks.

Right. So he's... It's not that bad. It's like trying to get a dog away from you. He's like two weeks away. He's like, You guys really took off quick. All right, I'm ready to play. Pete, Jesus Christ.

He's still in tons of pain. Yeah. He goes over 17 17 bats no hands. Okay. He falls to so this is how good he was doing before he got injured. Now he falls to second in the batting. Oh wow. So he he was able to just not so late at all and he's still number two. just get out so he can't at all. And he's still number two. The team never put them on the injured list. Why would you? Nobody ever said he needed rest when it was clear that he needed both.

They just keep trying to use him. And the Cardinals end up beating the Dodgers by two games to win the league. Pete somehow still led the league in steals. Wow. And then after the season, Pete gets drafted. Oh, yeah, get him, yeah, get him into war. Get right now is the time. Get this guy into some combat immediately.

Yeah, really? By the way, are there walls over there? Hope not. Cause that ain't good. So on January 13th, 1943, so a grenade hit Pete's head. Pete should not fight in combat for about a week. Well, they have to get physical when they get there and the doctors are like, no, this guy absolutely cannot go in the army. Okay. And then he's sitting there on the bench,

waiting with other guys who are about to be dismissed. And this officer shows up. And he's like, you trying to skip out on what's going on? He's, what do you mean? I can't stand if a window's open. He's like, you're using a fake name. You use an arrow. We know who you are.

You're a Pee. And he's like, no, that's my real name. Pee. It's my nickname. And the guy's like, well, you're in the army. Oh, Christ. So they sent him to Fort Riley in Kansas for training. He's not, he's a city boy.

He's not used to the cold in January in Kansas. He goes on a two-day 50 mile march in sub-zero temperatures and gets pneumonia. So the doctors, again, he's in the hospital, he's in the infirmary at the camp. He should be good. The doctors are like, but I would say after kind of going through his file and giving him a real top to bottom physical, he's hypothermic. His brain is severely damaged, but he would like to say something. Go ahead Pete. You can take the kid out of the war, but you can't take the war out of the kid.

Go ahead Pete, one more thing. That's exactly it. That's exactly right. So we think five to six days, maybe a week to be safe. I think he should be good for next Sunday. Thanks Pete. So the doctors are like, we got a medically discharge this guy. He's the fucking mess. I mean, he is discharged. And that's when a kernel of the camp finds out

that pistol peat is in the infirmary. And he is not discharged because the colonel wants him on the team baseball camp. The baseball team. The camp baseball team. Oh, no. No. Because Gareth, all these athletes have joined the army. And so the army and the Navy and whatever are making baseball teams of pro players to play against each other to play against two, just the army and the Navy and whatever are making baseball teams of pro players to play against each other. To play against who, just the Army and the Navy? Yes, other camps.

Okay, so Jesus Christ. So God bless. I don't think I ever really have thought about that. So they are, oh my God. So now he's in the army because the army, the army is like, we're also a baseball team. Yeah. A guy who should just be resting from baseball because it kills it. He's like, look, they said he shouldn't play baseball and they're telling us he shouldn't be in the army. Well, I've got an answer for you, Jack. How bout he's both.

Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. So here's the good thing. He is excused from duties. He could leave the base whenever he wanted

and he has his own room. OK. So he's getting treated like a little kingly, right? Sure. Fort Riley has a really solid team of pro baseball players, including Joe Garish-Yola, who is the famous baseball player. One of the guys who didn't make the team was a gentleman named Lieutenant Jackie Robinson, because he couldn't play on the white team.

Okay. So Pete arguably brain damaged having issues with everything and they're like he's good to go. Black fella, what are you out of your mind? Hey, Pete's leg fell off. He could play. Hey, I'm like the greatest baseball player of my era. Quiet, black man.

I don't think so. Oh, shit. Quiet black man. I don't think so Shit so So doctor, can you cure this man of pigment? He plays baseball in the same hard way, right? It's still Pete. He can't play baseball any other way. He just plays it hard One day there's a fly ball head to center field. Oh, boy. Incoming! And he runs after it. Oh, God. There's no cement walls. Doesn't matter.

But there is a hedge. That's the hedge. And Pete goes through the hedge. Okay. On the other side of the hedge and Pete goes through the hedge. Okay. On the other side of the hedge is a pay a net. Are the Germans. Then then filled if it isn't Harrod's quote on the quote Pete. It is a drainage ditch concrete with a 10-foot fall. Jesus Christ. Dave, is he a loony tune? Yeah, seriously, he's Wiley Coyote. I mean, I hate.

Don't worry, he just went through the hedge, what's on the other side of the hedge? A sheer drop into sewage. He separates his shoulder again and now he cannot throw it all. Can you know what? Who set up a hedge? Don't put the hedge there. You know what? I'm thinking to grow in hedges all around that sheer drop. I mean, nobody thought a guy would run through it, but guys did, I mean, you still see videos a guy, guys gone through walls, like, like, it still happens. My God. Um, so the army offers to operate, but he decides to let it heal over time. I think maybe he doesn't trust the doctors. Why? He also, he's also worried, like? He also worried surgery back then, that could be career ending.

Well, so can concrete drops. I mean, I would understand his takeaway being, I'm a little hesitant about having doctors give me care, but by the same, base, everything you do is the issue. I don't want to surge into mess up my career. Now watch me run through this wall. Now, even though he can't throw, there is still talk of setting him to Japan to entertain the troops. What? Like a baseball have baseball. He'd be part of an exhibition baseball team that would

entertain the troops. But a doctor at the base looks at his medical record and his fucking horrified. OK. So like an actual doctor walks in and is like, sorry, what the hell's going on? A doctor is like, hey, everything you're doing, it's over, it's done.

This guy's out, so he discharges them. So the doctor could have gotten in trouble with like the guys up top as supervisors, but he's like, he's fucking out. Yeah. And he is discharged in time, just in time, for Dodger's spring training. What, he's...

Now remember, he can barely throw. Mm-hmm. But he doesn't tell anyone that he heard his arm in the military, he keeps it a secret. Smart. He said, my arm still hurts from the collision I had with the wall last year. Sure.

Or no, not last year, five years ago, four years ago, he's been in the army for like four years. So the Dodgers finally get him x-rays. They're like, well, let's see what's going on in there. He's torn the lig but the Dodgers want his bat in the lineup. So they send him to their surgeon. Now when I say their surgeon, it's like when insurance company sends you to their doctor, their doctor's going to say what they want. The doctor says, you know, you could play, just throw a sidearm.

That's good, that's true. That's smart, absolutely. Throw it, spit it. Have you put it in your mouth and spit it where you want it to go, like a dragon. Kick it. Well, he told me it wouldn't do no harm to play if I could stand it.

There's nothing broke and throwing oddest strength in my shop it up. You're asking to do it out There's other ways to use this stuff Have you ever how about this hide a child in your jacket and have him and just handed to him and he'll toss it I Mean they just sent him to the crookedest most fucked up I mean, they just sent him to the crookedest, most fucked up surgeon who was, they were just like, just get him out back on the truck, just on whatever you need. Yeah, throw a saddle. I actually see this as a blessing. Well, it's weird to be a heroin addict doctor, but this is what happens.

Just try throwing it in the air and cunking it over with your head a little bit. So he starts playing again, and he's in terrible pain. Still as a hitter, he is killing it. Some start calling him the next Thai Cobb again. And on May 18th, 19th, sorry. Someone hits a ball to center. Oh, Christ. Just come on. And Pete is chasing out. No, Pete. And he can you imagine chasing anything again? I would have like a three foot zone where I'd be like, if it's in that area, I'll go for it outside of that.

I think we're just going to take the run. It is why he's a good baseball player. It is inherent in him to not stop. He cannot stop. Right. Like you can't take that out of him. Right. OK. So he runs after the fly ball.

He jumps to catch it. He slams into the wall with his right shoulder. Lands on his feet and throws the ball back in. The Dodgers are like the injuries actually no big deal. They tell the press. He sits out one game. But then a few days later, he's like, I am in too much pain to play. Imagine the pain he's in to say that. Oh my God.

Oh my God. It must be insane. Yeah. The pain is shooting down his arms and his fingertips are now tingling. Could be the magic of baseball creeping back into it. Maybe, maybe it tingles your fingers are tingling because they want to throw. I'll tell you what, I feel like after about five to seven days, this kid could be ready again. Well, they put them on the bench to heal. He sees a doctor and the doctor's like he needs surgery,

but if he gets surgery, he'll be out three to five weeks, which I can't even like, nothing. That's a thing. But back then, what are you talking about? He's going to be out of lifetime, five weeks, a month in a week. Pete ignores the doctor and just starts playing again. By June, he's very open about how much pain he is. Sure. And he's just telling reporters. I thought you meant like his chest had like opened up.

He tells the times quote, it's terrible, just terrible. It hurts here and here and here and here. And he's pointing to different spots. Is this the story of how the game operation got made? He tells another reporter quote, it feels like it's coming off every time I throw. All right, Pete. All right. Okay, we're having a laugh. He's, he's kidding.

He's no longer going to be able to throw sidearm, so he'll be kicking it in. And as far as batting goes, he's going to use his shin. Now reporters start writing that the Dodgers are pushing him to play injured. He finishes the first half of the batting, the first half of the season. So baseball season is blended to and then in the middle, they have an all-star game. So the first half of the season, he has a 326 batting average, seven homeruns, 39 RBI's and 19 stolen bases, and he's voted to be an all-star. Dude is playing with nobody and crushing. And he is crushing. Then the Dodgers, after the All Star Break, play a bunch of games

in the middle of summer. It is brutal, brutal heat. That Pete starts losing weight. He loses 15 pounds. What? That can't be just because of heat. No, it's from his, he's like his body's like, we're rejecting life. Yes, you know, basically is the body's like, hey man, take a rest on August 1st in Brooklyn, in August 1st in Brooklyn in Ebbetsfield. Someone hits a fly ball this center. I honest to God, dude, when you're going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going to be going someone hits a ball the center field is the set up for I mean this is what it is is trip eighth down this road this is I got to admit this is one of the

funnest things that I've written for you. Just someone hits a ball the center field guess I I got an idea and a helicopter hit him. Pete ran through another player. Pete stepped on a landmine. Pete was chasing a fly ball when he ran through a hanging news. He leaps to catch the ball. And an elephant stepped on him. And this tiny Mrs. it.

And he slams the back of his head on the concrete. Well, is anybody suggesting carpet on, is there any like, is anyone like, hey, throw a mattress up there, shout out Helix. Is anyone like put something there? Yeah, there's, there's people who are like, hey, catcrete is a really hard material. If there are places where they're starting

to put up stuff, how about this? We every time Pete looks up to catch a ball, let's just throw a brick at the back of his head. Save him the steps because he could twist an ankle. They've taken by stretcher into the clubhouse. Blood is seeping into his hair. Pete has one thing to say before we get him back there. Go go ahead Pete. He gains consciousness. He says he has a bad headache and asks if he can have a smoke. Oh, uh, of course he can't beat. There's nothing wrong with a cigarette right now.

It's probably the best thing for you. We're going to put one in your mouth and one in the seeping wound in the back of your noggin. There you go. We're going to do, we're calling him double puff in your mouth and one in the seeping wound in the back of your noggin. There you go. We're going to do, we're calling him double puff. There you go. Watch this. When he breathes out the one from his mouth, the one in the back of his head sucks in.

Isn't that fun? Look at that. They take him to the hospital. Pedazik in Cushion. He could be good in about a week. Well, the doctor's ordered him to rest and stay in the hospital. Let me guess. He leaves the next day. But he does not go back to the team this time. He goes home. Well, he runs home into a wall. So he goes back to St. Louis. He's going

to rest, yeah, for a week at home, a week, only a week. That's where it got. The day before he's supposed to return to the team. He's at home and he's lighting the guest up because they're gonna cook a little dinner. Oh God, what is going on? And he says I have a small explosion. Oh my God. Do you know why he does?

Cause he has fucking brain damage right now. Cause he is not thinking he cannot do anything correctly. Well, I'm gonna turn the gas off for about 20 minutes as I forget about it. And then I'll go up and light it. So causes a small explosion. He burns his fingers and singes the hair on his arms and head. He could be good for about a week. He can't play the next day.

His fingers are burned. Sure. Badly. Right. The dochers are furious. This kid's about to be a bad guy. What a weak man. So because they're furious, he comes back the next day.

Oh my God. The burnt fingers. Yeah, see when Pete tries to throw the ball, it sort of sticks to that burnt flesh at the end of his fingers, but we feel like we can get through that. And Garrette, he pretty much wins the game single-handedly. He gets well, because he only has one hand.

It a three to one thing Wow On the last day of August Pete was batting quote It felt as though every muscle in the back of my shoulder ripped way down deep So he has to sit again and he sits for a week. I'm surprised he can even sit. They're in a pen race. So he comes back and he's still peed. He's like Ricky Henderson.

Right. When he's on base, the entire game changes. Right. Pictures are freaked out and nervous. Right. So he's that guy. Right. And now he pulls a hamstring. I believe this man is a series of injuries, pretending to be a baseball player.

He's because he's overcompensating because of all the injuries and he's injured. Yeah, right. Like, it's very obvious what's happening here. He sits out for a little bit. Okay. But not that it's completely healed. The hamstring. Yeah, I just say specifically which injury I'm talking about.

Of course. So it's not completely, and he comes back and then immediately re-enters. And then the Japanese bomb. I mean, the hamstring, you always wait. So he re-enters the hamstring. Yes. Yes. And then he comes back in the last week.

By the way, of all the parts of our body, probably the grossest name. Yeah, for sure, but also the tastiest. And one of my favorite instruments to play it a wedding. I'm pork plucking. So it comes back the last week of the season. There's three games to go in the season. They're one game behind the Cardinals. And that game peets on first. And he gets a signal from the dugout to steal.

Break your leg. Pete, run into a wall. When he got the signal, he was heard to mutter Jesus Christ. I think he's going to try to steal. He's just like, why would you give me the signal to steal? I'm dying. So because he's like Rick Hennersen, the pitcher throws over to first to try to get him closer back to the base. And he jumps back and his cleats get caught.

And there is a horrifying snap. Oh Christ almighty. Damn it. Pete is gonna need one week off. Oh my God. He, they've taken off the field on a stretcher. He has a fractured fibula. He probably has his own stretcher.

Yeah. This is the Pete. Get the Pete. Pete likes the pillow here. He likes a little bit something to buttress the bottom part of him here. So, okay. So now he's, this is this so this as far as baseball goes, this you can't play the pills. He and he doesn't play and the Dodgers lose the the penit to the car no they just not go without him and he so he's now he spends months rehabbing um he gets the shoulder surgery so they put a wire in to reattach the clavicle to the shoulder blade. I can only imagine what we're dealing with like they probably got the wire for some guy

pulling copper. We've coat hangarges shoulder back together. That's exactly what they did. Yeah. The next season, on opening day, there's a new player on the Brooklyn Dodgers. Jackie Robinson. Oh, wow. Okay. This is the first time a black player in at least the 1900s has stepped

on to a field to play baseball in the major leagues. And for people, I'm not a huge history buff, but the white people were really okay with it. Well, several players on the team signed a petition to have Jackie removed from the team Led by Dixie Walker if you can imagine They went to Pete and asked him to sign it and he refused Well, he was probably like my hands don't work. He also had been treated by a black doctor at one point and he was like What are you doing these guys are everybody? Everyone should be equal He's just his capable was anybody else What are you doing? These guys are everybody. Everyone should be equal.

He's just as capable as anybody else. Like he's very much just like, what are you guys doing? Right. In that game, his first game, first black player, Jackie scored the go ahead run in a win. But the New York papers did not write about Jackie. They wrote about Pete Reiser. The New York Daily News quote, Dodgers tip braves five to three. Reiser is one

man show. The son quote, Reiser shows old time form, et cetera, on and on. No blacks play. After reporters gathered around Jackie in the clubhouse for a comment. And then Jackie looked over at Pete and said in awe, quote, does he play like that every day? Okay. Not to diminish or take away the Jackie Robinson story at all. But if Jackie Robinson overcoming what he had to overcome to get on a baseball field is looking at Pete and being like, what's going on with that guy? Right. So we're talking about a day in which people are just yelling the N word from the stands all the time.

Yes. Cleaning him. Players don't want him on the team. They're not talking to him the dugout. They're probably saying to him the dugout. And his statement is like this guy's a legend. Exactly. So the next day Pete had to leave the game because his left ankle swelled to twice his normal size. So that that broken leg is now an issue. Like now his leg can't withstand what it used to.

On June 4th, the ball was hit to Pete in center field. Dave. Dave, it's, what? It's like who's on first the podcast? I mean, what are you? I know I'm sure there were probably a lot of balls hit to center field that he got him, were you okay? But, um, but I'm developing a tick. Pete, raised back completely focused on the ball. I don't need, yeah, no shit. Fans in the stands started yelling no, no, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. The New York

Sun quote, he raised back with the drive, sticking up his gloved hand and making the grab at the moment his head struck concrete. Pete was once again unconscious on the field. The fans cheered though when he learned he had made a catch, but he actually hadn't the first player out there grabbed the ball and put in his glove. Anyway, he has a big ugly V-shaped cut on his forehead. He's bleeding. He's taken off on a stretcher.

It's one thing to develop like severe brain damage from multiple hits from other people or he's literally continues to run into a wall. Yes, he keeps running into walls. Just want to be clear. Mm. Mm. Mm.

Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm. Um, the team doctor looks him over in the clubhouse. And someone's too priests to do last rites. Oh, shit.

It looks like he's died. But then he wakes up and someone hands him a smoke and he's shaking as he smokes it. He has another concussion. He spends four days in the hospital. He comes back to the team, but he doesn't immediately try to play this time. He's like, I'm going to rest.

But he's just with the team, but he's not playing. The Dodgers are pressuring him to play. A few days later, the team is taking batting practice and he's in the outfield and he's talking to another player. Oh, Christ. And the fly ball is here. And as Pete stands there, a relief pitcher decides to try to make a plan the ball and runs into him and the other guy he's talking to very hard. Eight days later Pete goes to the hospital because his concussion symptoms have not stopped and the cut on his head is now infected. Pete, wash your head.

The doctor orders him to... There's a ball in here still. Just distal to get some head pieces. Yeah, yeah. So the doctor's like, Pete just comes in like with his head through a concrete block like he's Han Solo. Jesus Christ Christ Pete. This is not good.

So the doctor orders him to go home and rest for two weeks, which he actually does. Two weeks. Pete, a reporter comes and Pete's like, I need a warning track at Abbott's field. The Dodgers need to put in a warning track. What if they just thicken the wall, Pete, would that help her hurt? The Dodgers are asked about it. The Dodgers president says, quote, we are going to ask Pete to wear a helmet in the field.

Oh my God. Oh my God. I mean, I'm, look, I'm okay with it. Yeah. It's the dumb way around. I actually think to be like, we don't have a wall problem. We have a pee-dissue. I actually think players should wear helmets in the field, especially peters. Well, I think if there's going to be one player who should, we have just talked about him. He ends up getting five weeks rest. Great. He's no longer the player he was. What do you think happened? Is there anything you could kind of trace this? I think it's just like he doesn't care that much, you know, it's I mean, what is he now? 25? He's must be. He's old. He's like 28 or 29 now. Oh, okay. So yeah, it's just kind

of natural deterioration. Then we spent all that time in the army. So he picked up some years, like his best years, he was not playing. He was in the army. Yeah. Yeah. No, this, this is natural. So reporters are no longer calling him the best player in the National League. On July, but boys, he the shakiest on July 21st, he dives through a ball and dislocates his shoulder. The doctor comes out in the field and snaps it back into place. But it hurts. Oh, yeah, he tries to keep playing, but he has to leave after three innings because of the pain.

Three innings still is pretty crazy. In August, he starts having dizzy spells again. And he's making terrible errors. He makes two errors in one game, quote, I know I played both of them badly, but the grandstand was spinning like a merry go round. Interesting. How about that?

Interesting. You hear me. What about that? It's interesting. Oh, hear me. What if that guy doesn't play? And what if the grandstand gets its shit together and stops rotating? How about that? That's fair. Distracting him.

On September 9th, Pete hits a ball and running to first, he collides with the first basement and takes a knee to the testicles. Oh, he just leave the man is nuts. He is down for five minutes. This could be now this we've all been here men. So I'm hoping that this is just the regular he gets up and keeps playing. Okay. I do not. You're been hit with like a knee or something like I happen to me when I was playing tennis. It's my fetish. It took one of the nuts and tennis, and I threw up, and like couldn't keep going. And if I had a time machine, first, stop Hitler. Second, see that.

Go watch Dave tennis yard. Ball shot. Oh, man. But did I just win the pennant? And they go to the World Series against the Yankees. ball shot. Oh man. But the dodges went in the pennant and they go to the World Series against the Yankees. You have to admit it's crazy that he can't get out of the way of walls and he

plays for a team called the Dodgers. No, it's something. In the first game, Pete made some bad plays because again, everything is spinning. He's not a man anymore. And that led to a bunch of runs. So he's like the bad guy of that game. They used to call it the goat.

He was the goat of the game. That's that was now flipped, but that's what they used to call it. He was the goat of the game. In the second game, he jams his knee. Sorry, he jams his ankle, sorry, he jams his ankle sliding into second base stealing. Now reporters are told if he goes to the hospital, he has a badly sprained ankle and would play in game for quote only by some miracle. But he actually has a broken ankle. It's a hairline fracture, and Pete is keeping in his secret.

This guy is... Has anyone loved baseball more? So, he still can barely walk, and the manager knows and he's not gonna play him, but in the ninth inning in the next game, they're out of hitters. So they sent Pete up to pitch hit. There's just a wheelbarrow full of bones. Pete, get up here. So they sent Pete up.

He sends Pete up to hit in the ninth inning. They're down by a run. There's a player on first. And he, the player on first steel second. And then the manager of the Yankees intentionally walks Pete. He goes, just put him on first base. I can't walk. Well, then they take Pete out for a pinch runner and that, that runs scores. It's one of the most famous. So he has the sort of decoy. I mean, his intimidation

gets him on base, which they're scared to let him hit. They don't know that when he walks, he rattles like a coin purse. No, they don't know that. But the Yankee still win the series. After the series, the Dodgers announced they're going to put padding on the outfield walls. The Brooklyn Eagle quote, it's a new substance called foam rubber. And it's claimed you can throw an egg against it without breaking the shell. Unfortunately, we tested this out for eight years on Pete. Well, the reporters asked Pete and he said he'd believe it when he saw it. And he'll see it. The next spring, all through, except for this one

area right here in center field, we feel like we're going to leave that open for concrete advertising. Yeah, right here, the place where Pete runs most, we're going to leave that wide open. We're actually reinforcing it to level it out with a little bit more concrete. We're putting spike there. Plus, we're going to have Pete wear a helmet made of concrete. The next spring, author Dan Joseph, quote, Pete Reiser was a baseball zombie. The life in his game have vanished. He's 29. A writer said he was, quote,

held together by adhesive tape and bailing wire. But he has a family and only one way to make money. So he comes to spring training, but now he's 20 pounds overweight. Leo the lip called him hog fat. Fuck you Leo the lip. He doesn't start a game until the second week of the season. The first week of May, he has sharp pain in his ankle and it turns out it's a bone

chip. So he sent home to St. Louis to recover and it takes longer to heal than expected. And the press turns on him. A New Jersey paper called him a hypochondriac. Oh my God. And said his recoveries from injuries had been slow, and many of his injuries were just mental. Oh my God. The Daily News said he was known as quote, brittle. He was known as quote, peanut brittle in rival dugouts. Give him all and get nothing.

You can always guarantee that nothing will be worse than the New York press. It should maybe be the English press. I'm looking at you, paper, that cannot be named. So he came back at the end of June but was mostly in too much pain to play and he only hits 236 that season. And then at the end of the season he's like, I don't want to plant Brooklyn anymore. I want out. So they trade him to the Boston Braves. Pete had assured the manager he was healthy. There's no doctor. He's like, all right, as long as he says, Oh, Pete, by the way, your eyes are as red as blood. I mean, now they can do a really, really extensive

health work up. But I don't think they really like it's nothing close to what we have now, right? Yeah. So for a lot of that season, he says he has chest pain and doesn't play. On July 28th, during batting practice, he gets hit in the back of the head by a line drive. A bird. A bird just flies into him. So he left the team in September after breaking a rib. But he did hit 271 that year. And Boston brings them back for the next season. He's basically now what's called the specialist. So he's just a pinch hitter. So he just comes up in the still comes up in the night, thenning for one at bat. And but he's hitting like if you hit that one third of the time,

you're a great munch hitter. Yeah. Yeah. The next spring training, the Boston Globes, said he threw like a high schooler. He's dead. He pulls a groin in June. Boston releases him at the end of the season.

Now the Dodgers president who had liked him so much back in the day is now running the Pittsburgh Pirates and he signs Pete, his ex superstar, because the Korean war is coming and he wants players who will absolutely not be drafted. Oh, God. Oh, God. There's a movie. The undraftables. Okay, just a picture, mostly. When he did play, he actually looked pretty good at this point. The president was so happy that he gives Pete a raise in August.

And then a few days later, Pete is playing Pepper. Now a lot of people don't know what Pepper is. Pepper is... I would count myself among them. A game that very, very young players play. It's to warm you up, basically there's like three players, and they toss the ball kind of lightly to a guy with a bat and the guy with a bat taps it back to them and they pick a grounder, and throw it back in the top.

Oh Christ. He just playing pepper. A children's game that is the simplest, easiest game known to man, that is the simplest, easiest game known to man. And he dislocates his left shoulder. Oh, Christ. I honest to God, I thought the ball was like going to hit his head. I must have dove for the ball.

Wait, wait, I know it's going on anymore. He rests it, but it's just not getting better. So he goes home to recover and he doesn't play another game for that season. Okay. A reporter goes to see him and his arm was in his sling and he wrote that Pete quote, is broken in body, wired together, uncertainly, like a battered doll that has been dropped once too often. See, that's how you, that's how you write. That guy who said he was like, like a fawn, he's like, that's pretty good.

He's like a snake in a monkey. And I do do that. Yeah. Yeah. So the pirates release him after the season, but he's not done. Well, he doesn't have another way to make money. He signs with Cleveland.

Right. And they put him at first base. During spring training, a player runs into him and Pete takes a knee. He, you know, I've ever seen those out that like, outfit the guy invented that like is indestructible, like a bear can attack you and a log can hit you. Pete needs to be encased in like,

what they made the gladiator joust of on American gladiator. He needs to be encased in foam. During the collision, he takes a knee to the head. Oh, for fuck's sake. The doctor said he had a knee to the head. Oh, for fuck's sake. The doctor said he had a bruised cranium. From that point on, he's mostly a pinch hitter. This story is as much an indictment on doctors and concussions as it is on this guy's bad luck.

In June, it's reported that he now has an ulcer in his mind. In July Cleveland sends him down to the miners. They're like he just can't play. And instead of going to the miners he retires. He ends up with a lifetime batting average of $2.95. Which is good, but considering what he played through is acceptable. He should be in the hall of fame for what he played through. Right. Well, I mean, there, I think they would probably be a little worried that he would run So he has a wife and two kids. One of his kids has down syndrome, so that's more costly for schooling. He has to make a living. He has to make a living. So he has a wife and two kids. One of his kids has Down syndrome, so that's more costly for schooling. He has to make a living.

He has to make a living. So he opens up a used car business, but it fails. And then he gets a job working at a lumber mill making $3 an hour. In 1955, he goes to the Dodgers and he asks for a job. And they make him a minor league manager. The next year the bus is driving. Don't you fucking don't Dave. Dave don't.

The next year the bus is driving. Here's my rule if I'm around then where he is The bus is driving to a game and they have a head-on collision He has bad neck and side injuries in his hospitalized for a pit in 1959 in 1959, he gets a little bit of publicity. And in 1959, the sporting news name is in minor league manager of the year.

The Dodgers then call him up to be their hitting coach. So he's a major league hitting coach. He has a young player named Mori Will's on the team. And he transforms Mori Will's on the team, and he transforms Mori Will's and turns him into the National League MVP. And Mori Will's is like, it's straight up because of Pete Reiser. That's why I wasn't in the National League MVP. So he stays in the Dod and Organization. And in 1963, Pete finally gets a world series ring with the Dodgers.

And then he kicks around for a bit, and then Leo the lip is in the Cubs organization, and he brings Pete into the Cubs organization, and he works in the Cubs organization for 15 years. In 1973 in San Francisco, the Cubs and the Giants get into a big on the field brawl. Don't you do it. And one of the Cubs accidentally punches Pete

in the throat. Oh God almighty. And then he falls to the ground and someone kicks him in the head. And a concussed Pete is taken off the field on a stretcher. Pete died on October 25, 1981 at his home in Palm Springs after a long respiratory illness. 25th 1981 at his home in Palm Springs after a long respiratory illness. The Dodgers had just beaten the Yankees in the World Series hours before and Pete was told any new they had won. Years? I honestly am shocked that what got him his respiratory. Right. Relieved, Derrick. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I wonder what the CTE was like.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, I wonder what the the CTE was like. Um, and it had to be crazy. I mean, what do we talk about? We keep going, sorry. I think at least six. He was taking it. God's taking up the field 11 times on a structure. That's got to be. He's got to have tons.

Years later, sports writer Harold Parrott, who had been the Dodgers traveling secretary before becoming a reporter, called out Dodgers president Larry McFale for destroying Pete's talent. McFale? Well, for destroying Pete's talent. Quote, it was as heartbreaking and messy a thing as I had ever seen pulled in any sport. McFale, the hungry magnet, bending and breaking, a crippled superstar, like a kid in a tantrum

might twist out of shape an expensive toy, because it wouldn't work just that minute. That's what I'll put. That's the story of Pistole Beat Riser. Baseball player. Man, that is crazy. That is nuts. It's also like he is... I don't even know what to call it bravery, but or pigheadedness,

but it's also like you as a human thinking of yourself long term. It is just crazy decision making. Finn has an athletic thing I didn't have, and it's mental. They are a different breed. He has, it is a focus and an obsession and a drive that, I mean, maybe I had it with standup early on. Like I went through a lot and I persevered through that. Like it's definitely a very crazy brutal thing to go through. Yes. Yes. There's something about...

Yeah, you've got to be a bit nuts to do it. There's something about athletes, man. They're just built to... At least the good ones. They're built differently. They just have a mindset that is... And he... It goes to 11, man.

He only played at 11. He didn't have a 10 or a 9 or an 8. He had an 11. That was it. Well, I think that, you know, honestly, I would say that the difference now is that there are teams know that for selfish reasons, keeping someone healthy long-term is the move.

And the athletes do always wanna come back and for the most part, you know, they're like, I'll play through it, I'll fight through it. And a lot of times coaches or doctors, even with what you see in the NFL with like concussion protocol, like it's still extremely flawed, but what you have is you have,

there are now way more protocols to make sure someone doesn't have a guy. I remember when Farve, Hero, great guy. Still. Great guy. Loves to launder money and send pictures of his cock. Great guy.

But when before we knew on what level Farve was a monster, he, there was a game because he has like the Iron Man streak in the NFL for most consecutive starts and his quarterback it's unheard of. And there was a game where he got fucking rattled. And the team was like, he's not going to play anymore. And he put himself in and he threw a touchdown on like two plays and he kept a streak going for like consecutive games with a touchdown. And he had a concussion. And they revealed the adequate cushion and all that stuff. But as like everyone was like,

wow, that dude is like a hero for doing that. But he like snuck on the field for lack of a better term. And now it's like if you see that even the stuff you're saying with two of on the dolphins, like it was totally a mistake to play him in that time. But stories like that are now so much less common because the teams are like, we want this dude for 12 years and his brain is a big part of that. Yeah, I tell something. And so like the heroics that he displays are probably exceptional, but also like you're saying,

athletes sometimes just have this gear that is ridiculous. Yeah, you literally, when they're concussed, they're not thinking straight. So they go into athlete mode, they're not thinking straight. So they go into athlete mode, which is, get me back in the game. I'm a game guy. Yeah, you don't, even when like, when my dad had like a stroke, he drove himself to the hospital.

Like part of your brain is still functioning. It's just like, it's your coach, like part of it is still just kind of like animalistic. And so like for an athlete, they're just like, get back out there. I play sports. Yeah. Like my, even as they're wobbling. Like my dad would just keep, like he'd be like, I'd throw up on him and have another drink. Like you do what you're doing. Yeah. He, well, and, and he fights through that. Yeah. to get out there and have another, you know, Sea Gramps. Yeah. Yeah.

It's just great people. Did Finn call him Sea Gramps? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sources, Dan Joseph, baseball's greatest what if, the story of and tragedy of pistol

Pete O'Ryzer, Society for American baseball research, Pete Ryzer by Mark Stewart, the lasting impact of a Hall of Fame career cut short by Anthony Kess Strovins on MLB.com. Really what we had was he could have been the greatest baseball player of all time. Right. That's what it was. He could have been. Yeah. You know, there's so many stories. There's so many things like that that are like. Can I also say it's also a work safety issue because a decent government would regulate and have padding on the walls

Here we go. What's true this applies to Dave I'm not gonna do this everything else. It's not everything's Biden on But like at the end of the day, like a decent government make sure people can't get super injured in the workplace. And that is a workplace, like that is his workplace. Just like a guy in a factory should have, you know, yellow lines painted where they should be

instead of whatever Elon Musk wants. I think it is so true. I think our relationship is so distorted of what a government should do at this point that we don't even realize that should be what they do. Right. That should be what they do. You know what I mean? There's no, they're there.

Yeah, I mean, it's supposed to be like, it's the, we have to make society safe. Yeah, we have the opposite. Like they, they keep us in danger. That's literally what they do. Yeah. Well, and then a private company comes along and is like, we're wall tech. All right.

Mary New Year. Gabble, Gabble, everybody, this is going to be our worst.