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Jimmie Reese

Jimmie Reese
Second baseman / Third baseman / Coach
Born: (1901-10-01)October 1, 1901
New York City
Died: July 12, 1994(1994-07-12) (aged 92)
Santa Ana, California
Batted: Left Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 19, 1930, for the New York Yankees
Last MLB appearance
September 25, 1932, for the St. Louis Cardinals
MLB statistics
Batting average .278
Home runs 8
Runs batted in 70
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Jimmie Reese (October 1, 1901 – July 13, 1994) was a professional baseball player. He played second base, third base, and then coached in Major League Baseball.

Reese was born James Herman Solomon to a Jewish family in New York City and was brought up in Los Angeles. In order to avoid the brunt of prejudice against Jewish baseball players, he adopted the name of Jimmie Reese, which he used throughout his baseball career.

Much of his career was spent in the Pacific Coast League, beginning as a batboy with the Los Angeles Angels from 1919 (at least one source claims 1917) to 1923.

In 1924 he signed a contract to play second base with the Oakland Oaks.

The Oaks won the PCL pennant in 1927, with Reese batting .295 in 191 games. He had a league-leading fielding percentage of .984 that year.

In September 1927 he was traded by Oakland to the New York Yankees with Lyn Lary and $100,000 ($1,378,736 today).

He was called up to the American League in 1930. Reese played for the Yankees in 1930 and 1931, and was most noted for being the roommate of Babe Ruth (or, as Reese explained, he "roomed with Ruth's suitcase").

In 1930 he batted .346 in 188 at bats, striking out only 8 times. Only Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth hit for higher averages on the team. He was the primary back-up at second base (48 games) behind Tony Lazzeri (77 games).

In November 1931 he was sent by the Yankees to the St. Paul Saints (American Association), to complete an earlier deal made in June 1931 for Johnny Murphy, Jack Saltzgaver, cash, and 2 players to be named.


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Wikipedia

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