#189 Pete Reiser

#189 Pete Reiser
Progress: 1st of this card
283 of 407  69.5% complete
How acquired: $5.66 on ebay
Condition: Fair
As the back of this card mentions, Reiser had a monster season in 1941 (his first full season in the majors) playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, in which Rieser finished 2nd to teammate Dolph Camilli in the MVP Voting.  I think the voters got it wrong.  In '41 Resier led the NL in runs (117), doubles (39), triples (17), average (.343), slugging (.558), total bases (299), and hit by pitch (11), as well as a few of the make believe modern stats that I won't dignify by mentioning here.  Reiser followed up with another strong all-star season in '42 finishing 6th in MVP voting, before missing three years to military service.  His first season back in 1946 saw Resier once again be named an all-star, lead the league in stolen bases, and finish 9th in MVP voting.  Injuries became an issue though, and Resiser would struggle to stay on the field for the remainder of his career.  1952 in Cleveland would be his final season, and see him appear in 34 games. Prime example of "Smoky Joe Wood Syndrome."

This card isn't in the greatest shape as you can see.  I'm not a fan of the solid yellow background, the off-centering bothers me to no end, and then there's the logo.  Judge me all you want, my politics tend to be the opposite of whatever Fox News is pushing, but I like Chief Wahoo.  This one however, is a little more difficult to defend.  Take a look at the other Cleveland cards in this set, the logo here is different.  I suspect it was hand drawn, perhaps due to Reiser's late addition to the Cleveland roster.

Stats: 10 seasons, 3x All-Star,  786 hits, 58 home runs, 295 .avg

Best Hall of Fame Showing: 3% in 1960

Included in Lawrence Ritter's 100 Greatest Players of All-Time Book.