"I had only played five games in my senior year in high school. I was not large enough. Hell, when I graduated, I was about five foot four and weighed 120 pounds. I didn't go with the Dodgers until spring training of 1940 and I weighed all of 155 pounds soaking wet"
About this Quote
Reese frames his origin story like a comedian with a chip on his shoulder: not as destiny, but as near-disqualification. The repeated measurements - five games, five foot four, 120 pounds, “155 pounds soaking wet” - are doing more than setting the scene. They’re preemptive strikes against the mythology of the “born” athlete. In baseball, where legend often starts with “I always knew,” Reese starts with “I didn’t even belong in the room.”
The intent is practical and quietly defiant: to normalize late development and underdog beginnings in a sport that fetishizes tools, bodies, and early polish. “I was not large enough” lands like a scout’s report, stripped of romance. Then he punctures it with “Hell,” a working-class shrug that tells you how it felt to be judged by a frame. That profanity isn’t decoration; it’s a refusal to speak in the sanitized language of highlight reels.
The subtext is about timing and gatekeeping. He “didn’t go with the Dodgers until spring training of 1940,” a detail that reads like a bureaucratic delay, implying that opportunity isn’t purely earned - it’s granted, often late, often conditionally. By emphasizing how small he was even when he finally got the call, Reese makes the real point: the body was the obstacle, but not the verdict.
Context matters: Reese became a central figure for the Brooklyn Dodgers and a moral leader in the integration era. The quote retrofits that public stature with humility and grit, reminding fans that authority in sports can come from being overlooked first.
The intent is practical and quietly defiant: to normalize late development and underdog beginnings in a sport that fetishizes tools, bodies, and early polish. “I was not large enough” lands like a scout’s report, stripped of romance. Then he punctures it with “Hell,” a working-class shrug that tells you how it felt to be judged by a frame. That profanity isn’t decoration; it’s a refusal to speak in the sanitized language of highlight reels.
The subtext is about timing and gatekeeping. He “didn’t go with the Dodgers until spring training of 1940,” a detail that reads like a bureaucratic delay, implying that opportunity isn’t purely earned - it’s granted, often late, often conditionally. By emphasizing how small he was even when he finally got the call, Reese makes the real point: the body was the obstacle, but not the verdict.
Context matters: Reese became a central figure for the Brooklyn Dodgers and a moral leader in the integration era. The quote retrofits that public stature with humility and grit, reminding fans that authority in sports can come from being overlooked first.
Quote Details
| Topic | Training & Practice |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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