Great article here from 1958 about Pete Reiser (original title of the WC Heinz article was "The Rocky Road of Pistol Pete" -- not sure why Deadspin changed the title.)

After half a dozen or so times, Reiser saying "I woke up in a hospital" actually starts to get funny, in a dark comedy kind of way.

Fantastic article, Nick. Thanks for sharing. Talk about a guy who was always "on"; obviously to the detriment of his own health. I lost track of how many time the article mentioned "Pete woke up in the clubhouse" or "Old Pete woke up at the hospital". I encourage all who see this post to check the article out. I read it at this link: The Rocky Road of Pistol Pete | The Stacks Reader

That's the first link I had up too, but I changed it because someone sitemailed me to say that site wasn't secure. But at least they used the real title, ha ha.

I came across this article in a book I'm reading right now, The Top of His Game: The Best Sportswriting of W. C. Heinz. Also includes great pieces on Pepper Martin and Babe Ruth.

Thanks, I’ll be checking the book out

In Peter Golenbock's fabulous oral history of the Brooklyn Dodgers ("Bums", came out about 40 years ago), he spends a lot of time on Reiser. With what we know today, although I do not attribute any malice to them, Durocher, MacPhail, and the Dodgers could easily have been held liable for negligence. They really destroyed this guy's career, and possibly his health, through their mistreatment of him.

Golenbock's details are a little off, perhaps forgiveable in the pre-internet age when it wasn't so easy to track down data, but here's how Reiser's SABR bio explains the situation:

On July 18, 1942 the Dodgers had an eight game lead over the Cardinals when they went to St. Louis for a four game series. Reiser, batting .356, was riding an eleven-game hit streak. In the eleventh inning of a 6–6 tie on the July 19, Enos Slaughter belted a long drive off Johnny Allen. Reiser raced toward the center-field wall, narrowly avoiding the flagpole that rose from the playing field, and caught Slaughter’s hit in full stride—and then hit the concrete wall an instant later. The ball fell from his glove and, although dazed, he threw the ball to the cutoff man, Reese. By the time Reese fired the ball home, Slaughter had circled the bases to win the game.

All attention turned to number 27, who lay on the field motionless, facing the sky, his shoulder separated and blood trickling from his ears. When Durocher reached him, the manager started to cry. Pete was carried off on a stretcher and woke up the next morning in the hospital with a fractured skull and a brain injury. The Cardinals’ team doctor examined him and recommended that he not return to the field that season. In the era before the effects of a concussion were fully understood, Reiser did what gamers do—he returned to the diamond as soon as he could walk. He was dizzy, had a hard time focusing, and felt weak, but there was no keeping him out of the lineup.

He would never be the same player again.

Reiser hit .244 from July 25, the day he returned, to the end of the season, even trying to switch-hit to minimize the pain in his shoulder. The Dodgers’ lead evaporated down the stretch as St. Louis edged Brooklyn by two games. From the heights of July, Reiser ended up batting .310, but still led the league with twenty steals. Before the injury, teammate Billy Herman—who had played with Hall of Famers Chuck Klein and Hack Wilson—said Pete Reiser was the greatest player he had ever seen on a baseball field.

Tragic. It's a shame Durocher didn't let him heal before playing him, and that Rickey didn't pad the fences much earlier than he did.