Phil Rizzuto vs Pee Wee Reese
- Paul Semendinger
- Nov 24, 2025
- 2 min read
by Paul Semendinger
November 24, 2025
***
Note - This article was published in the IBWAA's newsletter, Here's The Pitch, on November 22, 2025
***
From time to time, I see and hear comments that infer or claim that there is an anti-Yankees bias in the Hall of Fame selection process.
As an example of this, it was recently suggested that since Pee Wee Reese got in the Hall of Fame well before Phil Rizzuto, another similar contemporary player, that the voters of the time were somehow against the Yankees. Reese was elected to the Hall in 1984 but Rizzuto didn’t get in until 1994.
For the record, I do not believe that there is an anti-Yankees bias in Hall of Fame voting. In fact, there are more Yankees in the Hall of Fame than representatives of any other team.
Still, since I have heard that Rizzuto and Reese were essentially the same player, I decided to examine this in greater detail. I wondered, why did Reese get so much more Hall of Fame support so much sooner than Rizzuto?
On the surface, the two players were very similar:
They were both smaller baseball players, with Reese standing at 5’10” and Rizzuto at 5’6”
They both played shortstop in New York in the same era
They both played in a lot of World Series
Neither player hit for much power
Neither player hit even .280 for their careers.
They seemed very similar, until closer examination:
Pee Wee Reese played 16 seasons, Phil Rizzuto 13. (Both served for three years in World War II.)
Reese was a 10-time All-Star, while Rizzuto was an All-Star five times.
Reese had 2,170 hits, Rizzuto 1,588.
Reese hit 126 homers, Rizzuto 38.
The only arguments in favor of Phil Rizzuto were that he was on more World Series teams (9 to 7) and more World Series winners (7 to 1) and that he also won an MVP. Still, Reese earned MVP votes in 13 different seasons compared to Rizzuto’s eight.
Overall, Pee Wee Reese earned 68.5 WAR, Phil Rizzuto 42.1. Among shortstops, all-time, Reese sits in 14th place in WAR, just above Ernie Banks, Joe Cronin, and Lou Boudreau. Phil Rizzuto ranks in 42nd place with the lowest WAR of any Hall of Fame shortstop in the 20th Century.
This isn’t an article to state that Phil Rizzuto does not belong in the Hall of Fame. Ted Williams claimed that Rizzuto was the difference between the great Yankees teams and his Red Sox. There are times when a player’s value cannot be measured only by numbers.
Phil Rizzuto was a legendary Yankee. Rizzuto’s overall Hall of Fame worthiness is a topic for another day. For now, it is clear that when comparing the two players by the numbers, Pee Wee Reese was clearly the superior player. Reese is a no-doubt Hall of Famer.
I grew up with Rizzuto on Yankee broadcasts, and he was a delight. But he has no business being in the Hall of Fame. Bill James did a chapter on it in his HoF book, reaching the same conclusion. Just before the book went to press came the announcement of Rizzuto's election. James's conclusion was something to the effect of, "Oh well, he won't be the worst player in there." Long live the memory of Rabbit Maranville.
Oh no. I need to do another article.
TED WAS WRONG... :)
Numbers dont always tell the full story, Ted Williams famously said, "If the Red Sox would have had Phil, we would have won all those pennants". No one ever argued with Williams about that statement.
Its all about desire to win, knowing your role, and putting ego aside for team. None of us saw either of them play, but the people that did, always told me how great Rizzuto was, and that he had the fastest hands in the league and got rid of the ball in an instant. Pee wee I'm told was right there with him.
Ted Williams said it best about Scooter- he was the difference between the Yankres winning and the Red Sox going home early. Oh yea, the Red Sox had Pee Wee and traded him to the Dodgers.