Rich Reese

Quotes From Reese
"Harmon Killebrew was one of the classiest people I've ever met in my life. He treated people with respect, even with the stature he had. I enjoyed that. We had a lot of good teammates. We had good camaraderie. I had some good managers. Sam Mele was a good manager and Billy Martin was a good manager."

Played For
Minnesota Twins (1964-1972)
Detroit Tigers (1973)
Minnesota Twins (1973)

Born
Richard Benjamin Reese was born on September 29, 1941, in Leipsic, OH.

Batted:  Left
Threw:  Left

Primary Position:  1B

Primary Team:  MIN

Major League Debut
September 4, 1964

Nine Other Players Who Debuted in 1964
Tony Perez
Bert Campaneris
Don Kessinger
Paul Blair
Lou Piniella
Phil Niekro
Luis Tiant
Mel Stottlemyre
Mickey Stanley

Hall of Fame Voting Year Election Votes Pct 1979 BBWAA 0 %

Post-Season Appearances
1969 American League Championship Series
1970 American League Championship Series

Notes
After his playing career, Reese served as President of Jim Beam (James B. Beam Distilling Co.) from 1997-2006. He worked for that company for more than three decades in various capacities. Mark Sheldon, of MLB.com, in an interview, told the story of how Reese came to work for the company:

It didn't take long for Reese to move on. Eight months after leaving the game, he joined Jim Beam. The career move was made possible through baseball. "It's kind of a unique story," Reese explained. "In those days you used to go two or three times into each town. We played the White Sox and there was a gentleman and his teenage daughter who came to all of the games. One day, I rolled a baseball to them and I said 'You must be Twins fans because you're here every time we come to town.'" Reese met the family after the game and signed their ball. It turned out that the gentleman was an advertising director for Jim Beam. He got to know him a little bit and by the time Reese left baseball, the man called and invited him to interview for a job -- which he landed.

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