A Final Word on Baseball

To the editors:

While the discussion of Pee Wees, Wee Willies, and Hall of Famers has gone on long enough, I feel a couple of final corrections are in order.

Tom Sylvester stated in his letter (Hall of Famers Confused, Apr. 6), that in 1947 Pee Wee Reese went over to second to put his arm around Jackie Robinson's shoulder. Robinson played all of his 151 games at first base that year, switching back to second only in 1948.

Also, none of the letters have mentioned that Wee Willie Keeler, the originator of "hitting 'em where they ain't," was once a coach at Harvard. In fact, William Clarence Matthews, one of Keeler's most talented charges at Harvard in 1902, almost became the first black player in the majors more than 40 years before Robinson. LEV POLINSKY, '99-'00   April 7, 1998