His best known contribution to the sport was that he was initially one of the few supportive teammates to the first modern african-american major league player, Jackie Robinson when he joined the Dodgers in 1947. Throughout that difficult first year in the major leagues, Reese helped keep Robinson's morale up admist all the abuse and the two became inseperable on the field. This soon paid off as shortstop Reese and second baseman Robinson became one of most effective defensive pairs in the sport's history.
In 1984, Pee Wee Reese was inducted into the United States Baseball Hall of Fame.