Page 168 - 1975 BoSox

ROBERT LOWELL HEISE WAS BORN in San Antonio, but doesn’t remember a thing about the place. His father,
William Heise, was an o cer in the military and was moved around quite often. Bob remembers more of Lompoc and Vacaville, in California. His father had a degree in sociology and criminology and, after his military career, served in corrections work, ending up at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. Bob’s mother stayed at home to look after Bob, his younger brother, Ben, and their sister. After Bob graduated from high school, she got her master’s degree and became a schoolteacher. Ben Heise played in the Cleveland Indians organization, making it as high as Triple-A; his team won a gold medal in the Pan Am Games. Ben was an in elder, too, but wasn’t able to climb the nal rung of the ladder.
Baseball appealed to Bob early on. William Heise played fast-pitch softball and had played football in college. It was in Lompoc that Bob rst remembered becoming interested in baseball at the age of 5. “I knew that’s what I wanted to do. It was imbedded with me. And I just took it very serious. I wanted to play ball, all my life.” His dad was supportive, but the drive came from within: “He played catch with me and encouraged me to, but most of the encouragement came that I wanted to do it on my own. It was my love. at’s what I wanted to do.” When the family moved to Vacaville, Bob was 9 and Little League was starting up, elding four teams. Bob played in eld.
After Little League, it was American Legion, Babe Ruth, and high-school ball. At Vacaville High, he helped spark the Bulldogs to the 1964 Golden Empire League championship. Bob’s American Legion Post 165 team, coached by his father, won the league championship in 1965. “Bob was a very intense ballplayer, but that was one of the things that was
so great about him,” remarked Vacaville High’s athletic director, Tom Zunino. Heise graduated from high school in 1965.
Following Bobby Heise’s development was scout Roy Partee, who signed him for the Mets at age 18 in February 1966. In the winter of 1965 Heise had played in the Peninsula League just for fun—it wasn’t semipro — and Bud Harrelson of the Mets was at one of the games, keeping an eye out on behalf of Partee. “You would play a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday. I was playing second base, and Buddy Harrelson, I think, told Roy Partee, ‘ is kid has a little talent.’” Partee o ered Heise a contract. ere was a bonus,but it was,in Heise’s words,“Very little. Very little. I’ll leave it at that.”
Heise was assigned to a Mets farm team in Jacksonville, Florida, for extended spring training in 1966 and then to Greenville, South Carolina. With the Single-A Greenville team in the Western Carolinas League, Heise played in 122 games, batting .283 with 6 homers, 50 RBIs, and 90 runs scored. He was named to the league’s all-star team. In 1967 he played in Durham, another Single-A team, in the Carolina League. He hit for a higher average, .298, but with just one home run and 37 RBIs. After the Durham season ended, Heise joined the Mets after a stretch in the US Marine Reserve, getting into his rst game on September 12 as the starting second baseman against the Atlanta Braves. Heise was 1-for-4 that day, singling with two
outs in the ninth. He was caught stealing to end the inning, and the Braves scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to win the game, 4-3. By season’s end, Heise had played in 16 games and hit for a .323 average. It was his rst of 11 major- league seasons.
Heise saw only limited action each of the next two years, as a September call-up
Bob Heise
by Bill Nowlin
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