Every baseball player playing todays a little something, a gratitude, a %, or at least a tip of his cap to Branch Rickey. Born in Stockdale, Ohio, he had a passion unbridled for this new game called baseball, but began his adult life as a school teacher, before abandoning it to run the local Ohio Wesleyen team, a team he played catcher for.
He managed the St.Louis Browns, but clashed with Browns owner, and jumped to the cross town rivals, the Cardinals. Phil Ball , the Browns owner said years later, somebody shoulda been nicer to Rickey, I guess it was me !
By 1930, Branch Rickey's Cardinals, known as the "Gashouse Gang", were the class of the National League. They won 101 games in 1931 and won the World Series in seven games. The star of the Series that year was rookie Pepper Martin, one of the first Cardinal stars that came from Branch's minor league system. Soon, other minor league graduates joined the team, among them future hall of famers Dizzy Dean and Joe Medwick, and Dean's brother Paul "Daffy" Dean. The Deans and Medwick were integral parts of the 1934 Cardinals, who won the franchise's third World Series title.
Commissioner of Baseball Kenesaw Mountain Landis was concerned that Rickey's minor league system was going to ruin the game of baseball by destroying most existing minor league teams, and he twice released over 70 Cardinal minor leaguers in attempts to stop what he perceived to be a cover-up. Despite Judge Landis' best efforts, however, Rickey's minor league system stayed in existence, and similar systems were adopted by every major league team within a few years. Arguably, the farm system saved the minor leagues, by keeping them necessary after the television age began and minor league attendance figures declined.
Rickey continued to develop the Cardinals up until the early 1940s. In his final year at St. Louis, 1942, the Cardinals had their best season in franchise history, winning 106 games and the World Series title. The team was led by a new crop of players developed by the Cardinals, two of whom, Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial, became Hall of Famers; and several others, among them future MVP Marty Marion, who were among the best at their position during their eras. Even their manager Billy Southworth was a product of their farm system.
Rickey was a good friend of Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Larry MacPhail, himself a sound baseball man. MacPhail enlisted in the army to serve in World War II after the 1942 season, and the Dodgers hired Branch Rickey to replace him as President and GM, ending a tenure of over two decades with the Cardinals.
He replaced MacPhail who's tenure with the Dodgers was turbulent, they said of MacPhail that with one drink he was eloquent, with 2 drinks brillant, and with 3 drinks he was a mad man, and he rarely stopped at 3 drinks. MacPhail's office was referred to as the "Cave of the Winds".
Branch continued being an innovator in his time with Brooklyn. He was responsible for the first full time spring training facility, in Vero Beach, Florida, and encouraged the use of now-commonplace tools such as the batting cage, pitching machines, and batting helmets. He also pioneered the use of statistical analysis in baseball (what is now known as sabermetrics), when he hired statistician Allan Roth as a full-time analyst for the Dodgers in 1947. After viewing Roth's evidence, Rickey promoted the idea that on-base percentage was a more important hitting statistic than batting average. While working under Rickey, Roth was also the first person to provide statistical evidence that platoon effects were real and quantifiable.
Breaking the color barrier
Rickey's most memorable act with the Dodgers involved signing Jackie Robinson, thus breaking baseball's color barrier, which had been an unwritten rule since the 1880s. This policy had continued under a succession of baseball leaders, including Landis, who was openly opposed to integrating Major League Baseball for what he regarded as legitimate reasons. Landis died in 1944, but Rickey had already set the process in motion, having sought (and gained) approval from the Dodgers Board of Directors in 1943 to begin the search for "the right man".
On August 28, 1945, Rickey signed Jackie Robinson to a minor league contract. On October 23, 1945, it was announced that Robinson would join the Montreal Royals, the Dodgers' International League affiliate, for the 1946 season. He would end up as the league's batting champion, and led the Royals to a dominant league championship. There was no statute officially banning the blacks from baseball, only a universally-recognized unwritten rule which no club owner was prepared to break. The club owners imitated the values and beliefs of the everyday white man. Their hostility towards blacks may seem surprising, bearing in mind the celebrated role in American sports pre-Second World War black athletes such as Joe Louis in boxing and Jesse Owens on the track. The difference is baseball players are playing for teams, rather than as individual competitors. Branch Rickey took it upon himself to break the color barrier into major league baseball.
Branch Rickey opened the door to the major leagues for Jackie Robinson (with potential for other black athletes to follow). "He (Mr. Rickey) knew I would have terrible problems and wanted me to know the extent of them before I agreed to play." At the start of the 1947 major league baseball season, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Jackie was signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers major league baseball team, with the help of Mr. Rickey.
Dodger long time broadcaster Red Barber told the story that Mr.Rickey went him to tell Red that he was going to promote a black player, and Rickey was no dummy. Barber, a man of deep beliefs, was from the deep south was not sure if he could continue as the Dodger announcer, and Barber remembers saying that "if Mr.Rickey said he was going to do it, he was going to do it" . "You didn't doubt Mr.Rickey, he was a man of deep principles, so I decided to stay on and I am very glad I did, I called Jackie Robinson's firt game, first hit, and first stolen base" Barber claimed years later that he had to give thanks to Branch Rickey for making him see things differently.
Branch Rickey knew that Jackie would face racism and discrimination. Rickey made it clear in their momentous first meeting that he anticipated wide-scale resistance both inside and outside baseball to opening its doors to Negroes. As predicted by Rickey, right from the start, Jackie Robinson faced obstacles among his teammates and other teams' players. However harsh the white people were towards Jackie, he could not retaliate. Jackie had agreed with Mr. Rickey not to lose his temper and jeopardize the chances of all the blacks who would follow him if he could help break down the barriers.
Branch Rickey signing Jackie Robinson for the Brooklyn DodgersRed Barber recounted in Ken Burns's Baseball Documentary that Rickey's determination to desegregate Major League Baseball was born out of a combination of idealism and astute business sense. The idealism was at least partially rooted in an incident involving a team for which Rickey worked early on. An African-American player, Charles Thomas, was extremely upset at being refused accommodation at the hotel where the team stayed because of his race. Rickey never forgot the incident and later said "I may not be able to do something about racism in every field, but I can sure do something about it in baseball." The business element was based on the fact that the Negro Leagues had numerous star athletes, and logically, the first Major League team to hire them would get first pick of the players at a reasonable price. At the time, Mexican brewery czar Jorge Pasquel was raiding the US for black talent (e.g., Satchel Paige), as well as disgruntled white players, for the Mexican League with the idea of creating an integrated league that could compete on a talent level with the US major leagues.
Five days before the start of the 1947 season, Rickey purchased Jackie Robinson's contract from the minor leagues. Amid much fanfare, Jackie debuted, and turned out to be a fantastic success. Robinson was baseball's first rookie of the year, and while he was often jeered by opposing baseball players, managers, and fans, he became extremely popular with the American public. His success became the crowning achievement of Rickey's illustrious career. His Dodgers would make the World Series that year, losing in 7 games to the New York Yankees. But Rickey's vision and action had set the stage for the previously mediocre Dodgers to be contenders for decades to come. And it opened the door for other innovative leaders like Bill Veeck of the Cleveland Indians, who integrated the American League soon thereafter.
Not many players nowadays know much about Branch Rickey, but his contributions, the develop of the farm system, spring training, and the breaking of the colour barrier should be a reminder of his contribution.
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