| Branch Rickey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Rickey in the 1930s with the Cardinals | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Catcher /Manager /Executive | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born:(1881-12-20)December 20, 1881 Portsmouth, Ohio, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died: December 9, 1965(1965-12-09) (aged 83) Columbia, Missouri, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batted: Left Threw: Right | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MLB debut | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| June 16, 1905, for the St. Louis Browns | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last MLB appearance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| August 25, 1914, for the St. Louis Browns | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MLB statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting average | .239 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home runs | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Runs batted in | 39 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Managerial record | 597–664 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winning % | .473 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Managerial record at Baseball Reference | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
As player
As manager As general manager | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of the National | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Induction | 1967 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Election method | Veterans Committee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Wesley Branch Rickey (December 20, 1881 – December 9, 1965) was an Americanbaseball player, manager, sports executive, and team owner. Rickey was instrumental in breaking thebaseball color line by signingblack playerJackie Robinson. He also created the framework for the modernminor leaguefarm system, encouraged the major leagues to add new teams through his involvement in the proposedContinental League, introduced thebatting helmet, and created the standard 20-80 scouting scale.[1] He was posthumously elected to theBaseball Hall of Fame in 1967.[2][3]
Rickey played inMajor League Baseball (MLB) for theSt. Louis Browns andNew York Highlanders from 1905 through 1907. After struggling as a player, Rickey returned to college, graduating from theUniversity of Michigan. Back in the major leagues in 1913, he embarked on a successful career variously as a manager, executive, and owner, starting with theSt. Louis Browns, then theSt. Louis Cardinals,Brooklyn Dodgers andPittsburgh Pirates. The Cardinals elected him to their teamHall of Fame in 2014.
Rickey also had a career infootball, as a player for the professionalShelby Blues and as a coach atOhio Wesleyan University andAllegheny College. He received the nickname "Mahatma" after sportswriterTom Meany read an article describingMahatma Gandhi as a combination of "your father andTammany Hall."[4]
Rickey was born inPortsmouth, Ohio, the son of Jacob Frank Rickey and Emily (née Brown). Rickey was the uncle ofBeth Rickey, aLouisianapolitical activist.[3] He graduated from Valley High School inLucasville, Ohio, in 1899.
Rickey was a catcher on the baseball team atOhio Wesleyan University, where he obtained hisB.A. Rickey was a member of theDelta Tau Delta fraternity.[5]
Rickey attended theUniversity of Michigan, where he received hisLL.B.[6]
While at Michigan, Rickey applied for the job as Michigan's baseball coach. Rickey asked every alumnus he had ever met to write letters toPhilip Bartelme, the school's athletic director, on his behalf. Bartelme recalled, "Day after day those letters came in."[7] Bartelme was reportedly impressed with Rickey's passion for baseball and his idealism about the proper role of athletics on a college campus.[8] Bartelme convinced the dean of the law school that Rickey could handle his law studies while serving as the school's baseball coach.[9] Bartelme reportedly called Rickey into his office to tell him he had the job if only "to put a stop to those damn letters that come in every day."[7] The hiring also marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship and business relationship between Rickey and Bartelme. Bartelme and Rickey worked together for most of the next 35 years."
During his four years as head baseball coach from 1910 to 1913, Rickey's record was 68–32–4.[10] In his final season, the Michigan squad — led by brilliant sophomorefirst baseman and left-handedpitcher, futureHall of FamerGeorge Sisler, who batted .445 — compiled a 21–4–1 won-lost record, awinning percentage of .827.[11]
Before his front office days, Rickey played both football and baseball professionally.
In 1902, Rickey played professional football for theShelby Blues of the "Ohio League", the direct predecessor to the modernNational Football League (NFL.) Rickey often played for pay with Shelby while he was attending Ohio Wesleyan. During his time with Shelby, Rickey became friends with his teammateCharles Follis, who was the first black professional football player. He also played against him on October 17, 1903, when Follis ran for a 70-yardtouchdown against the Ohio Wesleyan football team. After that game Rickey praised Follis, calling him "a wonder."[12] It is also possible that Follis' poise and class under the pressures of such racial tension, as well as his exceptional play in spite of it, inspired Rickey to sign Jackie Robinson decades later.[13] Rickey, however, stated his inspiration for bringing Jackie Robinson into baseball was the ill-treatment he saw received by his black catcher Charles Thomas on the Ohio Wesleyan baseball team coached by Rickey in 1903 and 1904 and the gentlemanly way Thomas handled it. When Rickey signed Robinson, Charles Thomas' story was made known in the papers.[14]
In 1903, Rickey signed a contract with theTerre Haute Hottentots of theClass BCentral League, making his professional debut on June 20. He was assigned to theLe Mars Blackbirds of the Class DIowa–South Dakota League. During this period, he also spent two seasons–1904 and 1905—coaching baseball, basketball and football atAllegheny College in Pennsylvania, where he also served as athletic director and as an instructor of Shakespeare, English, and freshman history.[citation needed]
A left-handed-battingcatcher, Rickey debuted in the major leagues with theSt. Louis Browns in 1905.[3]
Sold to theNew York Highlanders in 1907, Rickey could neither hit nor field while with the club, and hisbatting average dropped below .200. One opposing team stole 13 bases in one game while Rickey was behind the plate, which was an American League record until 1911. Rickey also injured his throwing arm and retired as a player following that season.
Rickey was in his third year as the Wolverines' baseball coach when St. Louis Browns ownerRobert Hedges inquired if Rickey was interested in running the minor-leagueKansas City Blues, which Hedges was thinking of purchasing. Citing his commitment to Michigan, Rickey turned him down, but agreed to do some part-time scouting for the Browns in the West during the summer of 1912. That September, Hedges offered Rickey a job as his top assistant and business manager of the MLB Browns themselves, at a substantial salary increase, effective after Michigan's 1913 baseball season. Rickey signed the deal on June 1, 1913. After three months in the Browns' front office, on September 17, 1913, the 31 year-old Rickey was also appointed field manager, replacing incumbentGeorge Stovall. Veteran playersJimmy Austin and, later,Burt Shotton, became Rickey's "Sunday managers", running the Browns on the Sabbath in the devout Rickey's absence.[15]
The Browns, in the midst of one of several low points during their 52-year history, were 52–90 and in last place at the time. Rickey steered them to a 5–6–1 record over the last 12 games of the1913 season. Then, in1914, they improved by 14 games, jumping from eighth to fifth place in theAmerican League. However, the1915Browns took a giant step backwards; despite the June signing of the player who would become one of the greatest in franchise history—future Hall of FamerGeorge Sisler—they went only 63–91, 8½ games worse than in 1914 edition.[16]
Still, Rickey maintained Hedges' confidence. But during the 1915–1916 offseason, as part of Major League Baseball's the settlement of theFederal League "war", Hedges sold the Browns to the former operator of the Federal League'sSt. Louis Terriers,Philip DeCatesby Ball. Ball brought along his own manager,Fielder Jones, and restricted an unhappy Rickey to front-office duties. Compounding matters, the pair's personalities clashed, and as the 1916 season concluded, Rickey began looking for a new job.[17]
At the same time Rickey was struggling with ownership change and on-field failings with the American League St. Louis Browns, theNational League's St. Louis Cardinals were also enduring a period of turmoil with both. In1916, they had finished eighth and last in the NL and attracted a league-worst 224,308 fans toRobison Field,[18] and their owner,Helene Hathaway Britton, put them up for sale. A local consortium of businessmen, including automobile dealerSam Breadon,[19] quickly formed to buy the financially strapped team and keep it from moving elsewhere. Searching for a chief executive, they reached out to seven St. Louis sportswriters and asked for recommendations; all seven separately suggested Rickey.[20]
Before Rickey could join the Cardinals he had to sort out his existing obligations to Ball and the Browns. American League president and founderBan Johnson, determined to keep Rickey in his league, pressured Ball to seek a temporary injunction to enforce the terms of Rickey's contract.[21] The dispute was resolved in April 1917, and Rickey became the Cardinals'club president, business manager, and a minority owner. Apart from his year as president of the Continental League in 1959–1960, Rickey would spend the remainder of his baseball career in the National League.
Each of Rickey's first two seasons with the Cardinals would be overshadowed by theUnited States' entry into World War I, on April 6, 1917.
Despite the team's last-place standing in 1916, Rickey inherited two Hall-of-Fame quality assets: 21-year-old infielderRogers Hornsby and the Cardinals' manager,Miller Huggins. Each contributed to a strong bounce-back season in1917: Hornsby batted .327 in 145 games and led the team inhits, and Huggins guided the squad to 82 wins and a third-place finish. During the 1920s, Hornsby would become the cornerstone of a National League pennant contender and1926 World Series champion. But Huggins, who had been a member of a rival ownership group that lost its bid for the Cardinals to Breadon's syndicate, left to manage theNew York Yankees at season's end; there he would lead an eventual American League and MLB powerhouse to six pennants and three world championships before dying at 51 during the 1929 season.[22]
The war-disrupted1918 campaign saw theCardinals, managed by veteran minor-league pilotJack Hendricks, perform poorly. They plummeted to last place in the National League, winning only 51 of 131 games during the shortened regular season, which ended September 2. Rickey, however, had by that point already enlisted as an officer in theUnited States Army. His absence from the team began August 31, 1918.[23]
He embarked by steamship forFrance and theWestern Front in mid-September. Recovering from a bout ofpneumonia contracted aboard ship, Rickey commanded a training unit of theChemical Warfare Service that includedTy Cobb andChristy Mathewson.[24] His unit saw action as part of theFirst Gas Regiment.[25] Six weeks after arriving, the November 11, 1918, armistice ended hostilities, Rickey and returned to the United States on December 23. He succeeded Hendricks as the Cardinals' field manager for1919.[26]
Rickey's record as manager of the Cardinals from 1919 through the first 38 games of 1925 was a relatively mediocre (458–485–4, .486). The team improved from 53 victories in 1919 to 75 in1920, peaked at 87-66 in1921, saw two more winning seasons in1922 and1923, then fell off to losing in1924, and losing worse in1925.
Already in 1920 the ownership of the team had stabilized when Sam Breadon purchased controlling interest[19] and took over from Rickey as club president.
On the field, the club was led bysecond baseman Hornsby, who batted over .400 three times (and .397 once). Others—such asJack Fournier,Jesse Haines,Austin McHenry andJack Smith—also contributed to the team's surge. But McHenry's tragic death from abrain tumor in 1922 was a difficult blow for the team to absorb. They fell from 87 to 85 to 79 wins over the 1921–1923 period; then in 1924 dropped below .500 and finished 76–78.
Off the field, Rickey and Breadon pursued afarm system concept for the sport. By 1923, the Cardinals had ownership stakes or affiliations with five minor-league teams, including top-levelSyracuse, Class AHouston, and Class CFort Smith; though there were minor league and semipro teams and leagues all over the United States, theDetroit Tigers were the only other major-league club with as much as a single "farm team."[27]
On the big league squad, future Hall of FamerJim Bottomley took over at first base in just his second season, batting .371 with 194 hits. Twenty-year-old Ohio Wesleyan graduateHoward Freigau started 81 games atshortstop, and outfieldersRay Blades andHeinie Mueller became key contributors. The rosters of Rickey's farm teams in 1923 included another future Hall of Famer,Chick Hafey, as well as future 1920s Cardinal standoutsLes Bell,Taylor Douthit,Fred Frankhouse andWattie Holm.[28]
Along with improving player development Rickey improved the Cardinals' appearance on the field. The team's distinctive logo of two brilliant redcardinals perched on abaseball bat first appeared in the1922 season. Rickey had noticed a similar arrangement on a sign at aPresbyterianchurch inFerguson, Missouri, he was speaking at. It had been designed by Allie May Schmidt, whose father was agraphic designer. St. Louis jerseys bore the perched redbirds over the name "Cardinals", with the letter "C" of the word hooked over the bat,[29] and still do in 2025.
In 1923, Rickey also experimented with placing uniform numbers on jersey sleeves to help fans identify players. The practice was abandoned after only one season, and it would take another decade for big league teams to put larger numbers on the backs of uniform shirts.[30]
When the Cardinals'1925 season started 13-25, Breadon fired Rickey as manager of the last place club on May 30, already 13 games out of the lead. Rogers Hornsby took over asplayer–manager.
The 43 year-old Rickey had already been a player, manager, executive, and minority owner in the Major Leagues; still, there was little indication true greatness in the sport still lay ahead.
In spite of the firing Breadon could not deny Rickey's acumen for player development, and asked him to stay to run the front office. An embittered Rickey wailed, "You can't do this to me, Sam. You are ruining me." "No." Breadon countered, "I am doing you the greatest favor one man has ever done to another."[29]
His job title wasbusiness manager; thegeneral manager role in Major League Baseball had not yet been developed. Regardless, Rickey's purview and skills spannedfarm system development, roster construction, scouting, player acquisition and development, and business affairs—all among the varying responsibilities of 20th-century GMs. In the quarter century between 1926 and 1950, Rickey's Cardinals and Dodgers teams would win eight National League titles; the teams he left behind would win six more pennants within five years immediately after his departure from their front offices.[31]
Meanwhile, in1926, Hornsby's first full year as manager, the new skipper led the Cardinals to their firstWorld Series championship.[32]
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Two morepennants followed in1928 and1930, followed by World Series losses. By1931, the Cardinals were the class of theNational League. They won 101 games in1931 and won theWorld Series in seven games over the defending champion, the powerhouse Foxx-Simmons-GrovePhiladelphia Athletics. The star of the1931 World Series was rookiePepper Martin, a 1928 graduate of Rickey's player development system. With eight owned or affiliated farm teams by 1931,[33] the system was fed by the Cardinals' scouting corps, headed by Charley Barrett (1871–1939), who introduced tryout camps to keep the pipeline filled with young amateur talent from across the U.S.. Soon, other organization graduates joined the team, among them future Hall of FamersDizzy Dean andJoe "Ducky" Medwick, and Dean's brotherPaul "Daffy" Dean. All three were integral parts of the1934 Cardinals' "Gashouse Gang", who won the franchise's third World Series title.[3]
Despite the ravages ofThe Great Depression, the Cardinal farm system continued to expand during the 1930s, with 21 teams by1935, 28 in1936, and 33 in1937.[34] Major LeagueBaseball CommissionerKenesaw Mountain Landis was concerned that Rickey's minor league system, which both concentrated talent and constantly promoted a team's best players to the next league up, was going to ruin baseball by destroying existing minor league teams; he twice released over 70 Cardinal minor leaguers. Despite Landis' efforts, Rickey's minor league system continued to thrive, and similar systems were adopted by every major league team within a few years. Arguably, the farm systemsaved the minor leagues, by keeping them a necessary part of baseball after the television age began fans all over could watch big league clubs from their homes and bar. Minor league attendance figures declined,[35] but the bottom never fell out.
Rickey continued to develop the Cardinals into the early 1940s, with his final team in St. Louis having the best season in franchise history, winning 106 games and the1942 World Series. The1942 Cardinals were led by a new crop of home grown players, including two futureHall of Famers,Enos Slaughter andStan Musial; and several others, including future NLMVPMarty Marion, were among the best at their position during their eras. Even their managerBilly Southworth was a product of their farm system.
In spite of St. Louis' World Series championship success in 1942, bigger opportunities within baseball beckoned to Rickey. When his good friendBrooklyn Dodgersgeneral managerLarry MacPhail enlisted in the army to serve inWorld War II, the Dodgers hired Rickey to replace him as president and general manager, ending a tenure of over two decades with the Cardinals. In 1945, the Dodger ownership reorganized, with Rickey acquiring 25% of Dodger stock to become an equal partner with three other owners.
Rickey continued to innovate in his time with Brooklyn. He was responsible for the first full-timespring training facility, inVero Beach, Florida, and encouraged the use of now-commonplace tools such as thebatting cage,pitching machines, andbatting helmets. He also pioneered the use ofstatistical analysis in baseball (what is now known assabermetrics), when he hired statisticianAllan Roth as a full-time analyst for the Dodgers in 1947. After viewing Roth's evidence, Rickey promoted the idea thaton-base percentage was a more important hitting statistic thanbatting average.[36] While working under Rickey, Roth was also the first person to provide statistical evidence thatplatoon effects were real and quantifiable.
Rickey's most memorable act with the Dodgers involved signingJackie Robinson, thus breakingbaseball's color barrier, which had been anunwritten 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."[3]
In early 1945, Rickey was anticipating the integration of black players into Major League Baseball. Rickey, along withGus Greenlee who was the owner of the originalPittsburgh Crawfords, created theUnited States League (USL) as a method to scout black players specifically to break the color line. It is unclear if the league actually played the 1945 season or if it was only used as a pretense for integration.[37] Around this time, Rickey held tryouts of black players, under the cover story of forming a new team in the USL called the "Brooklyn Brown Dodgers." The Dodgers were, in fact, looking for the right man to break the color line.
On August 28, 1945, Rickey signed Robinson, who never played in the USL, to a minor league contract. Robinson had been playing in theNegro leagues for theKansas City Monarchs. On October 23, 1945, it was announced that Robinson would join theMontreal 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.[3]
There was no statute officially banning blacks from baseball, only a universally recognized unwritten rule which no club owner was prepared to break that was perpetuated by culturally entrenched racism and a desire by club owners to be perceived as representing the values and beliefs of everyday American white men. The service of black Americans in the Second World War, and the celebrated pre-war achievements of black athletes in American sports, such asJoe Louis in boxing andJesse Owens in track, helped pave the way for the cultural shift necessary to break the barrier.[3]
Rickey knew that Robinson would face racism and discrimination.[38] 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 black players. As predicted by Rickey, right from the start Robinson faced obstacles among his teammates and other teams' players. No matter how harsh the white people were towards Robinson, he could not retaliate. Robinson had agreed with 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.[39]
Red Barber recounted inKen Burns's documentaryBaseball 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. While managing at Ohio Wesleyan University, a black player, Charles Thomas, was extremely upset at being refused accommodation, because of his race, at the hotel where the team stayed. Though an infuriated Rickey managed to get him into the hotel for the night, he 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 theNegro leagues had numerous star athletes, and logically, the first Major League team to hire them would get the first pick of the players at an attractive price. At the time, Mexican brewery czarJorge Pasquel was raiding America for black talent (e.g.Satchel Paige), as well as disgruntled white players, for theMexican League with the idea of creating an integrated league that could compete on a talent level with the U.S. major leagues. However idealistic, Rickey did not compensate Monarchs ownership for the rights to obtain Robinson,[40] nor did he pay for rights toDon Newcombe, who would also join the Dodgers from a Negro leagues club. Rickey also attempted to signMonte Irvin butNewark Eagles business ownerEffa Manley refused to allow Irvin to leave her club without compensation. When she threatened to sue him in court, Rickey stopped the pursuit of Irvin, who would later sign with theNew York Giants.[41]
Amid much fanfare, Jackie debuted, and turned out to be a success. Robinson was baseball's firstrookie 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. Although they lost in seven games to theNew York Yankees, Rickey's vision and action had set the stage for the Dodgers to be contenders for decades to come. And it opened the door for other leaders likeLarry Doby of theCleveland Indians, who integrated theAmerican League in 1947, as well.[3]
From 1945 through 1950, Rickey was one of four owners of the Dodgers, each with one quarter of the franchise. When one of the four (John L. Smith) died,Walter O'Malley took control of that quarter. Also in 1950, Branch Rickey's contract as Dodger president expired, and Walter O'Malley decided that were Rickey to retain the job, almost all of Rickey's power would be gone; for example, he would no longer take a percentage of every franchise sale. Rickey declined a new contract as president. Then, to be a majority owner, O'Malley offered to buy Rickey's portion. Seeing no reason to hold on to the club, Rickey decided to comply. In a final act of retaliation against O'Malley, Rickey instead offered the club percentage to a friend for $1 million. His chances at complete franchise control at risk, O'Malley was forced to offer more money, and Rickey finally sold his portion for $1.05 million (equivalent to approximately $13,700,000 in 2024[42]).[3]
Immediately upon leaving the Dodgers, Rickey was offered the position ofexecutive vice president and general manager of thePittsburgh Pirates by the team's new majority owner,John W. Galbreath. He joined them on November 1, 1950, one month after the1950 Bucs, who lost 96 out of 153 games, finished in last place for only the third time in the 20th century. With an average player age of 28.6 years, they also were one of the oldest teams in the National League.[43] Bringing several key aides with him from Brooklyn, Rickey began a tear-down/re-building process that would consume his entire five-year term as general manager. The Pirates finished eighth (and last) four times and seventh once, compiled a miserable 269–501 (.349) won–lost record, and in1952 finished a dismal 42–112, lagging behind the champion Dodgers by 541⁄2 games. It was the second-worst season in franchise history, and the fourth-worst in modern (post-1900) baseball history. After presiding over one last-place season with the Pirates, Rickey proposed cutting the pay of power-hitting superstarRalph Kiner. When Kiner objected, Rickey famously quipped, "Son, we could have finished last without you!"
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Perhaps his most notable innovation during his Pittsburgh tenure came during the1953 season, when the Pirates became the first team to permanently adopt batting helmets on both offense and defense. These helmets resembled a primitive fiberglass "miner's cap". This was the mandate of Rickey, who also owned stock in the company producing the helmets. Under Rickey's orders, all Pirate players had to wear the helmets both at bat and in the field. The helmets became a permanent feature for all Pirate hitters, but within a few weeks the team began to abandon their use of helmets on defense, partly because of their awkwardly heavy feel. Once the Pirates discarded the helmets on defense, the trend disappeared from the game.[44]
Health problems forced Rickey to retire in 1955. The Pirates were still mired in the NL basement; they would not have another winning record until 1958. However, with an average age of 25.5, they were the youngest outfit in the Senior Circuit in 1955. Five years later, Rickey's contributions would help lead to aWorld Series championship for Pittsburgh in 1960. Wrote author Andrew O'Toole in 2000, "The core of the 1960 championship team [notablyRoberto Clemente,Dick Groat,Bill Mazeroski,Elroy Face andVern Law, among others] was put together and nurtured by Rickey."[45]
Rickey fast-tracked youngsters like Law andBob Friend, signed by his predecessor,Roy Hamey, to the majors. He recruited Groat off theDuke University campus, drafted Face and Clemente from Brooklyn's minor league system, and his scouts and minor league instructors found Mazeroski and developed him for MLB delivery in 1956. Pittsburgh's farm and scouting system would continue to be highly productive into the 1970s, especially in developingLatin American players signed by scoutHowie Haak, one of the people whom Rickey had brought to the Pirates from the Dodgers.
Rickey remained on the Pirate masthead as chairman of the board for almost four full seasons afterJoe L. Brown succeeded him as general manager in October of1955. He also held a small amount of stock in the club. But that association ended in the middle of August 1959, when, nearing his 78th birthday, Rickey took on another challenge as the chief executive of a proposed third major league, theContinental League.[3]
A significant shift in population from the Eastern and Midwestern United States to the West and South afterWorld War II wreaked havoc with the established 16-team, two-league major league structure, opening up growing markets and triggering a two-decade-long series of franchise relocations beginning in1953. In1957, these were dramatized by the transfer of each ofNew York City's National League teams, the Dodgers and Giants, toCalifornia, abandoning their established fan bases. WhenmayorRobert F. Wagner Jr. and attorneyWilliam Shea were unsuccessful in their attempts to attract Senior Circuit teams from smaller markets (including the Pirates) to New York, Shea announced plans for a third major league in professional baseball, the Continental League, on July 27, 1959. In addition to New York, the Continental would be represented by clubs inDenver,Houston,Minneapolis–Saint Paul andToronto, plus three additional markets to round out an eight-team league. It was scheduled to begin play in April 1961.[46]
Three weeks after the formation of the new circuit was announced, on August 18, 1959, Rickey sold his stake in the Pirates, resigned as board chairman, and signed a 16-month contract to become the first president of the new league at a reported $50,000 annual salary (equivalent to approximately $539,326 in 2024[42]). He immediately led a delegation of Continental League owners to a summit meeting in a Manhattan hotel withCommissioner of BaseballFord Frick, the presidents of the National and American leagues, and a subcommittee of MLB club owners. The established leagues were wary of a new challenge to baseball's antitrust law exemption,[47] when the chairman of theHouse Judiciary Committee,Emanuel Celler, a Brooklyn Democrat enraged by his borough's loss of the Dodgers, introduced legislation that would place baseball under antitrust law.[48] This concern led Frick and his entourage to publicly treat the Continental League with respect; at the meeting, Frick asked Rickey and the other league presidents (Warren Giles andJoe Cronin) to form a committee that would set up ground rules to govern the admission of the Continental to eventual equal status with the two major leagues.[3]
As those rules were taking shape, Rickey presided over the admission of the Continental League's three remaining founding franchises:Atlanta,Buffalo andDallas–Fort Worth. He made public appearances—for example, as the "mystery guest" on the prime-time TV quiz showWhat's My Line?—to advance his view that a third, eight-team league would be more beneficial to baseball thanexpansion of the two existing circuits. But behind the scenes, National and American league owners were working on their own plans to expand their loops and scuttle Rickey's start-up league. In August 1960, they offered the Continental League's owners a deal: each established league would add two new franchises by 1962. In return, they demanded that the new circuit disband.[47] Against Rickey's advice, his owners agreed to the compromise and the new league perished, still on the drawing board.
In 1961, Minneapolis–Saint Paul got a 60-year-old American League franchise, the transferredWashington Senators, with anexpansion team replacing them in the capital. In 1962, theNew York Mets andHouston Colt .45s were admitted to the Senior Circuit as expansion teams. By 1993, all of the Continental League's cities except Buffalo were in Major League Baseball.[3]
After negotiations broke down in March 1961 that would have seen Rickey take over the Mets as their first president and general manager,[49] he went into temporary retirement. The year also saw Rickey endure tragedy and hardship on a personal level. On April 10, 1961, his son,Branch Jr., farm system director of the Pirates, died from complications of diabetes at the age of 47.[50] Then, on June 27, Rickey suffered a "serious" heart attack—his second cardiac event since 1958—while staying at his summer home on Canada'sManitoulin Island and was airlifted to aSudbury, Ontario, hospital for treatment.[51] Upon his recovery, Rickey and his wife, Jane, decided to move from suburban Pittsburgh back to St. Louis in 1962, where, on October 29, Rickey returned to the Cardinals exactly 20 years to the day he left to become general consultant on the development of Cardinal players and special advisor to ownerAugust A. Busch Jr.
But Rickey's second stint with the Cardinals was marred by controversy. He recommended that Cardinal iconStan Musial be compelled to retire, even after the eventual Hall of Famer's stellar1962 season, in which Musial, 41, had finished third in the National Leaguebatting race (hitting .330 in 135 games played), and brokenHonus Wagner's NL record for career hits. Rickey wrote to Busch: "He can't run, he can't field, and he can't throw. Twenty-five Musials would finish in last place."[52] Musial would play one more campaign before retiring from the field in September 1963.
Rickey also undermined St. Louis general managerBing Devine, who had begun his baseball career under Rickey in the late 1930s as an office boy. He was a vocal critic of one of Devine's highest profile (and most successful) trades, when he acquired veteranshortstop Groat from Pittsburgh after the 1962 season. Rickey believed that Groat, 32 at the time, was too old.[53] Groat, however, still had two prime years left. He batted .319 (1963) and .292 (1964), and was runner-up in the National League's 1963Most Valuable Player Award balloting. He was the NL's starting shortstop in both the1963 and1964All-Star games, and helped lead the1963 Cardinals to a second-place finish. But the1964 team fell behind in the standings and seemed stalled in fifth place in mid-August. When Busch fired Devine on August 17 and replaced him with Rickey protégéBob Howsam, the 82-year-old consultant and special advisor was cast as the cause of Devine's downfall. The controversial firing embarrassed Busch when the team Devine assembled caught fire in the season's final six weeks, won the National League pennant, and triumphed in the1964 World Series. After the season, Busch terminated Rickey's contract, ending a professional baseball career that had spanned 62 years.[54]
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Rickey was a Freemason, first at Lucasville Lodge #465 in Ohio, then at Tuscan Lodge #360 inSt. Louis. After arriving inBrooklyn, Rickey joined Montauk Masonic Lodge #286 in Brooklyn.[55]
Stricken withtuberculosis, he sought treatment inSaranac Lake, New York in 1908 and 1909 at theTrudeau Sanatorium. Later, he moved into theJacob Schiff cottage.
A public speaker in his later years, on November 13, 1965, Rickey collapsed in the middle of a speech inColumbia, Missouri, as he was being elected to theMissouri Sports Hall of Fame. He had told a story of physical courage and was about to relate an illustration from theBible. "Now I'm going to tell you a story from the Bible about spiritual courage," he said. Rickey murmured he could not continue, collapsed and never spoke again. He faltered, fell back into his seat and slipped onto the floor. He never regained consciousness. His brain was damaged when his breathing stopped momentarily, though his heart picked up its rhythm again. Through the next 26 days, hospitalized in a coma, there was little change.[3]
On December 9 at about 10 p.m., he died of heart failure at Boone County Memorial Hospital inColumbia, Missouri, 11 days before his 84th birthday. Branch Rickey was interred at Rush Township Burial Park inRushtown, Ohio, near where his parents, his widow, Jane (who died in 1971), and three of his children (including Branch Jr.) also rest. Rickey's grave overlooks the Scioto Valley, about three miles from his boyhood home in Stockdale, Ohio.[3]
According to historianHarold Seymour:[56]
In addition to Rickey's election to theBaseball Hall of Fame as a contributor in 1967, in 1997 he was inducted into theSt. Louis Walk of Fame,[57] in 2009 he was elected to theCollege Baseball Hall of Fame.[58]
In January 2014, the Cardinals announced Rickey among 22 former players and personnel to be inducted into theSt. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum for the inaugural class of2014.[59]
A ballpark inPortsmouth, Ohio, once used by thePortsmouth Explorers, a charter member of theFrontier League before the club folded in 1996, is named in Rickey's honor.[60] TheBranch Rickey Arena atOhio Wesleyan University is also named in his honor.
A section of US Highway 23 in Ohio, running north from the Franklin County border to the city of Delaware, has been named the Branch Rickey Memorial Highway.[61]
In 1992,Rotary International ofDenver, Colorado, created theBranch Rickey Award, which is given annually to a Major League Baseball player in recognition of exceptional community service. Outside ofCoors Field in Denver is a monument to Rickey by the sculptorGeorge Lundeen, dedicated in 2005, with this simple inscription:
It is not the honor that you take with you but the heritage you leave behind.
Another quotation attributed to Rickey is:
Luck is the residue of design.[62]
Members of his family also became involved in baseball. Son Branch Jr. was an executive with the Dodgers and Pirates for over two decades prior to his 1961 death, and grandsonBranch Rickey III served as a farm system director with the Pirates andCincinnati Reds and president of theTriple-AAmerican Association andPacific Coast League during a 57-year baseball career.[63] His brother Frank Wanzer Rickey (1888–1953) scouted for the Cardinals and Dodgers; his signees included Hall of Famers Slaughter andJohnny Mize. Frank Rickey's son-in-law, Charles A. Hurth (1906–1969), was a longtime minor league executive who served as president of theDouble-ASouthern Association and, from mid-April 1960 through mid-November 1961, as the first general manager of the Mets, including the period when Branch Rickey and the team were discussing a top role for Rickey in the New York front office.
Moreover, Rickey's influence continued to loom large after his passing, especially in the National League. One year after his 1965 death, five of the league's ten general managers—Howsam (Cardinals), Devine (Mets), Brown (Pirates),Buzzie Bavasi (Dodgers) andBill DeWitt (Reds), as well as NL president Giles—had at one time worked under Rickey during his long executive career.
Due to his connection withJackie Robinson, Rickey has been portrayed numerous times on screen and stage:
Additionally, he was also featured heavily in the 2016PBS documentary,Jackie Robinson, which was directed byKen Burns.[69]
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | Won | Lost | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| SLB | 1913 | 11 | 5 | 6 | .455 | 8th in AL | – | – | – | – |
| SLB | 1914 | 153 | 71 | 82 | .464 | 5th in AL | – | – | – | – |
| SLB | 1915 | 154 | 63 | 91 | .409 | 6th in AL | – | – | – | – |
| SLB total | 318 | 139 | 179 | .437 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
| STL | 1919 | 137 | 54 | 83 | .394 | 7th in NL | – | – | – | – |
| STL | 1920 | 154 | 75 | 79 | .487 | 5th in NL | – | – | – | – |
| STL | 1921 | 153 | 87 | 66 | .569 | 3rd in NL | – | – | – | – |
| STL | 1922 | 154 | 85 | 69 | .552 | 3rd in NL | – | – | – | – |
| STL | 1923 | 153 | 79 | 74 | .516 | 5th in NL | – | – | – | – |
| STL | 1924 | GM | 65 | 89 | .422 | 6th in NL | – | – | – | – |
| STL | 1925 | 38 | 13 | 25 | .342 | fired | – | – | – | – |
| STL total | 943 | 458 | 485 | .486 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
| Total | 1261 | 597 | 664 | .473 | 0 | 0 | – | |||
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allegheny Gators(Independent)(1904–1905) | |||||||||
| 1904 | Allegheny | 5–5 | |||||||
| 1905 | Allegheny | 3–8 | |||||||
| Allegheny: | 8–13 | ||||||||
| Ohio Wesleyan(Ohio Athletic Conference)(1906–1908) | |||||||||
| 1906 | Ohio Wesleyan | 3–3–3 | 1–1–2 | T–2nd | |||||
| 1907 | Ohio Wesleyan | 7–3 | 2–3 | 6th | |||||
| 1908 | Ohio Wesleyan | 4–4 | 2–3 | T–6th | |||||
| Ohio Wesleyan: | 14–10–3 | 5–7–2 | |||||||
| Total: | 22–23–3 | ||||||||
