Athletes - Branch Rickey

Home > Listing Index > Athletes > Branch Rickey

	Athletes - Branch Rickey

Wesley Branch Rickey (December 20, 1881 - December 9, 1965) was an innovative Major League Baseball executive who is best known for helping break baseball's color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson and creating the framework to the modern minor league farm system. His many accomplishments, along with his unabashed religious fervor, earned him the nickname "The Mahatma".

He was born outside of Portsmouth, Ohio, the son of Frank W. and Emily Brown Rickey. He got his start in professional baseball when he spent two seasons in the major leagues as a catcher. Debuting as a St. Louis Brown in 1905, he hit fairly well in 1906 but was a lousy fielder, a skill deemed more important for his position. Sold to the New York Highlanders the following season, he couldn't hit or field while with the club, and his batting average dropped below .200. In one game, 13 bases were stolen by the opposition while he was behind the plate, which still stands as a record. He left baseball after just one year with New York after injuring his throwing arm.

He spent several years at the University of Michigan as a coach and also earned a law degree. For his undergraduate degree, he attended Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, where he was a member of Delta Tau Delta. He returned to the big leagues in 1913, as a front office executive with the Browns. He was responsible for signing young George Sisler, one of the players coached by Branch. Rickey became the team's manager for the final 12 games of the season, and managed the team for 2 full seasons afterwards. The Browns were not a great organization, and his teams were under .500 both years. He was fired in 1916 when new ownership took over the club.

Rickey served in the military for a few years, then returned to St. Louis in 1919, this time with the Cardinals, to become team president and manager. His 6+ years as a manager were mostly uneventful, although the team posted winning records from 1921-23, and he was fired early in the 1925 season. Off the field, he was much more successful. Rickey invested in several minor league baseball clubs, and used them to help develop future talent for the major league roster.

Rogers Hornsby replaced Rickey to become a player-manager, and in 1926, his first full year as manager, he led the Cardinals to their first World Series championship. Rickey rewarded Hornsby by trading the fiery leader and star second baseman to the New York Giants for Frankie Frisch, who would spend a decade anchoring second for the Cards.

By 1930, 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. The Deans and Medwick were integral parts of the 1934 Cardinals, who won a third World Series title.

Kenesaw Mountain Landis was concerned that Rickey's minor league system was going to ruin the game of baseball by destroying most 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, 1942, the Cardinals had their best year 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.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Branch Rickey ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Branch Rickey; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Athletes - Branch Rickey

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay