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Let’s Remember Two Baseball Greats: Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson!

“Ethnic prejudice has no place in sports, and baseball must recognize that truth if it is to maintain stature as a national game.” -Branch Rickey

Tomorrow is the anniversary of a historic day in baseball history. As I learned from the National Pastime/This Day in Baseball History website, this is what happened 77 years ago, August 28, 1945:

A moment in American history takes place in Brooklyn as Branch Rickey meets with Jackie Robinson to share his plans to integrate the major leagues. During the three-hour meeting, the Dodgers’ president will shout racial epithets to ‘test’ the 26-year-old ballplayer’s mettle to withstand the abuse which will come with being the first player to cross the color line this century.

This is a good time to repost my annual tribute to these two baseball immortals:

It was a sad day for baseball 57 years ago

On November 13, 1965, Branch Rickey suffered a heart attack, eleven days short of his 84th birthday. Mr. Rickey fell over the podium during his induction speech into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. “The Mahatama,” who was responsible for breaking baseball’s odious color barrier with the signing of Jackie Robinson, passed away three weeks later on December 5, 1965. Thus at once, baseball lost its greatest innovator and civil rights pioneer; and, quite frankly, the world lost one of its truly great men.

It started back in 1903…

Branch Rickey, manager of the Ohio Wesleyan University baseball team, took his team to South Bend to play Notre Dame. When the team arrived at the old Oliver Hotel, the hotel manager said, “I have rooms for all of you — except for him” — and he pointed to the team’s catcher, Charley Thomas, who was black.

“Why don’t you have a room for him?” Rickey asked. “Because our policy is whites only,” the manager replied. “I’d like to have Charley stay in my room,” said Rickey. “Can you bring in a cot?” After long deliberations, the innkeeper relented. Later, when Rickey got to his room, Charlie Thomas was sitting on a chair sobbing. Rickey recalled later:

Charlie was pulling frantically at his hands, pulling at his hands. He looked at me and said, ‘It’s my skin. If I could just tear it off, I’d be like everybody else. It’s my skin, it’s my skin, Mr. Rickey!’

That heartbreaking scene stayed with Rickey for the rest of his life. It became seared into his soul. He had witnessed a severe moral injustice, and he would never forget it.

Fast forward, It’s now 1945…

In late August, Branch Rickey had a long conversation with Jackie Robinson, wanting to know if he would be able to take the racial abuse he was sure to be subjected to without fighting back. “Are you looking for a Negro who is afraid to fight back?” Jackie asked. Rickey replied, “I’m looking for someone with guts enough not to fight back.”

Two years later, the racial barrier was finally broken, thanks to these two heroic men. Jackie won the first-ever Rookie of the Year Award, batting .297, scoring 125 runs with 12 homers, and stole 29 bases, helping the Brooklyn Dodgers win the 1947 National League pennant. Jackie later said of Branch Rickey:

The more I learned about Branch Rickey, the more pleased I was that I was playing ball for him. I wanted to show him I was capable of handling any situation into which he might drop me. I had never known a man like him before.

As wonderful as the Jackie Robinson accomplishment was, it did not come without its bittersweet side. Deep down, everyone – players, owners, fans – knew that it sounded the death knell for the Negro Leagues, a beloved institution that was a huge part of the African-American experience in America, and had meant so much to so many. And, as anticipated, the Negro Leagues were gone forever within a few years.

Quite a Resume…

In addition to the signing of Robinson, Branch Rickey was the general manager of eight pennant winners and four World Series championships, played a major part in the development of the farm system, and also played a significant role in signing Roberto Clemente for the Pirates, which, in turn, greatly enhanced the influx of Latin players into major league baseball.

It’s only fitting to remember the life of Branch Rickey with this wonderful photo below of him and Jackie Robinson – the two men whose courage, foresight, and uncompromising determination to right a grave moral injustice, finally opened the major league door to many long-deserving ballplayers. We owe both of them an enormous debt of gratitude.

“Shock Treatment” for the Baseball World…

The photo was taken on July 20, 1962. The caption I found with it reads:

It was taken three days before Jackie was inducted into the Hall of Fame and seventeen years after they shocked the baseball world with the announcement that Jackie had signed to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers farm team in Montreal.

…And, as we all know, the baseball world at the time was in desperate need of major “shock treatment!”

Gary Livacari 

Information: Excerpts edited from Branch Rickey Wikipedia page

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