We Remember the Great Branch Rickey!

The Branch Rickey Photo Gallery

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                                          We Remember the Great 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.” -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. There was never a man in the game who could put mind and muscle together quicker and with better judgment than Jackie Robinson.” -Branch Rickey

It was a sad day for baseball 52 years ago yesterday…

On December 9, 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. 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 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.

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 knoll 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.

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 signed Roberto Clemente for the Pirates, opening major league baseball for Latino players. That’s quite a resume.

It’s only fitting to remember the life of Branch Rickey with this wonderful photo 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 ball players. We owe both of them an incredible debt of gratitude.

The photo was taken on July 20, 1962. The caption 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 “shock treatment!”

-Gary Livacari

Photo Credits: All from Google search

Information: Excerpts edited from article on Branch Rickey by Dave Tabler in Appalachian History: http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2013/05/its-my-skin-its-my-skin-mr-rickey.html; and excerpts from my earlier post on Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey

Subscribe to my blog for automatic updates and immediate access to my two Free Reports: “Memorable World Series Moments,” and “Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide.