June 2013 - Black Sports The Magazine

Branch Rickey
The Man Who Helped Integrate Modern Sports
Heroes come in all shapes, sizes, colors,
times, styles, and races. Sometimes it’s the
mental fortitude of the individual, the family
background, and/or the religious beliefs.
Sometimes it is all those things. President
Abraham Lincoln, abolitionist Thaddeus
Stevens, educator Booker T. Washington,
sociologist W.E.B DuBois, boxing star Joe
Lewis Louis, baseball star Babe Ruth, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, track star Jesses
Owens, basketball coach Red Auerbach, baseball star Curt
Flood, and Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., are all
American heroes and American legends.
An individual that revolutionized sports, gave opportunities to
many, and helped to change perceptions is Wesley Branch
Rickey. Branch Rickey was born on December 20, 1881. Known
for being innovative, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
in 1967. He was part of the Great Experiment of breaking Major
League Baseball’s color barrier. By signing Jackie Robinson,
he helped integrate modern baseball and helped integrate
modern sports.
Branch Rickey was a sports enthusiast, who believed in
innovation. He created the modern minor league farm system.
He made good money with his astute business acumen, owning
baseball farm teams and having ownership interest in Major
League Baseball teams. Rickey developed the batting helmet.
He was born in Stockdale, Ohio, the son of Jacob Frank Rickey
and Emily Brown Rickey. He was a catcher on the baseball team
at Ohio Wesleyan University, where he received a Bachelor of
Arts degree.
Rickey played professional football for the Shelby Blues of the
“Ohio League” in 1902. He played with friend Chris Follis, the
first Black professional football player. Rickey often played for
pay with Shelby while in college. The Ohio League was a
predecessor to the modern National Football League.
Rickey signed a baseball contract with Terre Haute, Indiana, of
the Class B Central League in 1903, making his professional
debut on June 20 th . He played in the major leagues in 1905,
debuting with the St. Louis Browns in 1905. He was sold to the
New York Highlanders in 1907.
Branch was not a very good player, his last year as a player was
1914. In limited appearances, he had a batting average of .239,
82 hits, and 39 runs batted in. He was manager of the St. Louis
Browns from 1913 to 1915. In 1919, he became manager of the
St. Louis Cardinals. He had winning records from 1921 to 1923.
It was in his executive position that Branch Rickey excelled. In
the position of general manager, he helped the St. Louis
Cardinals win World Series Championships in 1926, 1931, 1934
and 1942. The Cardinals won National League Pennants in
1926, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1934, and 1942. Rickey developed the
modern farm system for baseball, which made it possible to
better prepare players for Major League Baseball.
By Robert E. Lewis
20 BSTM June 2013
He had a keen eye for spotting talented athletes. Rickey was a
humanitarian, who practiced philanthropy and goodwill toward
all people. He made an effort to promote human welfare. His
sincere religious beliefs and the ability to make decisions in a
moral way led friends and acquaintances to call him “Deacon”
and “Mahatma.” Rickey believed that segregation was immortal,
and voiced that opinion many times. He felt that everyone should
have human rights. He felt that individuals should not be
discriminated against because of their race, color, or religion.
Rickey tried to make sure everyone who wanted to attend a
baseball game could do so without being discriminated against.
This was a difficult situation to change in the 1910s-1940s,
because so much of the nation was still segregated. But, he
made sure people knew his feelings that every baseball fan
should be able to attend a game, and sit where they could afford
to sit.
Rickey continued to develop the Cardinals. In 1942, the Cardinals
won more games than ever. They also won the World Series.
The Brooklyn Dodgers recruited Rickey to be president and
general Manager. It was in Brooklyn that he made his biggest
impact. He hired Jackie Robinson to play America’s greatest
pastime. By hiring Robinson, this would eventually give
opportunities to many. Robinson played sports well and played
baseball exceptionally well, which opened the door for so many
athletes of color in every sport.
Robinson had many benefactors. Black leaders, African-
American newspaper writers, Jewish leaders and liberal white
leaders were demanding that the major leagues be integrated
in the early 1940s. Wendell Smith, a top Black sportswriter and
editor of the Pittsburgh Courier, an African-American weekly, had
often written articles and spoke in the late 1930s and early 1940s
about why Major League Baseball should be integrated.
Rickey had made a lot of money developing and running baseball
farm teams. His work developing talent and Major League
Baseball (MLB) teams had made him rich. He now had a higher
calling, and that was integrating the modern MLB. In St. Louis,
Rickey knew he would be limited trying to integrate a baseball
team. He had followed Negro League Baseball firsthand, and
saw the talent, and also how many of the Negro League games
were sold-out. Rickey, a wealthy man, already saw the potential
of hiring Black players
In 1942, Rickey joined the Dodgers and definitely began plans
to bring Black players to the team. The first Black player to cross
the “color line” would be subjected to a lot of media attention and
scrutiny. He selected Robinson from his list of promising Black
players. On October 23, 1945, it was publicly announced that
Robinson had been signed to play with Brooklyn’s International
League farm club, the Montreal Royals.
Rickey knew that Robinson would have to be a strong person,
who could agree to avoid open confrontation when subjected to
hostility and insults. The National Negro Newspaper All-American