Branch Rickey: Review

A book, barely larger than the leaflet about famous Jewish sports legends, and with a very simple title: Branch Rickey. Jimmy Breslin, author, journalist and Pulizer Prize winner, wrote the 146 page book which came out in 2011.

The title covers the subject in the most evident way. It’s about one of the most important people ever in baseball history. Branch Rickey was a man of God. He believed to his core that man was equal. No matter the color. If you were good in something, you had to get the opportunity to do it.

The book follows Rickey from his succesful days in St. Louis to Brooklyn. He struggled to get the Ives-Quinn Bill signed, but succeded. It opened the way for Jackie Robinson to play in the majors. There is some mention of Robinson’s struggles with racism.

It’s not a pretty written book, very matter of fact full. It’s not entirely correct. Jackie didn’t play his first World Series in 1952, but in 1947. Near the end Breslin finds it neccesary to mention that the Brooklyn team plays in LA now…

It’s a good read when you want to dip your toe in the Rickey story, and the Robinson story for that matter. A good start, but there are more books about these two that go the extra yard.

Branch Rickey

A long time, the period of my Dodgers in Brooklyn was a time of yore. Black and white images of people I did not really know. This totally changed when I read Kahn’s The Boys of Summer and Kearn Goodwin’s Wait Till Next Year. Many biographies and moving images like in the Lords of Flatbush and the Hollywood movie 42 later, I can say I love the Brooklyn times as much as I do their years in Los Angeles.

Reese, Snider, Robinson, Campanella, Hodges all played at Ebbets Field and under the management of Walter O’Malley won their first world series.

In the 20’s and 30’s, though, the team was known as the daffiness boys and them bums. Things weren’t good in Brooklyn. After their World Series appearances in 1916 and 1920 it took the boys in blue eleven years to reach another one.

Then, in ‘43 a new guy arrived in Brooklyn and he had a plan. He had won four World Series with the Cardinals, and stood at the birth of the modern minor league farm system. He introduced the batting helmet and batting cages. But he wasn’t done. Branch Rickey was aware what a treasure trove of talent the negro leagues were. In 1947 he added Jackie Robinson to the roster and history was made. That same year the Dodgers reached the World Series losing to the mighty Yankees. Rickey was the founder of the Boys of Summer who would blossom in the 1950’s.

For some time now, I wanted to own something related to Rickey. Because of his mark on baseball history in general and the Dodgers organization in particular. Also, we share our birthday. 89 years apart, but hey... it’s something.

Earlier this year I came across an auction of a letter signed by Rickey. It’s short and to the point. One Leslie Stockton sent some snapshots to Rickey and a request for an autograph, which he sent him back. I fell in love with it because I wanted his autograph and this letter could just well have been sent my way. I bid again and again and it finally was mine. It's a fantastic piece of Dodgers history

The letter is dated September 12th 1949. A day after finishing a four game series against the Giants, winning 3, only five weeks after he was on the cover of Newsweek magazine, some weeks before and a year before Walter O’Malley bought him out for 1,05 million dollars.

I love to look at details and I wonder what the little scratch of ink is just below his signature. Was it placed there before Rickey signed it or after? It makes the letter a little more special in my opinion.

LIFE Magazine

Life, April 5th, 1948
This issue of Life magazine is readily available on Ebay. I’d seen it many times and always loved the cover. So, last month I thought ‘what the heck!’ and finally bought a copy. I forgot how large Life magazine is and the cover really is a thing of beauty at that size. It begs to be framed.

It’s great to see all those big league hopefulls. They probably watched the 1947 World Series where the Dodgers almost got their hands on their first title. 550 players were brought up by Branch Rickey to Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida. Rickey, a visionary, had clear goals for his Dodgers: win at least five pennants in the next ten years. I wonder what readers would have thought about that statement at the time. As we all know now he did just that AND won a World Series title to boot.

The Dodger's Way
Or, more precisely: Rickey's way! The rookies all got their chance to prove their fitness, their speed, ability to hit and field. Every possible trick was used to asses a players abilities.

Every trick in the book, but also some new ones. Rickey was a master in conjouring up new ways to test the players. He used batting cages and pitching machines. Protecting them was important as well, he introduced the batting helmet.

Looking at that cover again, I wonder how many of these guys made it to the majors and maybe even played in the 1955 World Series when the Bums finally were Bums no more.
This issue of Life is a great addition to any Dodgers collection and not too costly. If you get your hands on a copy, the article can be found on pages 117 through 120.