1914 Crackerjack Branch Rickey
Branch Rickey
Wesley Branch Rickey
The Mahatma
Induction Information
Elected to Hall of Fame by Veterans Committee in 1967, Executive/Pioneer
Born: December 20, 1881, in Stockdale, Ohio
Died: December 9, 1965, in Columbia, Missouri
Played For: St. Louis Browns (1905-1906, 1914), New York Highlanders (1907)
Managed: St. Louis Browns (1913-1915), St. Louis Cardinals (1919-1925)
Bio
After a mediocre career as a player and manager, Branch Rickey spent half a century in the front office as baseball's greatest visionary executive. With the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1920s and '30s, Rickey invented the modern farm system, promoting a new way of training and developing players. Later with the Brooklyn Dodgers, he pioneered the utilization of baseball statistics. In 1945, he became the first executive to break baseball's color line when he signed Jackie Robinson, who became the major leagues' first African-American player in the 20th century.
Wesley Branch Rickey
The Mahatma
Induction Information
Elected to Hall of Fame by Veterans Committee in 1967, Executive/Pioneer
Born: December 20, 1881, in Stockdale, Ohio
Died: December 9, 1965, in Columbia, Missouri
Played For: St. Louis Browns (1905-1906, 1914), New York Highlanders (1907)
Managed: St. Louis Browns (1913-1915), St. Louis Cardinals (1919-1925)
Bio
After a mediocre career as a player and manager, Branch Rickey spent half a century in the front office as baseball's greatest visionary executive. With the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1920s and '30s, Rickey invented the modern farm system, promoting a new way of training and developing players. Later with the Brooklyn Dodgers, he pioneered the utilization of baseball statistics. In 1945, he became the first executive to break baseball's color line when he signed Jackie Robinson, who became the major leagues' first African-American player in the 20th century.