How much is Branch Rickey worth?
| Net Worth: | $3 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Baseball Player |
| Date of Birth: | December 20, 1881 |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 1.75 m |
About Branch Rickey
Rickey earned his B.A. at Ohio Wesleyan University while playing catcher for the baseball team. He graduated from Valley High School in Lucasville, Ohio, in 1899, and he belonged to the fraternity Delta Tau Delta. Rickey belonged to Saint Louis’ Tuscan Lodge #240 as a Master Mason. Rickey joined Montauk Masonic Lodge #286 in Brooklyn after moving there.
Before working in the front office, Rickey played professionally in baseball and football. He participated in both minor league and major league baseball.
- Born: Dec. 20, 1881
- Died: Dec. 9, 1965
- Hometown: Pike County, Ohio
- Height: 5-9
- Weight: 175 pounds
- Bats: Left
- Throws: Right
- Family: Wife, Jane; one son, four daughters; Branch Jr. was the Dodgers’ farm director and assistant general manager; grandson Branch Barrett Rickey is president of the Pacific Coast League
- Primary position: Catcher
From 1905 through 1907, Rickey participated in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Browns and the New York Highlanders. After having trouble as a player, Rickey went back to school, where he met Philip Bartelme and learnt about administration. Rickey made a successful career as a manager and executive with the St. Louis Browns, St. Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Pittsburgh Pirates after rejoining MLB in 1913. 2014 saw the Cardinals induct him into their group’s Hall of Fame.
On the Field
He played professional football for the Shelby Blues of the Ohio League, which ultimately evolved into the NFL, while a student at Ohio Wesleyan University.
.284 in 65 games in 1906 after making his major league debut with the St. Louis Browns in 1905. was sent to the New York Highlanders a year later, but he had trouble catching and hurt his throwing arm. He retired with a batting average of.239 following the 1907 season.
Career in coaching or front office:
One of baseball’s most creative brains and the first modern general manager, Rickey’s exploits are worthy of Cooperstown, yet they don’t even fit on a Hall of Fame plaque. He was a pioneer in the application of statistical analysis, created the first full-time spring training facility, invented the batting helmet, and, of course, signed Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. He also designed the contemporary minor league system.
managed the school baseball team while attending the University of Michigan where he obtained a law degree.
returned to the St. Louis Browns organization in 1913, and later that year he was named the team’s manager. From 1913 to 1915, his teams went 139–179.
was a captain in the American army during World War I, and he oversaw a squad that Christy Mathewson and Ty Cobb belonged to.
became the club president and manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1919, serving in those roles until 1925. During that time, the team went 458–485, never placing higher than third.
After focusing on the team’s business side, he invested in several minor league teams and created the minor league baseball system, which now includes 32 teams across all levels of the minor leagues that are all connected to the Cardinals. Hall of Famers Dizzy Dean, Stan Musial, Joe Medwick, and Enos Slaughter were among the players developed in the system as a result of such efforts, and other teams followed suit. In 1926, 1931, 1934, and 1942, the Cardinals won the World Series. His groups also captured championships in 1928 and 1930.
When he was hired away by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1942, he broke baseball’s unwritten rule by signing Robinson to a minor-league contract in August of that year. He then went on to establish a winning team. There were 150 black players in the majors or minors by 1952 after Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
In 1947 and 1949, Rickey’s Dodgers won the NL pennant.
was fired by Walter O’Malley in 1950 and hired as the Pittsburgh Pirates’ general manager. Hall of Fame outfielder Roberto Clemente, widely recognized as the first Latin American baseball star, was one of the players he signed while serving as general manager. 1955 saw his retirement.
attempted to establish the Continental League, a third major league, in 1959. His plans were thwarted when Major League Baseball added four teams in 1961 and 1962.
two years after his demise, in 1967, he was chosen as a contributor to the Hall of Fame.
Outside the field:
grew to be a well-known public speaker. He passed within a week after collapsing in the middle of a lecture in Missouri in 1965.
Each season, an MLB player who has made a significant contribution to community service receives the Branch Rickey Award.
Famous quotes:
- “Ethnic prejudice has no place in sports, and baseball must recognize that truth if it is to maintain stature as a national game.”
- “If things don’t come easy, there is no premium on effort. There should be joy in the chase, zest in the pursuit.”
- “It (a baseball box score) doesn’t tell how big you are, what church you attend, what color you are, or how your father voted in the last election. It just tells what kind of baseball player you were on that particular day.”
- “Luck is the residue of design.”
- “It is not the honor that you take with you, but the heritage you leave behind.”
