Rickey, Branch, 1881–1965, American baseball executive, b. Stockdale, Ohio. As manager or executive, he was with the St. Louis Browns (1913–15), the St. Louis Cardinals (1917–42), the Brooklyn Dodgers (1943–50), and the Pittsburgh Pirates (1950–59). He was the first to institute the minor league farm system (1919) and integrated the major leagues by signing (1945) Jackie Robinson Robinson, Jackie (Jack Roosevelt Robinson), 1919–72, American baseball player, the first African-American player in the modern major leagues, b. Cairo, Ga. He grew up in Pasadena, Calif., where he became an outstanding athlete in high school and junior college.
..... Click the link for more information. to a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Bibliography

See biography by M. Polner (1982); H. Frommer, Rickey and Robinson (1982).

Rickey, Branch (Wesley)

(born Dec. 20, 1881, Stockdale, Ohio, U.S.—died Dec. 9, 1965, Columbia, Mo.) U.S. baseball executive. Rickey began playing professional baseball while a student at Ohio Wesleyan University. In 1917 he began a long association with the St. Louis Cardinals (president, 1917–19; field manager, 1919–25; general manager, 1925–42). In 1919 he devised the farm system of training ballplayers. He later became president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers (1943–50). Defying strong resistance, in 1945 he broke a long-standing race barrier by hiring the first black player in major league baseball. Jackie Robinson played for the Dodgers' farm teams for two years before he was brought up to play as an infielder for Brooklyn in 1947. Rickey was later associated with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1950–59).

Rickey, (Wesley) Branch (1881–1965) baseball manager/executive; born in Lucasville, Ohio. After playing four years in the majors and a ten-year career as a manager of the St. Louis Browns and Cardinals (1913–25), he became vice-president of the Cardinals (1925–42) and created a "farm system" of 32 minor-league teams that supplied countless star players for the parent major-league club. A religious man, he never played, attended or managed games on Sundays. As vice-president of the Brooklyn Dodgers (1942–50), he established the spring training complex in Vero Beach, Fla., and fulfilled his intention to break baseball's color line; in 1947 he signed Jackie Robinson to a major-league contract despite the vigorous opposition of other club owners. He was general manager (1951–55) and then chairman of the board of directors of the Pittsburgh Pirates (1956–59). He organized the aborted Continental League that led to the founding of the New York Mets in 1962. Nicknamed "the Mahatma" because of his reputation as a baseball sage, he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1967.