20/20 Foresight: Branch Rickey

By Matt "The Stat" Himelfarb
Posted Monday, April 23, 2007

Sometimes, the actual driving force behind our nation's greatest achievements is often forgotten. It's only a direct result of human nature that when one celebrity or natural disaster is of great magnitude, that we forget many people or events before us.

Branch Rickey was, by definition, the first general manager of our nation's pastime. During his tenure, he not only laid the groundwork for the modern minor league system, emphasizing it's importance, and in doing so, saved the minor leagues when attendance figures dropped . He was responsible for signing George Sisler, Jackie Robinson, and, as many are prone to forget, signed arguably one of the most prominent figures of the Hispanic culture, Roberto Clemente.

Rickey was even one of the first executives to hammer on the idea of utilizing several important statistics practically unheard of in his generation of baseball, spanning from the early 20th century, and living to see the success of televised baseball, contradicting those who thought of him as the father of baseball scouting. In an interview with Life Magazine, Rickey was quoted as saying: "As a statistic, RBIs were not only misleading but dishonest. They depended on managerial control, a hitter's position in the batting order, park dimensions and the success of his teammates in getting on base ahead of him. That left two measurable factors—on base average and power—by which to gauge the overall offensive worth of an individual."

Rickey, much to the surprise of the people who recommended this article to me via Baseball Think Factory, would go on to do more numbers crunching, proving the exact things that Bill James would later become famous for. But as of right now, I could frankly care less whether the first generation of sabermetrics ideas were actually a derivative of that exact interview, because it's the attention he has received by none other than Major League Baseball as a whole that worries me, and my gut feeling is it may be a failure on Bud Selig's part.

Yes, I'm aware that Rickey has numerous biographies written about him, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967, and has, for the most part, lived up to his own quote: "It's not the honor you take with you, but the heritage you leave behind."

But just like this nation's storied endeavor to defeat racism, enough just isn't enough.

The fact that I have a few doubts about how the past week was handled by Major League Baseball is not a testament to my lack of appreciation for what Jackie Robinson did for this country, but how much the positively ignored Branch Rickey meant to baseball.

Let me be clear, I don't think a day commemorating Branch Rickey is absolutely necessary, and while that type of ceremony is certainly debatable, I'm not in favor of celebrating Babe Ruth day all across baseball, nor do I think that we need an award for every contribution, big and small, that has occurred throughout the history of the game, I just believe that Branch Rickey was blatantly and ludicrously ignored throughout the last two weeks.

Unless you happened to stumble upon an old article from the Houston Chronicle like me, you probably long conjectured that Rickey, a conservative white Republican and devout Methodist, was doing business as usual when he signed Robinson, hoping to win over the hearts and ultimately acquire at cheap prices the enormous talents of several negro league stars. This is true in the sense that Rickey was indeed, fond of getting the best bang for his buck, and that he showed little affection towards the media when asked about the signing of Robinson, but sadly, the common baseball fan is likely not aware of the deep moral obligation that Rickey felt he owed towards Robinson, which were well documented in private letters, discovered after his death in 1965.

Had it not been for a young catcher named Charles Thomas in 1903, who, after unjustly being declined a room in the Ohio Wesleyan University team hotel, sobbed in front of his manager, Branch Rickey, or had Rickey not witnessed St. Louis Brown's owner Bill Veeck Jr., who after disclosing his intentions of signing the first African American ballplayer in 1943, the National League officially took over the franchise, ending any thought of signing the first African American ballplayer, Rickey may not have acquired the determination necessary to endure the racial slurs that would subsequently follow the signing of Robinson.

Nevertheless, the Civil War is often said to be the basis of the understanding of this country, not solely because of the freedom of African Americans, but the reason for our diversity of this country. Rickey ignited his own Civil War in sports by opening the door for Robinson's playing ability amidst his own enemies such as Jim Crow. More to the point, it's, ironically, that Robinson and Rickey are perhaps the reasons why, according to the latest figures compiled by University of Central Florida organization, only 8.4 percent of professional baseball players are black, as opposed to about 20 percent in 1972. This is because not only has the competition increased due to the inundation of Hispanic and Japanese players, but also because of the increased athletic opportunities, such as football and basketball, that both Robinson and Rickey, in a cumulative effort, helped happen.

When looking at the picture of Robinson signing his contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers and Rickey looking over, it represents the point that Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks would try to convey almost a decade later; unification. A word that famed politicians Thomas Jefferson and Abe Lincoln would never live to see.

Not many people can be mentioned in the same sentence with Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Abe Lincoln. Branch Rickey can. The least Major League Baseball can do is somehow acknowledge that.

You can contact Matt Himelfarb at matthimelfarb@gmail.com and make sure to check out his new blog giving up to date minor league updates: www.prospectpit.blogspot.com