Branch Rickey
Branch Rickey
Wesley Branch Rickeywas an innovative Major League Baseballexecutive elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967. He was perhaps best known for breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier by signing African American player Jackie Robinson, for drafting the first Afro-Hispanic superstar, Roberto Clemente, for creating the framework for the modern minor league farm system, for encouraging the Major Leagues to add new teams through his involvement in the proposed Continental League, and for introducing the batting helmet...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth20 December 1881
CityPortsmouth, OH
CountryUnited States of America
I don't care if I was a ditch-digger at a dollar a day, I'd want to do my job better than the fellow next to me. I'd want to be the best at whatever I do.
Never surrender opportunity to security.
I am alarmed at the subtle invasion of professional football, which is gaining preeminence over baseball. It's unthinkable.
The greatest untapped reservoir of raw material in the history of our game is the black race.
I don't like the subtle infiltration of 'something for nothing' philosophies into the very hearthstone of the American family. I believe that 'Thou shalt earn the bread by the sweat of thy face' was a benediction and not a penalty. Work is the zest of life; there is joy in its pursuit.
Things worthwhile generally don’t just happen. Luck is a fact, but should not be a factor. Good luck is what is left over after intelligence and effort have combined at their best. Negligence or indifference are usually reviewed from an unlucky seat. The law of cause and effect and causality both work the same with inexorable exactitudes. Luck is the residue of design.
Success is that place in the road where preparation meets opportunity.
I cannot face my God much longer knowing that his black creatures are held separate and distinct from his white creatures in the game that has given me all that I can call my own.
Man may penetrate the outer reaches of the universe, he may solve the very secret of eternity itself but for me, the ultimate human experience is to witness the flawless execution of the hit-and-run.
It is not the honor that you take with you, but the heritage you leave behind.
Some day I'm going to have to stand before God, and if He asks me why I didn't let that [Jackie] Robinson fellow play ball, I don't think saying 'because of the color of his skin' would be a good enough answer.
If things don't come easy, there is no premium on effort. There should be joy in the chase, zest in the pursuit.
Good luck is what is left over after intelligence and effort have combined at their best. Luck is the residue of design.
A full mind is an empty bat.