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October 29, 1942
The Brooklyn Dodgers signed Branch Rickey as their team president and general manager.
Rickey got his start in baseball as a catcher, outfielder, and firstbaseman for the St. Louis Browns and the New York Highlanders from 1905-1907. Rickey returned to baseball in 1914 as an executive and manager for the Browns. In 1919, he switched leagues and managed for the St. Louis Cardinals. He was fired in 1925, but he was retained as general manager.
While with the Cardinals, he purchased several minor league teams to create a feeder system for the Major League team. These investments paid off for the Cardinals. They went to three World Series and won two of them in the early 30s with players that they brought up through their feeder system, including Dizzy and Daffy Dean, Joe Medwick, and Pepper Martin. Every team now has what is called the farm system, a network of minor league teams to help develop prospects.
The Cardinals won another World Series in 1942, this time with Hall of Famers Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter coming up through their farm system. It was after this season that the Dodgers reached out and signed Rickey.
Rickey continued to change the way baseball was run and played. He was a proponent of batting cages and pitching machines. He was a key figure in getting baseball players to use batting helmets. He even hired a full-time statistical analyst to help him make player personnel decisions.
But the thing that Rickey was most well-known for is his opposition to baseball’s color barrier. He is the one who signed Jackie Robinson to a minor league contract in 1945. He scoured the Negro Leagues to find the right man for the job until he found Robinson.
Rickey’s homework paid off. Robinson broke into the Major Leagues in 1947 and won the Rookie of the Year. Robinson would go on to have a 10-year career, winning the NL MVP in 1949 and making the All-Star team six times.
Rickey was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967, two years after his death.
Birthdays
1959 – Jesse Barfield
1974 – R.A. Dickey
1984 – Eric Staal