

Wesley Branch Rickey
MLB Manager (1913 - 1925)
MLB GM (1913 - 1955)
4x World Series Champion
National Baseball Hall of Fame
Wesley Branch Rickey
Ohio Wesleyan University Baseball Player (1900 - 1903)
St. Louis Browns Baseball Player (1905 – 1906, 1914)
New York Highlanders Baseball Player (1907)
University of Michigan Baseball Manager (1910 – 1913)
St. Louis Browns Baseball Manager (1913 – 1915)
St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Manager (1919 - 1925)
St. Louis Browns Baseball General Manager (1913 – 1915, 1919)
St. Louis Cardinals Baseball General Manager (1919 – 1942)
Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager (1943 – 1950)
Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager (1950 – 1955)
Branch Rickey was born in Portsmouth, Ohio graduating from Valley High School in Lucasville, Ohio. He went on to graduate from Ohio Wesleyan University playing catcher on the baseball team. After three slightly successful seasons in Major League Baseball he went on to attend the University of Michigan working on a Law degree and after much convincing was appointed to the manager position of the Wolverine baseball team compiling a record of 68 – 32 – 4 over his four years. Buoyed by his success in college, Rickey returned to Major League Baseball in the front office as general manager and as the manager of the St. Louis Browns and St. Louis Cardinals for most of the next twelve seasons. He spent two years away from baseball as he served as an officer in the U.S. Army in World War I. In all, Rickey would serve as General Manager for four different organizations over a forty plus year career during which his many innovations were key in the future development of the game. His most important innovation was integrating the game of baseball with the signing of Jackie Robinson with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Branch Rickey was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1967, the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2009, the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2014 and was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1961. He passed away on December 9, 1965 at 83 years of age.