Branch Rickey

Branch Rickey was a player for the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees before he became owner of the Brooklynn Dodgers. He is most famous for his integration of baseball. Branch Rickey had many reasons for his desire to integrate baseball, but he always said that the reason he signed Jackie Robinson was that he wanted to put the best possible team on the field. Rickey knew that Jackie would receive harsh treatment, and prepared him at their first meeting by hurling racial insults at him. Jackie stayed calm throughout this meeting, and at the end, Branch Rickey told Jackie that he was looking for "a man who had guts not to fight back.” Rickey died on December 9, 1965, and was elected into the hall of fame in 1967. He will forever be remebered as the man who integrated baseball.