Rickey Branch Quotes & Sayings

But how can we tally what an achievement it was to endure what Jackie Robinson endured those first few years? It was an incalculable and heroic sacrifice that can never be reckoned or understood by any conventional standards. Robinson did what he agreed to do when he met that day with Branch Rickey, and he changed the game forever. It was a singular feat of such great moral strength that all athletic strength must pale in comparison. With God's help, one man lifted up a whole people and pulled a whole nation into the future. — Eric Metaxas

Thou shalt not steal. I mean defensively. On offense, indeed thou shall steal and thou must. — Branch Rickey

Only in baseball can a team player be a pure individualist first and a team player second, within the rules and spirit of the game. — Branch Rickey

Leisure is the handmaiden of the devil. — Branch Rickey

A full mind is an empty bat. — Branch Rickey

Worry is simply thinking the same thing over and over again and not doing anything about it. — Branch Rickey

All I had was natural ability. — Branch Rickey

Ethnic prejudice has no place in sports, and baseball must recognize that truth if it is to maintain stature as a national game. — Branch Rickey

Leo Durocher is a man with an infinite capacity for making a bad thing worse. — Branch Rickey

I did not mind the public criticism. That sort of thing has not changed any program I thought was good. — Branch Rickey

Good luck is what is left over after intelligence and effort have combined at their best. Luck is the residue of design. — Branch Rickey

Don't worry about your individual numbers. Worry about the team. If the team is successful, each of you will be successful, too. — Branch Rickey

Luck is the residue of opportunity and design. — Branch Rickey

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. — Branch Rickey

It (a baseball box score) doesn't tell how big you are, what church you attend, what color you are, or how your father voted in the last election. It just tells what kind of baseball player you were on that particular day. — Branch Rickey

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. — Branch Rickey

Don't look at the hole in the doughnut. Look at the whole doughnut. — Branch Rickey

Trade a player a year too early rather than a year too late. — Branch Rickey

I am alarmed at the subtle invasion of professional football, which is gaining preeminence over baseball. It's unthinkable. — Branch Rickey

We win if the world is convinced of two things, that you are a fine gentleman, and a great baseball player. — Branch Rickey

It is not the honor that you take with you, but the heritage you leave behind. — Branch Rickey

He's the best prospect I've ever seen. — Branch Rickey

There was never a man in the game who could put mind and muscle together quicker and with better judgment than (Jackie) Robinson. — Branch Rickey

The only thing Abner Doubleday ever started was the Civil War. — Branch Rickey

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. — Branch Rickey

A game of great charm in the adoption of mathematical measurements to the timing of human movements, the exactitudes and adjustments of physical ability to hazardous chance. The speed of the legs, the dexterity of the body, the grace of the swing, the elusiveness of the slide - these are the features that make Americans everywhere forget the last syllable of a man's last name or the pigmentation of his skin. — Branch Rickey

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. — Branch Rickey

These are uncertain times. We cannot be content to rest on yesterday's laurels. These are times when we must strengthen rather than let down those standards which have stood in such good stead in crises that are past. Baseball cannot be selfish, or irresponsible, or lax. Neither can the men who operate it. — Branch Rickey

Never surrender opportunity for security. — Branch Rickey

The world's not so simple anymore, I guess it never was. We ignored it, now we can't. — Branch Rickey

A great ballplayer is a player who will take a chance. — Branch Rickey

He (Branch Rickey) must think I went to the Massachesetts Constitution of Technology. — Dizzy Dean

I find fault with my children because I like them and I want them to go places - uprightness and strength and courage and civil respect and anything that affects the probabilities of failure on the part of those that are closest to me, that concerns me - I find fault. — Branch Rickey

Baseball people are generally allergic to new ideas; it took years to persuade them to put numbers on uniforms, and it is the hardest thing in the world to get Major League Baseball to change anything - even spikes on a new pair of shoes - but they will eventually ... they are bound to. — Branch Rickey

How to use your leisure time is the biggest problem of a ballplayer. — Branch Rickey

He (Leo Durocher) had the ability of taking a bad situation and making it immediately worse. — Branch Rickey

I was in the top ten percent of my law school class. I am a Doctor of Juris Prudence. I have an honorary Doctor of Laws. So, would somebody please tell me why I spent four mortal hours today conversing with a person named Dizzy Dean. — Branch Rickey

What I found fascinating was just how quickly the best of the young Negro League players were drafted into the major leagues once Branch Rickey broke the color line by hiring Jackie Robinson. It was clear that all of the major league owners already knew the talents of the black ballplayers that they had refused to let into their league. — Walter Dean Myers

If things don't come easy, there is no premium on effort. There should be joy in the chase, zest in the pursuit. — Branch Rickey

Problems are the price you pay for progress. — Branch Rickey

Fill in any figure you want for that boy (Mickey Mantle). Whatever the figure, it's a deal. — Branch Rickey

Thinking about the devil is worse than seeing the devil. — Branch Rickey

I had the idea that the film would be much better served by a Branch Rickey look-a-like than a Harrison Ford look-a-like. I didn't want the audience to go into the film thinking that they knew me from some previous experience in the movies. — Harrison Ford

The greatest untapped reservoir of raw material in the history of our game is the black race. — Branch Rickey

Branch Rickey once said of me that I was a man with an infinite capacity for immediately making a bad thing worse. — Leo Durocher

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. — Branch Rickey

Cobb lived off the field as though he wished to live forever. He lived on the field as though it was his last day. — Branch Rickey

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. — Branch Rickey

Baseball is a game of inches. — Branch Rickey

Branch Rickey made me a better man. — Branch Rickey

Luck is a residue of design. — Branch Rickey

I'm a man of some intelligence. I've had some education, passed the bar, practiced law. I've been a teacher and I deal with men of substance, statesman, business leaders, the clergy ... So why do I spend my time arguing with Dizzy Dean? — Branch Rickey

When (Rube) Waddell
had control and some sleep, he was unbeatable. — Branch Rickey

Never surrender opportunity to security. — Branch Rickey

Baseball people, and that includes myself, are slow to change and accept new ideas. I remember that it took years to persuade them to put numbers on uniforms. — Branch Rickey

The man with the ball is responsible for what happens to the ball. — Branch Rickey