Wesley Branch Rickey was born on December 20, 1881, and is the full name of an American baseball player and sports executive. He was also essential in breaking down the color barrier in Major League Baseball when he signed black player Jackie Robinson. Branch Rickey also built the modern minor league farm system architecture and encouraged the Major Leagues to add new teams through his involvement in the projected Continental League. Following that, he unveiled the batting helmet.
In addition, from 1905 to 1907, he played for the St. Louis Browns and the New York Highlanders in Major League Baseball. The Cardinals inducted him into their team Hall of Fame in 2014. He used to play football for the professional Shelby Blues as well as coach at Ohio Wesleyan University and Allegheny College. His various accomplishments and fervent conviction in Christianity have earned him the moniker “the Mahatma.”
The greatest 21 quotations from Branch Rickey that can motivate you to win may be found below.
- “It is not the honor that you take with you, but the heritage you leave behind.”― Branch Rickey
- “A great ballplayer is a player who will take a chance.”― Branch Rickey
- “Thinking about the devil is worse than seeing the devil.”― Branch Rickey
- “NEVER SURRENDER OPPORTUNITY FOR SECURITY.”― BRANCH RICKEY
- “Problems are the price you pay for progress.”― Branch Rickey
- “Luck is the residue of design.”― Branch Rickey
- “A full mind is an empty bat.”― Branch Rickey
- “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
- “Thou shalt not steal. I mean defensively. On offense, indeed thou shall steal and thou must.”― 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
- “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
- “TRADE A PLAYER A YEAR TOO EARLY RATHER THAN A YEAR TOO LATE.”― 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
- “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
- “How to use your leisure time is the biggest problem of a ballplayer.”― Branch Rickey
- “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
- “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
- “Leisure is the handmaiden of the devil.”― Branch Rickey
- “The greatest untapped reservoir of raw material in the history of our game is the black race.”― Branch Rickey
- “The man with the ball is responsible for what happens to the ball.”― Branch Rickey
- “All I had was natural ability.”― Branch Rickey
